Accusing Youth of Greatness: Dermell Brunson's Arts Revolution (Episode 80)

In this thought-provoking episode, we welcome Dermel Brunson, founder of the Leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center (LTYC) in Baltimore, who is dedicated to transforming the lives of young people through the arts. We dive into the crucial role that arts education plays in building self-esteem, confidence, and leadership skills among youth. Dermel shares the inspirational mission of LTYC, specifically aimed at filling gaps where traditional resources fall short in supporting young individuals who yearn for guidance and encouragement.

During our conversation, Dermel discusses the benefits of engaging in diverse artistic pursuits, illuminating how these experiences foster not only creativity but vital life skills that set the foundation for successful futures. We explore the success stories of LTYC alumni, showcasing how the staircase of achievements leads to impressive opportunities, giving young artists visibility and pathways to their dreams.

Moreover, we tackle pertinent issues regarding community involvement and the importance of nurturing youngsters in a supportive environment, while also addressing concerns regarding the role of technology in artistic expression. By creating a familial network of support, every young person can know their worth and potential through mentorship and encouragement.

As we wrap up, we encourage listeners to consider how they can impact their communities by utilizing their passions to uplift the youth around them. Join us on this enriching journey toward empowering the next generation, and let’s create a future full of inspiration, creativity, and success together! Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share your thoughts on how you’re contributing to youth development.

To learn more about the LTYC program and all that they do, please click below.

LTYC.net

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to the MindShift Power Podcast
• 10:00 Meet Dermel Brunson: Founder of LTYC
• 24:40 The Mission of Leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center
• 40:15 Filling Gaps: The Importance of Support for Young People
• 56:30 Real
• 1:12:00 Encouraging Community Action for Youth Support

Transcript

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 0:01

Welcome to MindShift Power Podcast, the only international podcast focused on teens, connecting young voices and perspectives from around the world. Get ready to explore the issues that matter to today's youth and shape tomorrow's world. I'm your host, fatima Bey, the MindShifter, and welcome everyone. Today we have with us Dermel Brunson. He is out of Baltimore, maryland, and the founder of LTYC, which we're going to talk about in a minute. How are you doing today, dermel?

Dermell Brunson: 0:36

Doing. Great Thanks for having us.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 0:38

And thank you for coming. So tell us, what does LTYC stand for?

Dermell Brunson: 0:44

Leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 0:47

All right. So what does that mean? What do you do?

Dermell Brunson: 0:50

Yeah, Leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center. We are a 501c3 arts education nonprofit based in Baltimore, Maryland. We serve all of Baltimore, most districts and counties in Maryland, DC and Hampton Roads, Virginia, With arts education, performing and creative arts for young people ages 2 to 19. We're talking music and theater and dance and visual arts and creative writing and culinary arts and fashion and cosmetology and media arts.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 1:23

Wow, that's like 75 things you just named.

Dermell Brunson: 1:26

Yeah, when you break it all down, it actually can compute to 75 things, because all of those art forms have subdivisions. I think that's awesome, I think that's really awesome.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 1:35

So you cover a lot. It sounds like you cover a large area. You're talking about the Baltimore DC area. That's huge.

Dermell Brunson: 1:44

I don't think the rest of the nation necessarily recognizes how big that actually is, but I'm familiar when you include the whole, both metropolitan areas is definitely, you know, several million, absolutely, you think greater Baltimore and then DC Metro.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 1:58

That's a lot of humans.

Dermell Brunson: 2:00

Yes.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 2:02

Now I saw something on your website that I thought was an excellent quote and I wanted to read it. It says by providing opportunities and resources that otherwise would not be available, LTYC programs build higher self-esteem and self-worth in young people who are yearning for success. Yes, that statement to me is jam-packed full of stuff, but I want you to break that down. I want you to tell us how that's true and why.

Dermell Brunson: 2:28

So we're called? We're called to be gap fillers. Right, we want to fit, we want to stand in the gap and make up the hedge. If there's anything that is missing in the development of young people, we believe we. We want to do it through the arts. So what we're having and seeing in the urban, suburban and rural communities of the Mid-Atlantic, we're seeing that there's a great need to fill in the gap and supplement for young people where they might not have opportunities to engage and be enriched by the arts.

