Good afternoon.

My name is Curtis Minter Jr., I am senior fellow of Third Space Action Lab and president of the Akron Roundtable.

I hope that you feel welcomed in this place and you are enjoying your meal.

Needless to say, today is a good day.

We counted and honored that you all would choose to be here with us.

Certainly, it is a reflection of our excitment for today’s speaker.

Akron Roundtable began in 1976, when the Columbus Kiwanis Club of Akron saw the need for a public forum and was given encouragement to continue its efforts to the city of Akron by the late John S. Knight, nationally known editor of the Akron Beacon Journal.

A significant partnership was birthed thereafter by Kiwanis with the Akron Beacon Journal and the Akron Regional Development Board, which propelled us into the future.

This month marks 50 years, 50 years of Akron Roundtable.

And with your support, I am glad to report we are still doing the work of inspiring and promoting community dialog by inviting speakers to share about diverse topics of importance, representing the region, the country and the world.

With that, we would like to thank our 50th anniversary sponsors, Huntington Bank and the Billow’s Funeral Home.

Paul Tazewell will take questions from the audience following his presentation today.

Akron Roundtable board member, co-founder and chief catalyst of ART x LOVE will moderate.

To submit a question, please refer to the QR codes inside of your brochures at your table or those on the side of the on the screen.

Troy, would you please make your way to the stage?

He will be introducing our speaker here today.

I've had the privilege of meeting this man last fall as a part of the Akron Urban League Young Adult Council, and was profoundly impressed by his curiosity and creativity.

Respectfully, I would run out of breath if I shared his bio here today, but for the sake of time, he is a Firestone High School senior performing arts student.

Oh, there you have it.

A performing arts student and also a fashionista And a guest on Kelly Clarkson, thank you, Show this past fall where he first got to meet Paul Tazewell.

In addition, we'll have John Fiume moderating today.

The John S Knight, director and CEO of the Akron Art Museum, to lead our discussion.

John leads one of our region's most important cultural institutions and has played a key role in shaping the growth, programing and community impact there.

Through his work, the museum continues to connect artists and audiences while strengthening Akron's role as a center for arts and culture.

John, thank you for your participation here today.

Troy, you have the floor.

Please take us away.

- Good morning.

Good morning.

Yeah, you can do better than that.

You all look amazing.

Thank you for being here.

Because you could be anywhere doing anything but you're amongst great company this afternoon.

Excuse me.

That may be why you responded as such.

Good afternoon.

I'm honored.

I want to say thank you to everybody in this room for being present.

Thank you for the Akron Roundtable for having me.

Thank you for Mr.

Thank you for Mr.

Tazewell being such an inspiration.

Thank you to my mother for birthing me.

You know, you birthed a go.

Appreciate you, you know.

It is an honor.

It is an honor.

And while we are here today, I want you to be sure to hold in the back of your mind that amongst you is a master of his craft.

A man that understands the language of needle and thread, that understands that clothing says everything without saying anything at all.

A genius.

I am at a loss for words when it comes to me thinking about Mr.

Tazewell, because to say he is an idol is an understatement.

Put yourself in my shoes.

I want to be fashion designer in the world we live in today, and you come across as a 13 year old.

You come across this man and you're watching Harriet for the first time, and you're looking at these costumes and you understand that, dang, it may have taken a lot of work to do a period piece such as this.

Then Hamilton drops.

Hamilton is a hit.

Let me tell y'all they love the music I love the costumes.

Okay.

Imagine watching Hamilton, hearing the music and watching the production and following the plot, but the only thing you can focus on is the master work and the cut and fold of the fabrics.

Imagine.

When you understand and you come to do your research, who's the work behind this?

Who is this?

Imagine finding out being a kid from Akron, that it’s a kid from Akron that grew up less than five minutes from me, that went to Buchtel High School.

And I'm a falcon, you know, falcons fly furthest, go birds.

You know.

But went to Buchtel High School.

And he made it out and he made it up, straight up.

Just imagine and imagine you get a call one day that you have the opportunity to not only sit amongst Kelly Clarkson, the American Idol, but you get to sit right next to and hold conversation with the man, the myth, the legend, the one who you've been watching on these screens all this time, but not being on camera.

