Conversations with Bairton Brown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bairton Brown.

Hi Bairton, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I share a birthday with Prince (June 7), and I’ve always had similar gender-nonconforming qualities. I was born on the St. Joseph river in South Bend, Indiana to a veteran, civil-rights-era social worker and a harm-reductionist registered nurse. Traveling with their jobs, I grew up between Portland, Oregon and on the University of Michigan’s campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I was raised by a family of educators and healthcare professionals that ignited my passion for healing artistry.

I graduated high school two years early and earned my BFA from The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago, where many of my family members still live. The pandemic began at the end of my junior year, limiting my ability to stage a senior capstone. Instead, I directed a series called Naomi & Levi Take On The World, which was selected for distribution by OTV. My work as an artist and activist led me to NYU Tisch, where I earned my Master’s from the Arts & Public Policy program.

After earning an MA, I took a leap of faith and pursued my dream of moving to Los Angeles. In 2023, I founded an arts and wellness center, Stonehaven Studios, to address public health crisis such as lowering literacy and increasing suicide. Our focus is the intersection of mental health and artistry, both as an artistic incubator and community resource. Beyond our community impact projects and productions, we’ve hosted workshops for at-risk youth, seniors, and justice-impacted communities.

Creatively, I’ve had the pleasure of co-publishing an afrofuturist sci-fi series, Blacktopia with Syllble Studios since 2024. As a playwright, my work has been developed at Congo Square Theatre Company, The Broadwater, and more. As a director I have had the opportunity to stage Shaneisha Dodson’s How Dare You with Affirmation Theatre Company in NYC, Mildred Inez Lewis’ After Passage at Artshare LA, and Cris Eli Blak’s Sing For Me at Willie Agee Playhouse earlier this year. Over the next few years its my goal to adapt my work on-screen, to begin earning my PhD, and to nurture multinational partnerships for my organization Stonehaven Studios.

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?
In elementary school, I was given the chance to play Ebeneezer Scrooge in an adaptation of The Christmas Carol, which taught me the social-emotional skills I needed to overcome my anxiety and post-traumatic stress (Thank you, Mrs. Gleason). Since then I have been a case study in the positive impact of arts education on social determinants of health, especially for low SES, disabled, and/or queer youth of color. Studying theatre performance as a boarding school student at Interlochen Arts Academy developed a sense of purpose in facilitating healing artistic experiences that prioritize everyone’s wellbeing.

At twelve years old I was hospitalized and diagnosed with type one diabetes, something that took away my aunt when she was only a child. At the time, I didn’t believe I would make it to adulthood. However, I’m grateful to still be an active artist almost fifteen years later. This Diabetes Awareness Month, it’s one of my goals to become more of a disability-advocate for others like me. Turning twenty-six this year and losing access to my health insurance was a terrifying experience I had long feared. However, with the help of our local community I was able to overcome that lapse, and I look forward to helping as many as I can live long, fulfilling lives, without those chains.

My work as an artist-activist reached a boiling point on July 17, 2020, the night John Lewis passed. A Chicago police officer cracked my skull open at a Black & Indigenous solidarity rally in Grant Park. That evening, one of my fellow DePaul students, eighteen-year-old Miracle Boyd had her tooth knocked out by disgraced officer Nicholas Jovanovich. Pepper sprayed and bleeding profusely, for standing between my classmates and officer’s batons, my life was saved by my colleagues using their own clothing as a compress. Synchronicitiously, I was stitched up at Rush Memorial Hospital, where my grandfather passed, and my own father was hospitalized after receiving a matching scar from a racist officer in the Marine Corps. My approach as an artist and educator has since become a liberatory practice, pioneering a framework of nurturing joy as acts of resistance, breaking generational cycles through trauma-informed social-emotional learning and anti-violent practices.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m most proud of my work as Executive Director of Stonehaven Studios, where we’ve received grants to produce annual Afrofuturist Art Fairs in Burbank and Inglewood. I’ve also conducted workshops for Sony’s Elevate Actor’s Fellowship, The Burbank Senior Artists Colony, and for LAUSD schools in Compton. My work as a Teaching Artist for The Roots and Wings Project, leading writing workshops for justice-impacted women in Chino inspired me to earn a multitude of certifications, including a CALMHSA Medical Peer Support Specialist certification this year. I’m looking forward to expanding our programs to other states, and abroad, in 2027.

At this year’s Afrofuturist Art Fairs, partnering with local organizations such as The Sidewalk Project and the Mars Collective, we were able to distribute over one thousand harm reduction materials to local communities in need. I’m so grateful for the reciprocity and synergy our work has inspired across Los Angeles, especially Oshana Arts’ recent Hope Street Votes event in Skid Row on San Julian Park, led by Artistic Director Kamal Bolden. My research focus is sustainable economic models for post-pandemic theatre, and this momentum has expedited the process of proving there are invaluable solutions within community-driven education and healthcare offerings. I’m grateful to have been in attendance for the 60th Anniversary of the Black Panther Party in Oakland this Autumn, where I was able to reflect on the continuing legacy and increasing relevance of community-driven programs like ours.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
At Stonehaven, we’re focused on sustainable expansion of our programming, from our arts and wellness workshops to our multimedia productions. We offer customizable workshops for various schools and organizations. We also produce staged readings of new work, and uplift local artists through our traveling Afrofuturist Art Fairs. Our goal is to become an international non-governmental organization (INGO) by 2030. As we look toward 2027 and 2028, we are grateful to have already identified venues for our Afrofuturist Art Fairs back in Chicago, and abroad. If you or a colleague want to partner with us, or bring our work to your community, please email admin@stonehavenstudios.org. We’re also accessible via direct message, and offer benefits through our instagram pages @BairtonBrown and @StonehavenStudios.

Pricing:

• At Stonehaven we value accessibility, person-centered care, and low-barriers of entry. Thus most of our programming is free and available to the public.
• Free Performances: This season we will be co-producing Jha’Neal Blue’s Qommon Love Play Cycle at CalArts. Shows will be held in the Langley Room this November-February.
• More information about our traveling Afrofuturist Art Fairs in Los Angeles, Chicago, and more cities next Summer can currently be found on our website, StonehavenStudios.org.
• Professional Development Opportunities: Registration for our exclusive 2027 writing workshops with Roger Q. Mason will begin in late November. Payment plans are offered, and discount codes are available to our followers @StonehavenStudios.
• Community Engagement Offerings: As we approach the midterm elections, please utilize our civic engagement tool MobilizeLA.org to check your registration status, find your local polling place, create a sample ballot, and ensure your vote is counted. In partnership with Support Black Theatre, we’ve been hosting voter events with venues around LA to help reignite a culture of continuous civic engagement,

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.stonehavenstudios.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bairtonbrown/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bairton.brown
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bairton-brown/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@StonehavenStudiosLLC
• Other: https://bairbrown.com

Image Credits
Photo Credits:

Black Panther Party 60th Anniversary: Troy S. @LittleBeirut

Headshot: Joanna Degeneres @joannadegeneres

Group Photos: Kai Valenta Dorsey Photography @KaiValentaPhoto