Dermell Brunson: 3:01

And so young people yearn for approval, young people yearn for structure. Young people even yearn for correction. Even the most sassy-mouthed, tough-talking kid, they really want to have structure and have love built inside that structure. So our little niche of the world and the earth that we're trying to impact and plant seeds around is just through the arts. We don't do science, we don't do math, we're not doing athletics. That's not anything that we're doing. Our leadership development comes specifically through accessing and connecting young people to the performing and creative arts, to build their social, interpersonal skills, communication skills, their confidence and to be strength-based using the arts.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 3:51

I love that you have a very narrow focus and honestly, I think the most powerful, the most impactful programs are just that they're very narrowly focused, because when you're narrowly focused you have that concentration, you just can be more powerful with what you have, instead of trying to spread yourself thin across all these different areas and art still is a broad area. But that narrow focus I think is absolutely beautiful and explain a little bit more when you talk about the kids that seem sassy, actually want structure, because I think I know what you're talking about, but I think there's a lot of people that don't get that.

Dermell Brunson: 4:30

So if you could explain that, Because you know, normally in going straight I'm gonna go right in counselor in the community of Baltimore and DC and working in facilities where young people are in group homes or lockdown facilities, rtcs, receiving treatment, receiving rehabilitation.

Dermell Brunson: 4:53

What I found immediately is that if you lean into the strengths of a young person, you're able to guide them through the unwanted behavior, and so we're just finding the good is what we call it in our philosophy of care. We're finding the good in each young person, and so if I see a young person that's very articulate, able to advocate for themselves, as we would call it in the Black community in the hood mouthy, right, I'm always going hey, you must want to be a litigation attorney. Yeah, exactly, you sound like a politician, you must be a preacher. You must be a preacher, you must want to preach. Just calling out all the things that align with the skill set of being articulate and being quote, unquote, mouthy or sassy, and staying away from the urge to demonize the behaviors of young people. We have to accuse young people of being well, we have to accuse them of doing well.

Dermell Brunson: 5:58

Because we use that word accusation. The word accusation we always believe is synonymous with things that are unwanted behavior or negative connotation. But I can accuse you of doing well, I can accuse you of being great, I can accuse you of walking in your gift, and so that's what we're up to for team, and we want to. We want to make sure that folks believe in that and we want to give it to as many young people and their families as possible.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 6:26

And I absolutely I mean you and I have talked off air, so you know that we are just like the same when it comes to our passion, when it comes to our youth, and I, you know, I want to add to that just a little bit. You know, when we see kids that react, no matter what color they are, no matter what their background is because this is true, whether they're rich, white, black, poor, chinese, whatever when you see that mouthy reaction or that attitude reaction, it's always coming from somewhere. 90% of the time it's not coming from I'm just an asshole. Sometimes it is, but that's only maybe 10% of the time. 90% of the time it's coming from a multiplicity of factors. It's coming from somewhere. And going back to what Dermot said earlier, they want structure because, as human beings, we like when things work. We want structure, we want things to work.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 7:24

And sometimes they're just learning. They're young and learning like the rest of us, so they're just still trying to figure it out, but within their circumstances, within their background, within their surroundings, and that's where the differences are.

Dermell Brunson: 7:35

I love how you say we want things to work. I like that.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 7:38

Yes, I mean that's what. That's what we want things to work. I like that. Yes, I mean that's what we want as human beings. Can you give us an example or two of a child's life who has been impacted by your program?

Dermell Brunson: 7:50

You know, without giving names, what we've seen is sending young people on a trajectory of self-awareness and self-evolution. That's what the arts does for any individual that's connected to any of the performing and creative arts. The first journey is of one's self right, you know, being able to have accomplishments, feeling a sense of success through small, small tidbits. And so we've, we've learned and monitored young people that have been in our programs, you know from the last 10 years or so, that end up going to arts conservatory schools, additional arts programs. They get involved in community theater or dance or music. They are connected to a myriad of programs that a lot of our arts instructors, who are the backbone and heartbeat of our programming, they are the folks that are in the community teaching our young people. There are oftentimes relationships built where the stars of those courses and their families because you always need the family to support and sign off on that type of interaction are then allowing those young people to engage with our instructors outside of the classroom or the afterschool or the summer program. Right, and so we've been able to just humbly monitor and lovingly monitor. You know how many lives are being, you know, pivoted. You know from maybe looking at their gift or their skill set as something that's just a talent, versus something that can take them to different heights educationally, help them travel, help them see themselves and their family and environment in a different way, because environment creates feelings, environment creates feelings. Because environment creates feelings, environment creates feelings. What you see, what you hear, what you smell, all of those things create a feeling in you, even if it's sense, memory or something you've never experienced. And so we've noticed that young people, when we put them in the environment of the arts, it creates a feeling. It creates a vibe that'll never leave them a feeling. It creates a vibe that'll never leave them nor forsake them. So that's where we want to always lean into.