You've seen his work and you've come to understand his work.

You can imagine how my heart is bursting with thankfulness to the Lord for this opportunity, but also to Mr.

Tazewell for being such a force to be reckoned with.

There is no other work of art.

There's no other catalog.

There is no other collection.

I am talking Versace, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana that I look at just as I look at Mr.

Tazewell.

So it is with an immense honor.

I am able to welcome him to this stage on today, and I will welcome you to give him a standing applause, because it is what he deserves.

Thank you so very much.

- That was about winning the Oscar.

That was good.

Troy, thank you very much.

It is such an honor to be here in this room with all of you.

It's also overwhelming to be back in Akron with all of you, and with everyone who came to say hello before this event started, just briefly.

I am so greatly moved to be here, to be back here, because it's been a long time since I've been back here.

I apologize that I'm going to read some of my presentation, just because I want to make sure that my words are succinct.

Thank you for welcoming me back and thank you for inviting me back to place, to a place that has shaped me in ways I'm still discovering.

Akron, Ohio.

Standing here today, I am deeply honored.

Little did I know at the time, but the rigor and practice of art that was manifested in me here would then and now become a meditation that I lean on throughout my life, even at the most challenging times.

This place has been a haven for me.

It helped me grow into the Black man that I am today.

There was struggle, there was growth, but more importantly, there was community.

There were people who saw me before I fully saw myself.

People who recognize my potential and carried me through moments of doubt.

It was here that I first began to love myself, to trust my own voice, to trust my own vision of myself.

And that love has shaped everything since.

Over time, I've learned that my work as an artist goes far beyond craft.

I'm a visual historian.

I'm an architect of identity.

I'm a culture keeper.

My work, it dignify, it challenges.

Hopefully it inspires.

True artistic leadership is about more than talent.

It's how you show up, how you treat others, and how you push the work forward with integrity.

Art does not happen in isolation.

The best work I've ever done, the most fulfilling projects came out of experiencing life, collaboration, listening, and trust.

Many people know me for large scale productions like Hamilton, Death Becomes Her, MJ on Broadway and most recently, the internationally acclaimed Wicked.

I'd like to speak to people that were involved in that, in those experiences and the collaboration that that was for each individual production.

With Hamilton, what I carry with me is my collaboration with Tommy Kail and Lin-Manuel Miranda, and how important that engagement was in the authenticity, the truth that we were able to create and therefore what you receive off the stage.

With John M. Chu, the director of both Wicked films, Wicked Part One and Wicked: For Good.

His generosity of spirit, his full heart.

What resonated throughout the cast, all of production and therefore myself and how it affected how I felt centered and empowered to deliver the Wicked that hopefully you now know and I would hope, love as well.

My collaborations with Steven Spielberg and West Side Story, and also the upcoming Disclosure Day that will open in theaters in June.

Each of these directors, the leaders that they are set a tone that trickled down.

So for all of you in this room that are leaders, I urge you to be your best self because it has an effect on the product that you get from those that work with you, those that work under you and your in result resonates with the joy that you create with your leadership.

Also, my collaboration with Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, these wonderful and talented artists that each of them individually have huge hearts and beautiful personalities.

And I want to urge you to understand how much they bring to their work and therefore that collaboration coming together affects the work that I do as well.

And, you know, the tone was set indeed by John M. Chu and how he related to his cast and therefore how it connected to my work and how as a leader of my department, it resonated out as well.

But before those incredible opportunities arrived, I moved through the world by saying yes to what came my way.

Starting early on, that meant working alongside classmates I graduated with, some of you here in this audience.

Other times it meant building new relationships with collaborators who are now part of my extended creative family.

These connections have carried me forward, rooted in trust, sustained by curiosity, and strengthened through the discovery of new ideas together.

Theater, film, dance, opera, music, fine art.

These are communal forms.

They demand that we show up for each other not only with our heart, but with our humanity.

I stand here to urge all of you to invite more of the analog world into your creative life journey.

Let your education expand beyond the screen, beyond the scrolls and the algorithms.

Seek out libraries, the archives, those handwritten notes.

Take the longer path.

Have conversations that don't come from filters or easy exits.

