Daily Inspiration: Meet Steven Curtis

Today we’d like to introduce you to Steven Curtis.

Hi Steven, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
If I had to sum it up in four words, A Life of Change would describe it well. I grew up not knowing what I wanted to be. I lost interest in school after the 6th grade and if it hadn’t been for the social aspects of High School and my parents, I may have left my education there. I just didn’t have a plan about what was next.

A year after graduating, I was in the military and a year after that in Vietnam. It was then that I realized that if you don’t have a plan, someone will plan for you, and that may not be in your interest. After service, I enrolled in school still not knowing what I wanted to be. A Humanitarian, I suppose but what is that? As with most jobs and experiences, I stumbled into Respiratory School and stayed on at the KU Medical Center. Leaving there ten years later as The Residency and Staff Development Coordinator. I left to pursue my interest in photography.

The next seven years was a sidetrack into lobbying and statewide political campaigns. Then focusing once again on photography, I was lucky enough to land some assistant work with Nick Vedros, a local legend with a national reputation. Three years later, my wife and I opened our own studio doing advertising and magazine assignments. We were in an old confectionary building across from our sons’ school and two blocks from our home. After 12 years, I started teaching art in intercity Catholic schools in KCK and moved to a smaller studio to focus on photography projects with schools in USD 500.

Sometime around 2005, I received a call from a program coordinator for Artist in Schools in Alaska. They offered a 3-week residency in a small village 70 miles east of Nome. The experience was amazing and seemingly close to what I also thought I might want to do. Growing up reading Hemmingway, I guess I fancied a life of adventure! I continued in the program for five additional trips to Alaskan villages and islands of small communities.

In 2010, turning 60 y.o. and still wondering what I wanted to do but had experimented enough of what I didn’t want to do, and moved a little closer to figuring out where I was headed. I was offered a job with a local Community Development Corporation focusing on Community Building & Engagement with residents in 5 urban neighborhoods in KCK. Working with youth from the neighborhoods, 100’s of selfless volunteers, few resources, but enlighten spirits; we created low-risk environments where people could gather, get to know one another and work towards common goals. In eight years, we created the EPIC Clay Studio and park on Strawberry hill, a community garden in St Peters neighborhood, redesigned and programmed Waterway Park, built the Splitlog Farm next to M.E. Person school and put in the first coffee shop in 30 years in KCK.

I thought I had finally landed in that sweet spot of a job where I could utilize the talents that I do have in a creative and purposeful way for common good. Working daily in these neighborhoods, engaging and inspiring young kids to get involved, to get purposeful, and learn new skills. In 2018 I left the CDC, along with the community mobilizer I had worked with on all of these projects. A few months later, we started Urbanworks, a community investment group, investing in the human capital of our community. Our focus is on art as a tool of engagement, green initiatives to create green space environments and opportunities for self-sufficiency, and mentoring of neighborhood youth.

Since we started Urbanworks, we have done consulting for the Housing Authority, are in process of repurposing an old neighborhood gas station that my wife and I bought. We have also partnered with the Latino Arts Foundation to provide art camps, mural groups. We also partnered with Resurrection School in St. Peters to design and execute a green space across from the school, where the old confectionary building once stood, which is also across from the old gas station. With the help of zoom sessions, student participation, a grant from LISC, a gofundme account, and awesome volunteers; we created a beautiful green space with fruit trees, berry bushes, and a pollinator garden of native plants. We are programming the space with art and literacy sessions this summer. And will continue to develop more activities for youth in that space which is affectionately called Confectionary Park after the building that once stood there.

Just last month, my Urbanworks partner, Diosselyn Tot, has taken over ownership of the company. My wife and I will be operating Urban Station, the gas station, as a personal studio that allows for my projects and a place for Urbanworks to operate out of. I will continue to work with Urbanworks on green initiatives and teaching hydroponics. That’s where we are.

Change, the only thing constant in these neighborhoods, and this world is change itself. I am still wondering what I will be, but until then I will keep following my interest and try to apply any skills I might have to bring people together for a common good.

One other thing I might throw in here is I started a Friday morning coffee in 1995 at my studio in the confectionary building. I wanted to bring clients and neighbors together. Since most clients I worked will didn’t live in and maybe had never been in KCK. I also used neighbors as talent in ads and it could be an opportunity for them to meet. Anyway, the coffees have followed since that time. At different places, even my front porch for a short time. The coffee still continues, open to anyone, from 8-10 am every Friday… There are no presentations or agendas. Well, most people have agendas, but they have to plead their case one on one.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
They are abundant! Lack of resources, lack of permission, working with different groups and personalities. It’s a mind field. But they are what they are and we usually have very little control over them. So in my mind, they are just things, some good, some not so good. You just have to work around them.

The real obstacles are the voices in our heads. Always inflicting doubt. Always comparing, bringing all of the rain to the parade. The challenge is to not pay any attention to them. I have to say, that is much easier at 71 y.o. than 25, but an important learned skill. There are few things we can’t do if one has a plan, alters the plan when necessary, and then takes advantage of the opportunities that exist – the rest is just working.

I know some people are afraid of failure, and some are afraid of success, but in the end, they are both just part of the process. Don’t take it personally just make adjustments.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I guess I see myself as a creative. An artist with some photography and teaching skills. A problem solver for community engagement. A mentor to youth, a believer in the ability to change what is around you. My work regardless of the subject is always an extension of myself. I prefer pursuing a lifestyle to having a JOB!

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Much like obstacles, they are things. If you don’t attach emotions to them, they are just things. My wife thinks I am a window jumper. Jumping through windows of opportunity without knowing how I will land-I suppose, but I do know I will land and the main thing is to get up and start moving.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.facebook.com/Urban-Station-KCK-102779842099233/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steven.curtis.792/

Image Credits
Steven Curtis and Pam Curtis