Dermell Brunson: 10:06

Is that, looking at the lineage of those exposures that we give to young people in music, theater, dance, visual arts and all the things, we're noticing that social skills are improving. We're noticing that a wantingness of coming to school is improving, especially in a Baltimore city, a DC, a Prince George's County, maryland. We've noticed that attendance has been impacted because I know that I'm coming to to get to my favorite dance class. I might not be paying attention in my other subjects, which we don't, we don't advise, of course. We want young people to still lean in academically. But if you're not feeling the strength-based success that all human beings must feel in some area right, we talked about it with you earlier. Right, with something you're working on projects, websites Once you feel that sense of I can do it, it creates a thing, and so that's all we're doing is tracking that I can do it.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 11:02

It creates a thing, and so that's all we're doing is tracking that. I think that is so much of what you said I completely agree with and so impassioned about that and helping our youth to recognize that their gifts and talents should be turned into something lucrative for them. And that's something that I teach is one of my focuses as a coach, actually, because I truly believe that every gift and talent we have isn't just there so we can look at it. We should be doing something with it and we should be making money at it and not just working a job. It's a very different life when you're just working a job to make money versus when you are living out your purpose with passion.

Dermell Brunson: 11:43

It's such a major difference.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 11:47

So I want to switch the conversation a little bit to others around the country who can hear you. They can hear what you're doing and are getting excited because they're like you know, I too have a similar passion and I don't know what to do, but I want to do something. So how can people around in this instance we'll talk about Canada and the US how can people over here do something like what you're doing? What advice do you have for those who are just kind of lost and maybe afraid to start and doesn't know where to start?

Dermell Brunson: 12:21

for those who are just kind of lost and maybe afraid to start and doesn't know where to start. Yeah, that's a great question and you know I don't have the answers from on high for that. What I would encourage folks to do is you know, follow their inner voice, that you know that leads them, and persevere. So if you're interested in human services which is basically what we're doing it's youth services, it's through the arts and it's leadership and it's all of that, but at the core it's human services right we don't work with computers.

Dermell Brunson: 12:49

We're not in a call center somewhere, you know, answering calls. We're working directly with people, and so if you're interested in working with people, especially young people, then I would encourage folks to you know, follow your passion, follow your heart, and if it's specific to the arts, then, which we definitely need, that Right we are. We are limited, we don't have, just don't. It seems like we would.

Dermell Brunson: 13:15

Again, as you and I were talking earlier, when we think about the Western right civilization and Western mindset and the accessibility and the blessings of the bountifulness that exist there, you would assume, one would assume that every young person throughout the United States of America, including Alaska and Hawaii and Canada, and even territories, puerto Rico, wherever right, that those folks that are connected to the wealthy countries, but the truth of the matter is they don't. So if you're out there and you want to do it, please do it. Please find ways to start a program. All it takes is one decision, right, life is about relationships and decisions and the decisions we make about relationships, and so the decision of hey, I'm going to start it in my community, out of my home, out of my church, out of my community center, out of the neighborhood school or rec center or library and get that group of kids together to start impacting, please do it. Get that group of kids together to start impacting, please do it.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 14:21

I want to dial back to something that you said a few moments ago and it's related to the last question that I just asked. So you said sometimes you said the family should always be involved. We both know there's a whole lot of times where they're not and there's a lot of kids out there who literally don't have support. And this question is more of an international question because there are a lot of teens out there who genuinely have no real support around them. How do you get around that?

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 14:52

I know it does make things more difficult, but how do you get around that?

Dermell Brunson: 14:56

It's tough and so, and when I use that word family, I'm using it in an all encompassing sort of way. And so family is not just your birth family, right, but it could also be your natural family. It could be that that folks that's married in that, that you know that, that foster mom, that adoptive mom or dad, right, that foster mom, that adoptive mom or dad right, that mentor, right, that religious leader, that teacher that took a liking to you in school and you took a liking to that teacher and they've been coaching and helping you. That coach, that athletic, that football coach. That's a family network that we have to also believe in, especially, as you mentioned, for young people who may not have their birth family supporting them. They also might have a natural family or an extended family. Those three different things and thanks for asking that, so I don't want to be confusing.