Allow yourself to sit in discomfort.

Sometimes that’s where growth happens.

These real world experiences are what shape your instincts, your empathy, your considered eye.

They'll give your life depth and set your partner world full of shortcuts.

I want to take this opportunity to call out because of how meaningful these people were in my history coming up in Akron, and how I carried them with me throughout my life.

Karen (unknown), who was my choir teacher growing up at Buchtel High School.

Arnold (unknown), I just saw Reva Henderson.

(unknown) I just saw you.

These are people that I was at Buchtel with.

And you know, those beautiful hearts that helped to create who I am and that I now have the privilege to share with the rest of the world with everything that I do.

And that just speaks to, in a small way, how Akron has inspired how I move through the world.

Definitely with my family.

Unfortunately, they have all moved to other places in Akron, but I feel the resonance of their spirit here in Akron with all of you gathered together.

So it's a huge privilege to be a representative of Akron as I move out in the rest of the world and share my work globally.

And then I also want to thank the Bichtel alum that is here, the Buchtel High School alum, and anyone who stepped into the doors of Perkins Junior High School and Rankin Grade School as well.

So thank you so much for having me here and for honoring me today.

- Wonderful words, Paul.

Thank you very much.

You've made collaboration sound a lot more elegant than it usually feels.

Just was experiencing that this morning, actually.

I'd love to stay with that idea of collaboration and creative leadership.

And I was actually with Paul last night when he was speaking at the Meyer School lecture series, and you had mentioned about leading large teams and what it takes to be able to do that.

So if you could describe for the audience, how does that all come together?

It's not as simple as saying, here's some sketches, go try this on, and, you know, right?

So if you could describe a little bit more and then why collaboration is so important because of all of the different variables and pieces that are in play.

- Sure.

I'm going to start it by saying, you know, it was a, a long, sometimes painful road to realize that... I couldn't do it alone.

You know, when I think about and again, some of you might remember this.

When I was asked to design The Wiz at Buchtel High School at the age of 16, a huge privilege it was because Buchtel at that time was a magnet school, and I don't even know that it still is, but it was a magnet school, and so there was a good amount of money that was poured into the school for the means of integrating.

And with that, there were different programs and the one that I gravitated to was performing arts.

And Arnold (unknown), when he was there realized some of my interest leaned towards costumes.

At the time, I was also interested in being an actor and a dancer.

So I played The Wiz in that production.

But he offered me the opportunity to design my first fully realized production.

But I was doing it basically alone, and then my family, you know, chipped in, and I think that there were some other helpers.

But essentially, you know, I was up until, you know, 2 and 3:00 o’clock after I did my homework working on costumes.

But that set a tone that this was on me to deliver.

And the only thing that saved me was to realize that I needed to delegate, that I needed to be able to communicate and this is what it's about.

Communicate what my idea is to someone else, and trust that they will manifest it in a way that I will approve of.

But that means that I have to let it go.

And that was a hard lesson to learn.

I didn't learn really, until I was, you know, already designing it as a professional, you know.

So I had been through eight years of school and then I, you know, was invited into different regional theaters to, to design.

And mainly it's, you know, it was life saving because of, you know, it’s completely destructive to try and spend that amount of time.

So, greatly necessary to use the talent.

And actually, you know, I realized that it was beneficial for me to use the talent of other people because it's additive and to embrace that.

So, you know, to then carry that experience.

If you could follow the idea to what you might have seen in Wicked, you know, each of those pieces.

I wasn't, you know, I wasn't making it under the singer sewing machine like I did when I was in high school.

That wasn't me.

It was my idea.

And it was the the collective of research and sketches and more sketches and detail work, and you know, that I communicated to someone else in order to then realize something that could be really extraordinary and to capitalize on the expertise of amazing tailors, of hand embroiderers, of hand beaters, weavers, knitters, you know.

So to have access to that was a golden moment, but it required that I trust, let go of the control of making it happen.

And the benefit is that together, in collaboration, something amazing can be born.

And so that is where I am now.

And that's, I think that's about maturity.

- So Paul, approximately what size of a team would come together for productions such as Wicked or Hamilton?

- We had a full time shop, our workshop.

