26
FEBRUARY 8-14,2018
Our Town|Downtowner otdowntown.com
Business
#METOO FOUNDER WORKING ON A BOOK PUBLISHING Tarana Burke’s memoir to be published early next year BY HILLEL ITALIE
Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo movement, is working on a book. The Simon & Schuster imprint 37 Ink told The Associated Press last
Friday that Burke’s “Where the Light Enters” is scheduled to come out early next year. Burke, who will co-write the book with asha bandele, will tell her own “ordinary, extraordinary journey from victim to survivor to thriver” and explain why #MeToo was so necessary. “The book will also help readers understand the often overlooked historical connections of the role sexual violence plays in communities of color, specifically black com-
munities, even today, while exploring ways the same communities have been both complicit and resilient,” Burke said in a statement. “More than anything, this memoir will provide survivors across the spectrum of sexual abuse a road map for healing that helps them understand that the ‘me too’ movement is more about triumph than trauma and that our wounds, though they may never fully heal, can also be the key to our survival.”
Burke started #MeToo a decade ago to raise awareness about sexual violence. After women last fall began speaking out against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and others, actress-activist Alyssa Milano followed on a suggestion from a friend of a friend on Facebook and tweeted: “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.” The hashtag was tweeted nearly a million times in 48 hours. Milano has
said she wasn’t aware of Burke’s contributions when she made her initial tweet and has since publicly credited her. Burke and Milano appeared on the “Today” show last month after Time magazine named “The Silence Breakers” — those who have shared their stories about sexual assault and harassment — Person of the Year. At the Golden Globes ceremony in early January, Milano attended as the guest of Michelle Williams.
A RIDE THROUGH TIME TOURISM
IF YOU GO
Utilizing virtual reality and live performance, an innovative new tour makes history accessible to New Yorkers and visitors alike
WHAT: THE DOWNTOWN EXPERIENCE WHERE: experiencetheride.com (leaves from 200 Water Street in front of Starbucks) WHEN: Times vary
BY CHRIS DASTOOR
It’s no secret that Manhattan is steeped in history. The Downtown Experience aims to create a multifaceted experiential tour. You can encounter the Lenni Lenape people who inhabited Manhattan 500 years ago, immigrants searching for a new life in the land of opportunity, President Washington being inaugurated, the worst day on Wall Street, and a look from the top of One World Trade Center — all while sitting on a bus. “We’re going to be re-framing the concept of people boringly talking at you on a tour, and instead bring you into the heart of the city,” says Richard Humphrey, CEO and CCO of The Ride LLC, the company that produces The Downtown Experience. “These are actors, not tour guides, they’re telling you different moody stories that stick to the facts of the history, illustrated by videos and all done by hundreds of hours of research,” Humphrey says. Humphrey works to bridge the arts, entertainment and business communities together to create exciting and innovative new technologies. He has led endeavors to develop video-conferencing technology for performing arts, streaming media, and introduced Broadway to mobile marketing. “When I was entering mid-career 15
or 16 years ago, I decided I didn’t want to be left behind on digital technology,” Humphrey says. The precursor of The Downtown Experience was The Ride, the company’s eponymous bus ride through Midtown where the streets are the stage for the performers. “When I got recruited to work on The Ride, I had a pretty strong background sitting at the intersection of digital technology and content construction.” The Downtown Experience takes a different angle, as history is the focus point and passengers are guided through the history of downtown Manhattan. “The Downtown Experience is a passion play for me, I’ve always loved downtown, it’s always had a strong history and very difficult last few years,” Humphrey says. “There was really nobody living above 14th St. until the early the 20th century, so I wanted to tell a story of the thriving pulse of New York City itself, going back 500 years to the Lenni Lenape Indians.” The Downtown Experience delivers virtual reality simultaneously with live performance. As you are intro-
Passengers getting the fully immersive VR experience. Photo courtesy of The Downtown Experience duced to the virtual reality experience on your headset, a troubadour serenades you. “I built the storytelling of The Downtown Experience around virtual reality,” Humphrey says. “The aim is to create experiential entertainment, which is the future of tourism.” Because this is no ordinary tour, there is a full team operating the bus on the day and a great deal of time and expertise was required for the produc-
tion. “The virtual reality pieces were literally hundreds of hours of work. Recreating the interior of the 1929 stock exchange took countless computergenerated hours from photographs of the period,” Humphrey says. “The [depiction] of George Washington from [the] 1789 inauguration was recreated from etchings from the period.” One of the most moving parts of the tour is its 9/11 tribute, as a video plays
on monitors inside the bus with a rap song over the top. As you look down, you notice the rapper is right in front of you, on the street performing the song live. Says Humphrey: “The thing I love about the 9/11 piece was the staging, because I had to find the perfect place to do the performance, then do reveal of the building, then put on your headsets and go inside.”