Eviction fight rallies support for artists
Artists rallied behind Christopher Reyes and Sarah Fleming on Monday and framed an eviction proceeding against the couple as an attack on Memphis’ creative class.
About 100 people turned out at a “Stand for Creatives” rally in support of Reyes and Fleming.
Owners of the Madison Hotel went to court last year to evict the couple from a Main Street loft that’s the subject of an ownership dispute. A General Sessions judge sided with the hotel, and the ruling has been appealed to Circuit Court.
Reyes, a visual artist and founder of the Live from Memphis arts website, and Fleming, a film producer
and director, live upstairs at 1 South Main with their two small children.
Reyes and his mother, Vernice Kuglin, say they bought the upstairs after the building was divided into condominiums in 1993, but the Madison’s owners maintain they bought the entire building in 2016. The ownership dispute came to light as the Madison’s new owners out of Chicago prepared to renovate the building next door to the hotel.
Speakers portrayed it as a case of gentrification, in which a couple devoted to Downtown’s revitalization find themselves being pushed out by investors attracted by that revitalization.
“It seems as soon as the investment moves in, the creatives are pushed out,” said Pat Mitchell Worley, co-host of the Beale Street Caravan radio series and founder of FanfareCR.
Musician John Paul Keith said, “We want growth in Memphis, we want these opportunities, we want money to come into Memphis so we can all work more, but we do not want it at the expense of our cost of living, we don’t want our artists getting displaced, and we don’t want our community being disrupted or taken advantage of.”
“As far as I’m concerned, this is an absolute outrage…” Keith added.
The rally was organized by Memphis Women in Film.
“This rally was organized because we could not stand by silently, as our friends and fellow artists are so ruthlessly mistreated,” film director Joann Self Selvidge said.
“We realized while this is an extreme case, this was representative of how many of us as working artists have been dismissed, mistreated or taken advantage of by people in power who really don’t understand what it’s like to make a living as an artist,” Selvidge said.
Reach reporter Wayne Risher at (901) 529-2874.
Joann Self Selvidge