Leigh Busby Photo
Edward Beverly (above) and Killian Dobroth (below) performing Thursday night at Musical Intervention Studios.
“You gotta be who you are,” Edward Beverly sang Thursday night in an alcove retail space beneath the suspended concrete planet known as the Temple Street Garage, “because that’s who you are.”
Beverly was performing a rendition of “Best Part” by Daniel Caesar, featuring H.E.R., that he made his own at an open mic inside the home of Musical Intervention, a scrappy nonprofit that has kept hearts beating and hope pulsating inside the canyon beneath the garage — and amid an often cold city and world beyond — for nine years.
The open mic, and the small space itself, has become a haven for homeless individuals, veterans, people seeking to kick drug habits, and others in transition from trouble to a more stable life path. Arts are the means of the mission: People come to do art, take songwriting workshops, get counseling, and, each Thursday, perform.
Click on the above video to watch Beverly’s performance Thursday.
The organization always runs on a shoestring — which is in constant danger of fraying and unraveling. Founder Adam Christoferson planned as a result to close the center, and end the weekly performances, this month. He found the money and resolve to keep it going another three months. He’s looking for lots of financial help to keep the enterprise going as a “connection for people in crisis,” as Christoferson put it, “a safe space for people to be creative and express themselves” and start to heal.
“I don’t know if this is going to last more than three more months,” Christoferson said in between performances Thursday at the 23 Temple St. storefront space. Click here to learn more about the organization and contribute; click on the video below to hear more from Christoferson about the mission in a conversation with Leigh Busby.