Our costume workshop was 70 people full time, and then we would go up to 150 people.

And because we had some days of background that were about 400 people on set.

400 people plus.

So it required that we have a huge team.

- That's great.

So I'm going to stick on the topic of leadership here as well.

I heard you mention that you are a world builder and can you describe that for the audience?

It was a wonderful takeaway from a presentation that I heard.

- There are two I mean, that operates on two different levels.

World building as a designer, I see myself as one that crafts the overall vision of a world, a world of a story.

So when you think of Wicked, again, to use that as an example, you know, this world of Oz that we all have a preconceived notion of from the Wizard of Oz, The Wizard of Oz book, The Wizard of Oz film with Judy Garland, The Wiz, Wicked, the Broadway show.

There's a preconceived notion of what that is.

Our job was to create a new version of what that vision would be, and in doing so, we were world building what that whole vision might be so that you can engage with it as an audience member.

You can engage with it and step into something that is plausible.

That meant that everything about it needed to... Be defined.

We needed to create rules of decoration, of architecture, of clothing style, accessory, the kind of shoes, what we were defining and creating rules about every element so that when you saw it, when you saw this world presented you could believe for those two hours that this actually exists.

And that's the magic of of filmmaking and also the magic of theater making you let go of the fact that it doesn't necessarily, you know, it's not real time and they're all on stage, but you're still, as a designer, hoping that you’re creating this world that you can lose yourself in as an audience member so that you can experience the story as directly as possible, as closely as possible.

And in doing so, you're creating a world that is a consistent vision.

That's where one, you know, one thing is talking to another.

On a more spiritual side, I'm world building in that, the work that I do.

I'm a singular person creating an idea about a story, and I'm telling a story but that story is being heard by all of you.

And then everyone that you know gets to hear a bit of it as well, either through you or because you've said you should go and see this show, you should go and see this film.

So there's a resonance of the work that I do and with that, hopefully the energy that I bring to the intention that I bring to my work, the beauty that I hope to bring to my work as it affects you, it also affects those people that are connected to you.

And so that, it is that kind of world building as well that is very important to me.

- And how did growing up in Akron help influence that?

I know you mentioned wonderful people that were mentors or coaches along the way or influenced you, but what were the biggest things that you feel like you took away?

- I think that it was... The sense of community.

I mean, the sense of community that started with my family and how I was raised, and a center of love, a center of nurturing and, you know, and feeling okay in myself.

You know, because I grew up, you know, when I was very young.

And some of you may know, I mean, you know, I was a fat kid struggling to understand who I was.

And it, you know, I wasn't in sports.

I didn't do that.

I didn't, you know, my brothers— They did, you know, I had three brothers and they excelled in sports.

They were outgoing.

I found myself within the community of theater making.

I knew early on that that was where I could find space.

And it also allowed for me to express as a designer, as a crafter, as a designer, and as been a performer.

And as I matured, I realized myself and, you know, fully understood who I am.

You know, who I am, you know, as far as my sexuality, who I am as far as a creative person, how I want to relate to the world.

It was the... That bubble of protection from my family that, you know, that allowed for that to happen.

And then, you know, my community of theater makers and all of those creative people in high school and, you know, so that is where I developed the skills to be able to feel okay.

Moving on to New York, moving on to North Carolina School of the Arts, moving on then to NYU and then out into the world as a designer.

And so that's how I, you know, Akron at that time, there was just enough.

So it made me hungry to reach out in other ways.

You know, it wasn't so... Scary.

You know, I received messaging that felt like I can be empowered to do this, you know?

And thankfully for my mentors, for my teachers, I was encouraged to continue to go forward.

And I’m hugely grateful for that as well.

- So your family in Akron did you well?

- Yeah.

- I love that, I love that.

So as a Black gay artist and leader, and given the world that we're living in today, what role do you think communities should play in investing in the next generation?

And I know Mayor Malik is listening intently.

- You know, time has really changed— All of us, you know, realize this.

You know, time is so different from the, you know, our existence is so different from when I was coming up.

I think that it is absolutely necessary to prioritize honesty, to prioritize love and acceptance, to prioritize creativity and culture, because that is all that we have.

