With their roots firmly planted in the fertile soil of Omaha, local filmmakers Andrew Monbouquette and Dan Susman set out on a nationwide journey to study 80 different urban farms throughout the country. Their effort is slowly transforming itself into a documentary, called Growing Cities, but the road to a successful completion of the film has a few twists and turns.
The intent to document their cross-country road trip was not to produce a legendary film, but to educate and give back to their hometown community of Omaha — a city that they hold so dear to their hearts.
Earlier this week, I met up with Monboquette and Susman at their studio in North Omaha at The UNION for Contemporary Art. Past the names decaled on the wall next to the door of their cozy little double-sized shoebox office space, the boys invited me in to chat about the current stage in Growing Cities.
Rural Nebraska has been a huge Midwest market for many agricultural outlets, such as beef, corn and soy. This has been a driving staple point for our state since its birth, but what lacks in our own growing city of Omaha is the real concern for Monbouquette and Susman.
“We didn’t see much farming going on inside Omaha, and most people seemed pretty content to leave those tasks to farmers outside of the city,” says Monbouquette as he checks the status of their Kickstarter campaign.
After seeing multiple signs and billboards throughout town that depicted Omaha as one of the unhealthier cities in the country, along with contradictory signs stating that it was one of the fastest-growing cities, the duo felt that there was a vital question that needed to be answered.
“It got us thinking about this conundrum that asks what is growth? How should we be measuring growth? What is good growth?” Monbouquette says.
It is not a mystery by now that the focal point of Growing Cities is Omaha. Seeing how urban farms throughout the country work with their resources and provide for their community is a fragment of the learning experience that Monbouquette and Susman hope to reiterate back home. For them, it is a desire to see their city implement these important, sustainable tactics in an upfront and vocal fashion.
“A lot of people will go out to Brooklyn or San Francisco and do ‘green’ things, but towns like Omaha need it more than any of these places because nobody is doing it here,” Monboquette says.
“That being said, it is starting to grow, and there are a lot of good people here that are starting to get this off the ground,” Susman says.
Aside from shooting hours of footage, Monbouquette and Susman are in the stages of producing their documentary and are looking for contributors to help make this final product a reality. Since day one, the guys have tried hard to engage and allow themselves to be available in the community and beyond. One of the key factors allowing their work to stay relevant is their social media usage.
“Since we’ve traveled the country, we have a lot of people following us through social media from everywhere,” Susman says. “But our real core group is here in Omaha so we try and cater to more local events that are taking place in town.”
Other than providing fun, factual information and events through social media, Monbouquette and Susman are beginning to see numerical support that can be traced through their followers on Facebook and Twitter.
“Looking at our Kickstarter, it’s something like a couple thousand dollars has come directly through Facebook referrals,” Susman says. “I mean, it’s good to have that community, but knowing that you have a community that you can rely on is really great.”
Growing Cities has pledged to raise $35,000 via Kickstarter by May 16. They have a substantial sum already, but they could use your support. Of course, there are good incentives in making a donation.
To supplement the local vibe that is already buzzing throughout the dynamic of Growing Cities, local music has its own place in the film with the help of Bright Eyes. But beyond having this embedded to the background of the film, Monbouquette and Susman feel that the local music scene and their project go hand-in-hand in creating a joint effort to harness the cultural awareness within our city.
“We always want to address the theme of how we can not only help Omaha, but showcase Omaha,” Susman says. “More or less it’s a strive to expand our local art scene, whether it’s filmmaking or music. All of these things are really important in Omaha and we don’t want all of the young people to go to L.A. or New York. We want them to stay here and let them know there is a great support system.”
On Friday, May 4, Growing Cities will be hosting a fundraiser at Dan Susman’s house, properly coined as “Bouncy Castle Extravaganza.” It will be an all ages family-friendly event that will feature local acts Sun Settings, Sam Martin (Capgun Coup) and Bobby Rubalcava. Yes, there will also be beer and a bounce house. For further details on location and time, join the Facebook page here.
“If we can encourage kids to come to a fundraiser for us that features some of their favorite bands, then it’s a good way to spark interest by pursuing common likes,” Monbouquette says.
Steven is a Hear Nebraska contributor. He hopes to see all of you busting your butts in the bounce house at this bash. Reach him at stevena@hearnebraska.org.