The Greenbelt community is bringing culture and new experiences to parts of the community that are typically underserved.
If you pass by the New Deal Café, you can see Shaymar Higgs’ artwork, including brightly painted acrylic panels and three-dimensional work, currently displayed in the windows. Higgs also has a show of embroidery appearing at the Whitman Walker clinic downtown D.C.
If you have been in Beltway Plaza Mall near the AMC Theatre, you might have noticed The Space: Free Art For All, a project initiated by Higgs nearly three years ago. The Space will soon be expanding to include a coffee lounge. His concept is to employ young people by giving them experience in making and serving pour-over coffee in a peaceful and relaxing community environment. The new Third Space will be a venue that is neither home nor work, but a community living room representing Black-owned, veteran-owned and disability-owned spaces while offering coffee and conversation.
Higgs envisions a lounge where folks can meet new people, use the Wi-Fi and browse materials including Black-created comic books and a graphic novel section in partnership with the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System. The Third Space will provide work experience for young people in a setting where their dignity is respected.
As the new arts coordinator for the New Deal, Higgs hopes to organize field trips for his new young employees to show them “what a professional kitchen looks like, and get them out of their current environment to see what is out there.” Higgs’ artworks on display at the New Deal are for sale to raise funds for projects at Beltway Plaza because, although The Space is provided by Beltway Plaza free of charge as a public service, to keep it running donations are always required.
Pandemic Help
Even through the pandemic, The Space has distributed 600 art kits free for the asking. Through The Space, Higgs and his team of volunteers provide materials, inspiration, a physical space to do art and an overflowing spirit of positivity, creativity and determination to change things for the better in the community. He noted, “Someone might say, ‘I’ve never made anything in my life,’ but people of all walks of life have found solace and created something they were proud of. In Black homes, art can be so out of reach. We’re providing people with these tools to help people make art that they’ve created and that they can be proud of.”
The Free Market at The Space provides a place where people can drop off items and other people can find things they need for free. One woman who found clothes at the Free Market, said, “I came to America in November and I’m finally getting clothes.” After that she came back regularly to donate.
Mall Meditation
The mall spot adjacent to The Space was developed as a meditation room, and this room is now open as well under Higgs’ oversight, for guided meditations and peaceful contemplation. The room offers an opportunity for “getting youth into meditation with recorded and private meditations, to help people wherever they are and provide resources to help them become more authentic versions of themselves,” Higgs said. He recounted how one young man said, “I’m a thug in the streets but here I am enjoying meditation.” The meditation rooms offer a place for slowing the brain and body down, to find calm and comfort.
Beltway Plaza Kudos
Higgs has built a good working relationship with the management at Beltway Plaza Mall, where he faithfully attends the monthly merchants meeting. He said, “The mall management has been very helpful to the merchants during the pandemic.” He also noted that, “The pandemic has forced everyone to really sit with themselves and realize they felt depression for the first time. At the end of the day we’re all human, when we put these problems behind doors, no one heals.”