That we can hold on to that is authentic.

And, you know, I believe that those people that are leaders, those people that are in positions of power, in different, you know, in different business and, you know, other structures that it's imperative to start to value that kind of thinking in how we team up and how we organize our interactions with each other.

You know, and it's me working firsthand with many, many, you know, an army of creators.

For every project that I'm working on, it's a different set of players.

You know, I don't work with the same people all the time.

I might work with them multiple times across a period, you know, of years, but the players are always shifting and changing.

The cast is always shifting and changing.

The director is always shifting and changing.

And I'm still myself, but I have to figure out how do I fit into this puzzle of creative people.

So I'm, you know, I'm often in a position of leadership that requires flexibility in who, you know, who are the players that I have and how can I maximize what they bring to the event.

And I think that that's about creative leadership, that's, you know, being able to, you know, manage what you have access to and make the most of what you have access to.

- So related to that, then what's next on the horizon for you?

- Well, on Broadway, we're in previews for Joe Turner's Come and Gone, So that is an August Wilson play.

It's a revival.

It's the second revival of this play.

It's a beautiful story about a boarding house in 1911, in Pittsburgh.

So about very humble, aspirational people, much like my family or some of my ancestors.

But it also speaks to love and connection in a very poetic way.

So that is one of the things that I'm working on.

Disclosure Day is a new film that Steven Spielberg directed, and that's opening in theaters in June.

So I designed that as well, it’s my second time working with Steven.

And then I'm busy with a revival of Dreamgirls, which is the first Broadway revival, and that will happen in the fall.

- So speaking of the work that you do in the artistry, you know, many people, you and I were talking, many people assume that you were, you are a fashion designer.

And can you explain the difference between a fashion designer and a costume designer?

- Yeah, when I left Buchtel, my, the first college I went to was Pratt Institute and I entered into Pratt Institute as a fashion design student.

And that was because I could, you know, I thought, oh, fashion.

It's kind of connected to costumes.

I really just want to be in New York City, and I'm going to take any opportunity that I can to live in New York City so that I can start to take dance class and audition and work on my career towards being a Broadway star.

That didn't happen.

And fashion was not a good fit.

Part of it was the personalities that I ran into in fashion.

There's a, you know, there's a strong elitism that was part of the fashion culture at that time.

You know, you might sense some of that even today, but it's, you know, it is also, it was a time at that time, there was a homogenization of fashion that seemed to be happening, where now, today, it’s much more individualistic.

You have more of a, more expansive quality in the, within the fashion industry, which is fantastic.

But at that time I felt hemmed in and because I was, you know, coming from the world of theater and theater making and costume making.

So, you know, that said, I decided to transfer to North Carolina School of the Arts and started my progress in costume design, directly into costume design.

I lost the thought.

What was your?

- That quite often people will assume that, oh, you're a fashion designer, or they'll just create an equivalence between the two.

- So... You get, you know, a bit of the gist of what I was saying.

The fashion is an industry that is created for, for to, you know, represent trend and for marketing a visual element that you will purchase.

Everything about it is about making money in the end, and it is creating beautiful things and beautiful ways of representing our, you know, each of us, you know our selves.

You know, each of you in this room you got up today and you thought, oh, I'm going to the Roundtable today.

Maybe I'll dress in this because I want to show up in a certain way.

And so, that we each make choices every day about how we want to present ourselves to the world.

It's our outer surface.

It's our armor.

It's our decoration.

It's meaningful.

It says something about our personality.

That is what fuels fashion.

But I want to as a costume designer, I take that and all of your connections, each of you in this room, your connections to clothing or how you judge other people and their clothing.

I'm using that as a medium, and that's my language for how I costume, you know, because that draws on your connection to a certain silhouette, a certain color, a quality in fabric, how it is fit on a body, and you as an audience member are able to make a judgment about what you see and relate that or connect that to the person that's in the role and wearing the costume, and that says something about who that character is and what their role is within the story.

And then one character in a costume next to another character in a costume, and what that relationship is and how that works together.

So it's manipulating the imagery of clothing as a costume designer.

That's a scientific way to look at it.

- So my last question, I'm going to build upon that, and that is, that you say you've said at times that costumes can tell lies.