Dermell Brunson: 15:54

When I say family, I mean all of that right Is that we need someone with the relationship that's the biggest thing I'm saying who has the relationship with this minor, this child? Yes, because you can, as an, as a community person, providing the arts or any other resource for young people. What you deposit is important, but how it's cultivated is also spellbounding. When you have the family right. When you have because it's only so much you can do three days a week at a football practice right, you can have that structure, you can have that input been happening in the family dynamic, in the family network.

Dermell Brunson: 16:40

It's tough, and connecting to your earlier question about how to see the recidivism and the effects of what the work for the arts is doing in the lives of young people, we need the family, you need to have that report, you need to have that approval, you need to have that lifeline, that ability to communicate, to reiterate messaging, and so that's a powerful thing is that we all learn through repetition, and so the ability to repeat with a family or rehearse, as we would say at LTYC, because we're performing and creative artists, so we rehearse Right, we don't practice, we rehearse. So when you're rehearsing that with a family, it can cultivate the seeds for team in a different way than just that one-off, you know.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 17:32

Absolutely. What do you have to say to parents who are listening right now?

Dermell Brunson: 17:41

Identify through your love that you have for your child. Identify what they're good at. Identify the gift and call it out of them. Speak it to them. Tell them how good they are at it. Tell them what you see for them in the future. Tell them what you've noticed about how well they do something. Again, accuse them daily of how great they'll be in the thing that you see in them. Oftentimes, you know we wait for the epiphanies to come in over life's journey. Right, you know, it's the idea. Oh, you're going to school and you're focused on school and we all have that fifth and sixth grade. Well, even earlier, shoot when you're five and six years old, maybe when you're in first grade, and they're saying well, what do?

Dermell Brunson: 18:30

you want to be when you grow up.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 18:30

I want to be a fireman, I want to be a policeman, I want to be a doctor, and so you tell and you know that's right.

Dermell Brunson: 18:45

When I was a kid, Dermel, the first thing I ever wanted to be was a magician. I thought I was David Copperfield. That's all I wanted to do.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 18:53

Well, you are creating magic in our youth, so you did live up to that, that's powerful.

Dermell Brunson: 18:58

Thanks for saying that. I didn't think of it that way.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 19:00

I want to go back to something you said a moment ago. It reiterates everything you just said.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 19:11

Key thing that we tend to forget as human beings, but especially as parents and those who work with youth. We learn through repetition. Our kids need to know. Many of the kids, especially the ones acting up, need to know that they have value. We need to, as Dermell says repeatedly daily, accuse them of the good things about them instead of telling them they're stupid little niggas or whatever you want to call them, because kids do hear that at home, in other derogatory terms, they do hear that sometimes at home. Reinforce the good, and even if you just look at a kid and you're like, oh, that kid's smart, but you don't say it out your mouth, you have no idea how much you might actually need to hear that.

Dermell Brunson: 19:50

Because we all need to hear it.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 19:51

We do Even as adults.

Dermell Brunson: 19:53

You just touched me just now, telling me we're doing magic with the kid, like I never heard that Nobody's told me that. You just touched me just now. You just affirmed something in me that I didn't even realize. That was something that was in me from a four or five-year-old that I thought I lost. You just affirmed it in me.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 20:09

Everything we're supposed to do is in us. In a four or five-year-old, we're just taught out of it most of the time. But yeah, you are creating magic with these kids. I mean, that's why I have you on. It's beautiful and we need more people like you. So I got a special cloning machine. You want to come over to my house and we can clone you. Let's do it.

Dermell Brunson: 20:31

I've been waiting on a cloning machine. We've seen it in sci-fi movies for years.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 20:35

It's time to make some clones.

Dermell Brunson: 20:37

I wish we would have cloned a couple people before they start passing away Quincy Jones and a couple, and we could just have cloned a bunch of a couple of other people. We'd be in good shape. I think, right, dr King, we could have cloned a couple of people, but no, that's a good idea. The way we clone is through mentorship.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 20:55

Exactly. We got to create the next generation, which is why I'm doing this podcast, because the next generation needs to be better than us. We suck. I want them to be better. That's the way I put it all the time. I want to see the next generation to clean up the mess that we've left them and if we want to be the change you want to see. But that also means creating your next generation of people who can make those changes. No, there's been no cure for cancer yet, so let's create the next generation of people that can do that.

