When AAA executives wanted to reach out to twenty-somethings, they came to Monsoon Microstudios, in a desolate stretch of North Philadelphia, where they perched on green vinyl stools around a plywood conference table held up by oil drums. Were their hosts embarrassed? Far from it. The recycled furnishings and downscale location are part of what they stand for.
Monsoon is the for-profit arm of a non-profit arts collective known as The Hut, which sprang up from a church and warehouse complex bought in 1995 by architect Charles Szoradi, GAr’93, and two Philadelphia artists. They bought the 34,000-square-foot space for $100,000, hoping to spark a cultural and economic rebirth in the economically-distressed neighborhood. Since then, Szoradi and two other Penn alumni, Taheem “Tyme” Gadson, C’93, vice president and studio chief, and Ronnie Norpel,W’84, marketing director, have meshed their talents to put Monsoon, a multimedia microstudio, into high gear. “It’s a pretty great team,” says Szoradi, president and art director. They are aided by a support group of designers.
To
Gadson, a veteran of MTV in Manhattan, Monsoon’s location at Eighth
Street and Girard Avenue — part of an urban empowerment zone — is
symbolic. “I think Charlie, as well as I, use Philadelphia as our escape
from the society of New York to actually get the work done.” He likens
their venture to that of the pioneers of film, who “escaped New Jersey
to go off to the desert of California” that became Hollywood.
From
this North Philadelphia “desert,” they see themselves as a culture
conduit for the sixteen-to-thirty-six set. The “Millennium Generation,”
as Norpel dubs their target group, is one “weaned on MTV, quick cuts,
and insipid sitcoms. They’re starved for visually stimulating, yet
relevant, content.” In addition to providing video-production,
graphic-design, and multimedia services to businesses and organizations,
Monsoon produces its own cable television show, Ooze. The
magazine-style program serves up cutting-edge music, art, fashion, and
short films. Because of The Hut’s location in an empowerment zone, the
group also hopes to turn it into a job-training ground for local
residents and is applying for some of the federal funds set aside for
the area.
The Hut’s reputation quickly spread through its hosting of parties with
attention-getting themes, such as Trash and Fashion. Szoradi says those
events encouraged “some of the most talented people in the city” to do
some creative “cross-pollination.” Philadelphia authorities blocked more
parties until the century-old building is brought up to modern codes,
though they are expected to resume this spring.
For
Gadson, who once had his sights on becoming a banker, it was a Cannes
Film Festival seminar his junior year at Penn that “took me out of the
financial world and opened my eyes to the possibilities of
storytelling.” After graduation, he traveled across the country to make a
film, and his partner in the project was a friend of Szoradi’s. He
later wrote for MTV, and then worked on film projects that included an
interview with death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal and Behind the Scenes with Beavis and Butt-Head.
In October 1995, Gadson returned to the Philadelphia area, where he met
Szoradi again; the two soon became business partners. Gadson believes
the ideas concocted at Monsoon are more innovative than those produced
in the “antiseptic,” corporate atmosphere of MTV. “They’re simply not
there to represent this generation; they’re more there to rip this
generation off. We’re on the edge.”
Raised
in the Philadelphia suburbs, Norpel said she wasn’t exposed to art or
culture until she began working in New York. There she met Gerard
Malanga, Andy Warhol’s Factory manager from the mid- to late-sixties,
and co-curated the first comprehensive show of Warhol’s art after his
death. Norpel took her earnings to Hollywood, where she acted, worked as
a rock-and-roll dancer at the China Club, and held a full-time job. She
met Szoradi about a year ago when she returned to Philadelphia. They
exchanged cards, and in January Norpel joined Monsoon.
In
the Monsoon office, amid such “found object art” as faux marble columns
transformed from metal filing cabinets, sits about $40,000 in computer
equipment. “There’s a little bit of David and Goliath,” says Szoradi,
“but David has got this laptop…” Monsoon edged out New York design
firms, for instance, when it was chosen to help shape corporate identity
for Chef Georges Perrier’s new restaurant, Brasserie Perrier. PNC Bank
requested an overnight design job for its computer software when a major
telecommunications company couldn’t figure out what to do. And AAA
chose Monsoon for initial art direction to market financial services to
twenty- and thirty-somethings. The meeting took place around the plywood
conference table. “What’s fun about the table is that balance of the
more sensuous tactility of the art world with the nuts and bolts of the
corporate requirements,” says Szoradi. “We’ve found that somehow.”
By Susan Lonkevich