What do you mean by that?

So I think it's building upon your last response a little bit.

- I mean, I can... Let's say with Wicked and we think about Elphaba, on the surface, you can see her as a reflection of the Wicked Witch of the West.

And you could decide to stop there.

What I was searching to do was to understand what's underneath that, what is underneath that archetype, and how did she get to be who she is?

So the idea of a person dressed in black with a pointed hat is an image, and yes, it might be scary.

And yes, even today at Halloween, that is the scary image for some, you know, some young child.

But indeed, the hat was a gift from a friend who, you know, in giving that gift, this friend felt empowered.

The choice of black clothing was because she was in mourning for her mother at a very young age and never let go of that.

So therefore, what it says about her character is that she's stuck, and until she meets someone else, until she's put into a dormitory room where she has to but up against the exact opposite of where she's coming from, you know, she doesn't, she's not shifting.

And she's still hearing the same tape, the same recording from her parents, you know, a lack of love.

And in that engagement, she softens.

She opens up, she moves away from black, but then finds it again in order to create a statement.

So she's then empowered in the image that she is embracing.

So that's where it, you know, it tells lies only in that... I'm manipulating what the imagery is and trying to direct the untold story for the audience.

And that comes from a place of assuming that you'll get it, you know, and I can only rely on what my relationship is to the imagery.

That's as far as it goes.

So I know that 70% of you will get it.

You know, the other 30%, it may take a little bit of time, but then after you see it over and over again, you will hopefully get it.

You know, so that's how it works.

- That's a great response.

So I hope I become part of that greater percentage next time I watch a movie I'm just going to be so into the costumes and completely forget about the storyline, right?

So I think we're ready to move to some Q&A, right?

Paul, thank you very much.

- Of course.

Thank you.

Great questions.

- Paul, first of all, I just want to say thank you so much for bringing Akron to the world through your work and through all the things you do, you know, bringing the world back to us.

It's such a treat and delight to be able to follow your work.

So thank you for the inspiration for all of us here today.

We had so many excellent questions.

I'm going to try to get through as many as I can.

The first is from a young Black artist working in Akron who says they're really focused on building something meaningful locally.

What helped you stay rooted in your identity and your voice as your work reached bigger stages?

- It was the passion for the work.

Because, I mean, there was a lot of time where it's being a freelance designer, being a freelance artist.

Those of you in this room who are, it is no joke.

You know, it is on you to generate the work.

It's also on you to say yes to opportunity, but it is imperative to lean into that place that knows that you will be okay, that trusts that everything will work itself out.

And I think, you know, it’s all of those elements and, you know, much of that I attained from my parents and my family.

- This was a very interesting one.

Do you know who you are designing for prior to creating your costume?

How does that influence your process?

- Sometimes you do.

Well, sometimes you don't know, I'll leave it with that.

Oftentimes you don't know just because of how the timing works itself out.

I mean, I was working on Wicked and even West Side Story about nine months to a year before we were actually in production.

So at that time, people were being cast as I was developing ideas.

So the idea shifts and changes once you add the— I mean, always once you add the actor into the mix, you know, the image that you’re going to have, you know, that will take precedent into the mix.

I had the gratefully I, Jon Chu shared with me.

He was sharing, you know, the tapes of the different actors that he was seeing and then Cynthia Erivo came up.

And I had already been, because I knew Cynthia from Harriet.

She had been in The Color Purple previous to that, in the revival of The Color Purple so I knew she was a force, but... In that moment, it aligned with how I was seeing her because I was seeing myself as Elphaba as I was designing and trying to figure out who is this person and why is she the way that she is.

And... And, you know, this speaks to really how I, how I grew into being a designer, because the fact that I was an actor and a dancer, I carry that with me into how I design, and that allows for me to have an understanding of what is the character development, where are they from, what is their backstory, how are they going to move through space?

All of that is information that goes into my design.

But I wouldn't have been able to do that as intimately if I didn't come from a place of having been a performer.

And I can understand then standing side by side with an actor in a fitting room, I have a better sense of what they're working towards and how I want for my clothing to then support that.

- Let's see.

Looking back, were there pivotal moments or environments that allowed your work to gain traction beyond your immediate community?

