Today we’d like to introduce you to Miriam Conner.
Hi Miriam, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Hustle and flow. Encouraged from the start by matriarchs of family, culture, and art. I grew up working hard and cultivating community as a direct witness to entrepreneurship, activism, and the power of gifted innovative women.
My Mom, Zoe Upshaw, Lisa Byrd, Reji Thomas, and Meredith Powell.
Then: I am an only child. I came to Austin when I was three years old because my mother wanted a bright future for me. As a single parent for the majority of my life, my mom worked a full-time job and managed a business with her focus on me graduating college with a mission. She is where I get my strength, resilience, and power to choose love that continues to propel me into my destiny.
I graduated from St. Stephen’s Episcopal School and grew up in our East Austin restaurant business. My family used to manage Ben’s Long Branch (where Franklin’s is now) and after that, we opened our own restaurant called Gene’s New Orleans Style. These restaurants were a couple of many other businesses that bridged the gap dividing East and West Austin via I-35.
I have been taking art classes since I was in Kindergarten with Zoe Upshaw, the owner of Austin Creative Art Center. She was my first mentor who introduced me to creating art and is my inspiration to forever uphold the arts community as my number #1 love.
In High School, I fell in love with darkroom photography, which led me to walk across the stage of Carnegie Hall to receive a national award with Glenn Close as the keynote speaker. I graduated with a BFA from the California Institute of the Arts where I learned how to create and facilitate community.
After graduating, I returned home to Austin where I stumbled upon the historical Pine Street Station owned and operated by the renowned artist and a U.S. Veteran, Reji Thomas. I curated and managed the artist hub and warehouse, working side by side to ensure artists had a community by equipping them with affordable space and tools to create for art lovers to invest.
Pine Street Station’s location has become Whole Foods and Target at Plaza Saltillo.
Prior to college, during summer jobs, I was mentored by the founder of ProArts, Lisa Byrd, who taught me arts management, how to think outside of the box, and how to strategically engage our black community through the arts. After graduating college, I helped Lisa create Six Square which is Austin’s Black Cultural District (formerly the African American Cultural Heritage District). I was the first program coordinator and curator.
I continued community engagement at Forklift Danceworks, collaborating with the City of Austin’s Art in Public Places, Parks and Recreation Department, and Aquatics Department on My Park, My Pool, My City.
Now: Public City balances economic and social opportunities for communities through art. As the Community Director and Curator, we thrive in arts-based community engagement ensuring that real communities socially and culturally are a part of nonprofit + institutional projects or programs.
Meredith Powell is the founder of Public City. For over thirty years, our combined experience has allowed us to build strong alliances and community trust through transparency, honesty, and meaningful work. We build relationships with the community and organizations by using art as a medium to converse, understand and remove barriers by collaborating with local artists and community advocates.
Our work brings the community to the table to co-create the future of Austin without taking advantage of our community history.
I have volunteered on the City of Austin’s African American Quality of Life Commission, and during Winter Storm Uri I volunteered for three weeks, 14 plus hours a day, serving 6,308 people, distributing 49,781 meals and 9,981 gallons of water with the Community Resilience Trust. I am now also a part of the City of Austin’s Winter Storm Task Force.
I am on the board for Preservation Austin because I believe that history and preservation are key to cultural survival in Austin. We need to protect and preserve the culture and legacies of Black and Brown communities to ensure a truthful and united future.
My newest endeavor is as a brand ambassador for CHAWAR, an Ecuadorian Agave Spirit (an adult beverage) made by Ecuador’s first all women’s indigenous co-op. Most people think Agave is only cultivated from Mexico; however, for thousands of years, indigenous Ecuadorian women have been hand-harvesting the sap of the Agave. They call it Chawar Mishki, in the Quechua language, Chawar means raw and Mishki sweet.
I have known the family that started this community-building distillery for 20 years. When I discovered that the company is rooted in education and a sustainable indigenous culture, with an environmentally conscious product, I hopped in!
We all deserve to thrive, not just survive!
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?
2020 magnified the demand for diversity in our nation. It is gut-wrenching knowing that the African American population has dwindled to single digits and it’s obvious when you travel throughout communities as I do. I barely see my reflection in Austin anymore.
Experiencing change and being comfortable in my skin is my biggest challenge. I do it well but it’s not as easy as breathing.
The energy between communities becomes fragmented when neighbors or community members reject the energy of history. Through COVID19 and the Black Lives Matter Movement, I have felt this energy turn into a roller coaster of emotions.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Public City – public-city.org/
CHAWAR – www.drinkchawar.com/
Any big plans?
Within art, a brushstroke or the reflection of light on an object is captured energy. Just like the energy that passes from person to person to make a connection. That energy and emotion never leave, however; it can change.
“Communities change but the history stays the same” – High on the Hog
“The Only Constant in Life Is Change.”- Heraclitus
So why not lift each other up and change together?
Gatekeeping power is not the answer; but, sharing power and knowledge that comes with it is. It’s how we fight together to make things better.
My hope is that the understanding, respect, and appreciation of a city’s history becomes the crux as we flow from place to space and from house to home.
It is vital to express what goes on and what you would like to see in your own backyard. The right to healthy food and water is a human right. It’s a human right to improve your life. It’s the constant action of human respect.
“Our shouting is louder than our actions,
Our swords are taller than us,
This is our tragedy.
In short
We wear the cape of civilization
But our souls live in the stone age” – Nizar Qabbani
We must be intentional in protecting and sharing our planet. We have to learn to live and appreciate each other’s culture and focus on stabilizing our climate while balancing social and economic development for all.
Contact Info:
- Email: MiriamConner@gmail.com
- Website: MiriamConner.com
- Instagram: @MConner512