Dermell Brunson: 21:26

Yeah, we're going to spark the brains of people that do that, you're going to do it and the work that you're doing with the podcast. I want to hear something that you or one of your guests says and it'll enlighten. You know, we're going to spark through the arts. We will spark the brain of the next generation of kids that will change the world. Yes, and curing of a seemingly I want to use that word seemingly incurable diseases, because I believe that all diseases are curable in some form or fashion. We just haven't found the way yet. What herbs mix?

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 21:58

with other herbs.

Dermell Brunson: 21:59

Yeah, what elements? What things are? Other stuff, so young people if you always lean into the creativity aspect, which is why I'm very concerned I know this conversation is not about that. So I'm very concerned about the pushing of AI because it starts to strip away slowly the creative instincts and the creative pulse that's spiritual, that we're starting to take it away from kids being able to lean into ideas that provide that eureka moment, that aha moment, something when you know it's been divinely inspired. You know that you're not smart enough or academically sound enough or experienced enough. We've all been there where something comes, an idea comes. Once you start leaning too much with young people utilizing AI, you strip it away. The creativity is going to help. Whoever that person is, that will find the cure for cancer.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 22:50

That will find the next technological advancement. Very good point.

Dermell Brunson: 22:54

So that's what we're on that journey.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 22:57

I have an analogy for what you just said. It's like a person that never exercises and just sits in bed and lays around and eats all day. They will be unequipped to run when the Robert breaks in the house because they're not physically fit. And I use AI too and I love AI. However, I agree with what you're saying in that we have to have it in balance, because if we rely on it too much, we don't use our brain muscles and we are unfit to do anything. So adults listening too, because there's some adults who use it heavily right now too, because it is good for business in a lot of ways but we should partner with it and not let it do everything for us. That's where the balance is For me. I partner with it, not let it do everything for us. That's where the balance is For me. I partner with it. So when I write things, I partner with it. I never just do this Okay, I'm going to go to sleep now. I don't believe in that. So, dermot, tell us, where can people find you?

Dermell Brunson: 24:00

LTYCnet is our website. Ltycnet, leaders of Tomorrow Youth Center. Ltyc Arts A-R-T-S on all social media platforms. Ltyc Arts on all social media platforms. And those pieces right there allow folks to connect, read up on what we're doing, support, donate, connect and also identify how we may be able to partner school principals or superintendents or folks you know, youth pastors and leaders that are looking to infuse the performing and creative arts into their milieu for young people. Ltycnet and LTYC Arts on all social media platforms.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 24:53

All right. Well, dermot, thank you so much for coming on. I wish we had another 17 years to keep talking, because that's about how long it would take, right, because we're both so impassioned about our youth. And please, continue to do the great work. I really admire what you're doing and you know I may have talked about cloning, but I do wish there, I would like, to see more Dermels out there in different communities, not just in the US, but around the world, and we're all going to look different doing what you do, but there needs to be more people doing their version of what you do. And if you're listening and you were thinking about it, take this as inspiration so that you, too, can make a difference in your neighborhood. And now for a mind-shifting moment.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 25:45

And now for a mind-shifting moment, I want to hone in on one of the points that was made today. Jermel is doing amazing work and I'm so glad that he's doing what he's doing. But how many other undeveloped Jermels are listening to me right now, meaning you have a passion, you have a desire to help those around you. You just don't know what to do. Start off on your block, start off in your neighborhood, start off in your household. Start off in your family, encourage those around you.

Fatima Bey The MindShifter: 26:30

One of the biggest things that his program offers isn't just refinement of skill, but encouragement, and with that comes positive development. You are capable of doing that too. You don't have to create a big, massive program like he has. You can just start off at home. You can do that too. You don't have to create a big, massive program like he has. You can just start off at home. You can do that too. You do not have to create a big, massive program like Jamel did and some of you. Maybe you will too. But I don't care where you're listening. You could be listening in Mongolia, zimbabwe, in the forest, in Brazil. You can do something in your village to help and encourage the youth around you. When you help and encourage the youth around you, you are setting your community up for a better future. Just think about that. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow or subscribe to MindShift Power Podcast on any of our worldwide platforms so you too can be a part of the conversation that's changing young lives everywhere. And always remember there's power in shifting your thinking.