- It was Akron.

I mean, it was, you know, it was growing up on— I spoke of this last night.

Growing up on Avalon Avenue, which was dead in the street.

That dead ended into the football field of Buchtel High School at that time between 1972 to 1982.

So that was my going through grade school into junior high at Perkins Junior High and then into Buchtel.

That period of time was a time of great integration in that neighborhood.

You know, there was was Avalon, there was Dorchester, Glendora.

There was Morley on the other side.

You know, it's like all of this... There was great change but also within that there was support for who I am, who I was.

And in that, you know, in engaging with this multicultural community neighborhood, feeling well within this community, held within this community, I could then in a safe way, find who I am, find, you know, find myself, and then be able to walk out into the world with great confidence.

Again, led by my parents, by my family, my mentors, my teachers.

You know, all of that was imperative as well.

But it resonated with the, you know, the environment that I was growing up in.

- There are a couple of questions on this about the arts as a viable career.

Can you speak a bit about the importance of the arts to the economy and to society overall?

The arts in every different form are storytelling, our creative and artistic expression.

Our architecture and spaces.

That is who we are and that speaks honestly of who we are.

And I, you know, and it is for the most part, humanly wrought.

As long as, you know, as soon as we let that go, as soon as we no longer value that, then we have no human connection.

And then who are we as a culture?

So in that it's imperative for us to raise up our arts and culture.

- I don't know if these two questions can be tied together, but one is, what is one mistake you made early in your career that taught you a lot?

And what is the best advice you would give a young person today?

- Read that again.

- What is one mistake you made earlier in your career that taught you a lot?

And what is the best advice you would give to a young person today?

- I don't know if it was a mistake, but I would say it took me a long time to find my voice.

And to... Value my voice for myself and therefore to be expressive.

And it was deep into being a costume designer or being a professional.

And so I wished that I had gotten to that place, and that I see it as a mistake or a missed opportunity that I didn't really lean into valuing who I am and all that I bring to the event of theater making or filmmaking.

My point of view, my opinion, all of those I held back because I didn't trust myself, and I wish that I had realized that earlier.

So for any of you out there who are still struggling with that, you know, it's work to realize that because, you know, it's necessary to share, you know, and especially if it's coming from a place of love, kindness, generosity, it's imperative.

It's imperative, especially now.

- So there are a couple of great final questions here, but we only have a minute.

So I'm just going to ask what gives you the greatest piece.

- I think that it is... Having someone Say that they were moved by my work.

That is because that's the reason that I believe that I'm here.

So it's probably that.

Yeah.

- That's beautiful.

Well, we are all very moved by your work.

Please, everybody.

- At this time, I would like to invite Michael Batu, vice president of our award sponsor, Gardens Wealth Management.

We would like to present you with a token of appreciation, Paul, as the feature speaker here today.

- This is our appreciation from Akron.

So something that you can take back home with you.

Thank you for sharing your time.

- Thank you.

This is beautiful.

So wonderful.

- Both contemplative suns have been designed by again, legendary artist Don Drumm.

And you also have the special edition for the 50th anniversary.

And so, again, Hamilton and Wicked, costume designer, Oscar and Emmy Award winner, world builder Buchtel alumni and Akron native, Paul Tazewell, ladies and gentlemen.

I applaud you, Paul.

Between John and the Q&A, those were some great questions and you persevered.

And so with that, we would like to also show a token of appreciation to John Fiume for moderating today.

Thank you both.

Nearly finished, y’all.

Next month will be featuring the president and CEO of HATCo and Acting President and CEO of Summa Health at our Signature Series luncheon on Thursday, May 21st at Quaker Station.

We recognize Summa Health as an anchor institution.

As one of the largest employers in the county with deep roots in the local community.

Mr.

Daryl Tol will be sharing about the progress Summa Health is made in the past eight months and into its partnership with HATCo.

In addition to the new vision for the community based lifelong care of our community, the presentation will highlight how innovation, connectivity and deep local commitment are strengthening health care in Akron and positioning the community as a national health care leader.

We are greatly appreciative for all of you being here today.

That is it and have a good one.

We are adjourned.

Thank you.