Interview: Zion Jackson
Q: How did you begin music?
The very beginning was somewhere in church. My parents were very involved in our church community. They were youth pastors when we first moved to Michigan. They found a church home. My dad started getting involved with the music ministry and I started singing at church. That was my first interaction with music in terms of performing and being about seven years old and starting to perform in church.
Q: What has music taught you that you have applied to your everyday life and how you engage in the world?
It is funny you say that because in this time of reflection I have been doing a lot of thinking in terms of that and analyzing what I have learned as a musician. Some of the main things that music has taught me is I always need to be doing something where I am serving others and making those around me happy. For me, music is more than about playing music well it's about creating opportunities for people and enabling others to feel, showing love and compassion, and sharing stories through messages that may have an impact on others. It's all about serving others.
Q: Has music helped you overcome any hardships in your life?
Yes. Whenever I'm going through something whenever I am in a rough spot I always turn to music whether it is a religious viewpoint or listening to a church service online and hearing worship music through that. Music is the force that consoles and heals me with whatever I am going through.
Q: What other interests and passions do you have outside of music that influence and inspire your artistry?
Going back to the idea of serving others is really what influences a lot of my artistry. Ever since I was a child I have always loved serving others and that is one of the main forces that influences my artistry and work with different non profits and longing to be a part of everything and to help those in need - that is where my artistry lies.
Passions outside of music- I love cooking. That is a lot of my time during this quarantine. I would love to own a restaurant someday. I love food, it's similar to music and the arts, it brings people together and it’s therapeutic for me. I also have really been into learning about production and that is something I have been trying to get into now, this realm of learning about theater production or music production and learning how to create art for the general public. That’s something I’ve been putting my hand in a little.
Q: What have been some challenges in your pre professional?
I would say some of my challenges have been having many passions and not being able to choose just one. I feel like a lot of times we are told we have to stick to one thing and so if you are a ballerina you are only doing ballet or if you are a vocal performance major you have to sing opera and not do anything else. For me, being someone who loves musical theater, and the administrative side, and the casting direction side of things, and I love food, trying to combine all the passions into one.
Q: How can music be a platform for social justice issues?
Music is a huge part of the human life, it is always around us. There is no escaping music - it's on the TV and in movies and all around. I was walking down the street in Ann Arbor and all the businesses are closed but outdoor music was still on in front of businesses. I think in terms of how you incorporate it into social justice is just having music be a part of everyday life and simple conversations. I work with an organization where we deal with social justice and diversity but we make it not a special thing. It's like, let's have a potluck and talk about these issues and just incorporate it into life. It doesn't have to be social justice music but just the music itself.
Q: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you as a performing artist and student?
As a senior I had some things in the works in terms of potential opportunities I was going to pursue but everything is so unpredictable now and I just have no idea what is going to happen in the next three months. I do gigs on weekends in churches and that income is gone. It's really crazy. I feel like the hardest part is being around people. What I love most about being a student and musician is the comradery of being an artist and that is gone right now. That is the biggest part that has been taken away from me.
Q: How did you feel as a senior during the Initial cancellations at Michigan?
Once the pandemic awareness started happening I was doing research and I talked to peers about it, had conversations with people close to admin here, and I was told to prepare for the worst and that hit me so hard. I was like, what does that mean? I had to turn that thing on in my head to prepare for the worst. Once the cancellation emails came in it hit me like a boulder. Thinking about it now, the moment I got the email my heart started and is still aching. I was in disbelief. When I got the email of classes being cancelled on a Thursday, I was driving to Kroger grocery store and I blacked out. I don't remember seeing anything. I was afraid I was going to crash because it was so emotional. Everything I had done that year was over. I was working on the Wiz at the time with Musket and I knew that would be cancelled if classes were. It felt like everything that I had worked for was completely erased.
Q: How did you feel during the last Wiz rehearsal for Musket?
I was the scarecrow in the Musket production in the Wiz. At the last Wiz rehearsal we did a full run because we didn't want to go out without having that done. We wanted everyone to be able to run the show full and give it our whole heart. It was such a great thing and provided closure for me. But there were hopes from the production staff that we would be able to film it in another setting and that is what they worked for. But as you said, the cancellation emails kept coming and that didn't happen. It was so devastating. The production team emphasized how proud and sad they were, and everyone shared the same sentiment and feeling. The last rehearsal was really important to have the last final run and visualize as well as imagine I was doing it in the Power Center in front of a full audience.
Q: What is a message you would like to say to health workers on the front lines if you could?
I think it is interesting that we act like these healthcare workers want to be on the frontlines but they have no choice. People need to provide and they are passionate but again this is their work. I'm so thankful there are people out there that are so selfless and willing to put their lives on the line to support us. I think these healthcare workers need some sort of gratification, they need to be shown support and praised in some way. I am so thankful and grateful for every single healthcare worker including all the administration in the healthcare field, just anyone.
Q: What have you been doing during this time?
I’m working on finishing school. I have been writing a six page paper for three weeks. I feel like I can't do anything. It’s tough. I have been wanting to be creative but it’s weird. I feel like I'm not feeling creative juices which has been very interesting because I want to feel them but I can't seem to produce anything creatively. I think that's because I rely so much on the physical connection with others. I work for Stew and the Negro Problem and I have been helping with their website design and adminsirative tasks. I have tried to find a way to connect other people that may need help like younger students. I do a lot of mentoring with freshmen and sophomores on campus. I have been connecting them with people that I know and see what I can do to make myself better and the world around me. I do a lot of brainstorming of ideas.
Q: What social changes and responsibilities have you seen the music and musical theater world making?
What I have been seeing is this idea of vulnerability. I think a lot of times we take these artists and hold them up and say, “Oh my gosh that’s Beyonce, she is amazing she is a goddess she is perfect!” Basically like we hold artists up and say that their shit doesn't stink and now we are able to see these artists in their homes and relating to them and those famous artists showing the general population that they are going through the same things everyone else in this world is going through. I think there will be a lot of social change towards more realness and vulnerability. I think it is interesting to also see how in times of difficulty and hurt and in times of longing when you need something people turn to entertainment and that is also something to note in terms of social change. There isn't much to do when you are stuck in the house so people watch movies, tv and listen to music. I think with all the Instagram lives I see people really want to see inside the lives of the artists and people are realizing artists are just like everyone else.
Q: Using the idea of “worldmaking” how do you imagine the performing arts world after the pandemic? (Worldmaking: How you can re-imagine the world in your own terms, the way you want it to be. Using this tool one can construct new worlds and write themselves into narratives that have excluded them and systems that have disabled them.)
In my ideal world after this, people will remember how much they relied on the arts for something to do, to heal them, something to comfort them when they were in a difficult time and that will create more support for the arts. Not just financially but in general. I hope people will understand artists more and the arts will become more respected and essential.
