We recently connected with Gordon S. Williams and have shared our conversation below.

Gordon S., appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

As a creative, the most meaningful project is always the creative endeavor I am focusing on in the moment. Currently, one of those projects is a documentary about a Latin Dance event that I hosted in Beaumont, Texas name “Salsa At Cotton Creek Winery.” This successful monthly event was going strong for eleven years until the pandemic in March 2020.

This community of dancers, patrons, and the owners of the winery were separated, faced the difficulties of COVID, experienced personal and professional struggles, health issues, and much more. In November 2022, “Salsa At Cotton Creek Winery” returned and the first night back was documented by Bronco Media and Flatcap Productions.

The documentary, “No Place Like Home,” will show the power of dance and creativity, give insight into Latin Dance scene in Southeast Texas, perserverance, and the lifelong bonds created through this experience.

This story is personal, it is a passion project, but it will reach far beyond the world of dance and will touch on what we lost as a society during the pandemic.

Gordon S., love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Since starting G Sharp Productions in 1996, I have enjoyed the privilege of working in the entertainment landscape in Southeast Texas for over twenty-five years. From producing creative media content to facilitating independent film screenings/industry events to hosting Latin Dance events, I have been blessed to build a diverse body of work and accomplishments. As the Lamar University Television Studio Operations Manager, I have the chance to assist students in learning the craft of content creation for various mediums such as broadcast news, commercials, and film.

As a content creator, along with several production companies, we have created award-winning short films that have screened at over seventy film festivals and earned distribution deals from entities such as Amazon Video and Shorts International.

Since the beginning of 2023, I have presented “Beaumont’s Black History- In Moving Pictures” to regional universities that gives insight into the history of African Americans in Beaumont that never existed in a visual media via the award-winning short film “The Example” and LUTV Productions’, “They Will Talk About Us: The Charlton-Pollard Story.” Institutions of higher learning institutions such as Rice University, Louisiana State University, and the University of Central Oklahoma have allowed me to share this work on their campuses.

In June 2023, I received a “Special Congressional Recognition” from United States Representative Brian Babin for my work in sharing Beaumont’s history and the decades of work developing media professionals at Lamar University.

As a historian, I presented research on the 1943 Beaumont Race Riot and/or the Charlton-Pollard neighborhood at the East Texas Historical Association, 2023 Texas State Historical Association, the Southern Conference for African American Studies, and the 2024 Alliance for Texas History Symposium. In July 2024, “The Example” and “They Will Talk About Us: The Charlton-Pollard Story” were added to the collection at The Black Film & Cinema Archive at Indiana University. The Black Film Center & Archive is the only archival repository in the world that is wholly dedicated to collecting, preserving, and making available historically and culturally significant films by and about Black people.

Currently, I am working on three projects in post-production, the documentary, “No Place Like Home,” “She Loves Her John,” a dramatic short film that I am producing with Burned Out Studio and a short documentary on the Purple Hull Pea Festival held in Shankleville, Texas.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My creative journey has been inspired by several factors but the key aspects is for people to connect, for people to have the opportunity to be seen, and the hope to create work or spaces for people to share their passions.

If I am able to write a screenplay that becomes a movie, an audience members relates to what a character is going through…the work is connecting on an emotional level. If multiple audience members are moved by that work, there is an opportunity to connect with other people to talk about their shared experience.

Working on documentaries has allowed me to create a platform where people can be seen, giving them an opportunity to share their story helps them to feel valued, respected. Documenting accomplishments, tales of perseverance, and heartache, can be beneficial to an audience and most importantly, share insight on the past so similar trials and tribulations may not be face in the future.

The work that I am blessed to create is collaborative, it involves a great deal of talented creatives. Along with developing my craft, these individuals have the chance to strengthen their craft as well or we have the opportunity to give a novice in this art a position that can jump start their career.

As I mature creatively, especially with the dance events, I am curating environments where people can disconnect from the cares of the world, have the opportunity to connect, be social, and have a good time.

This is the beauty and power of creativity, it is extremely broad, and can benefit the artist and the patron(s) on various levels.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative is…being an artist and being creative. To have the chance to have an idea and participate in the alchemy of bringing that idea to life is blissful. During the process, at times, it’s difficult, it’s frustrating but there is nothing else I would rather due is to be an artist and be creative.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gordons.williams/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gscottwilliams/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gordonscottwilliams/
• Twitter: https://x.com/gordonswilliams
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GordonSWilliams

Image Credits

Holsomback Photography
Josh Wilson
Dr. Asha Winfield
Jose Galicia