(upbeat music) - So I'm not sure most people know about this effort of yours, John.

Tell us how you got started with it.

- Well, I mean, this really for me is the culmination of a lifelong struggle, right?

My love and passion for the arts and this burning desire that was implanted into me to make the world better when I leave it than when I found it.

And I've always believed the arts can be that, right?

We can use music, theater, dance, opera to show us who we have been, who we are, and who we can become.

And so the GhostLight Arts Initiative is my way of trying to make that impact.

I moved back home from New York on tour about seven years ago and launched this effort about five years ago now with the festival, the Obsidian Theater Festival, as the kind of jewel of our programming.

- Yeah, GhostLight, tell me where that name comes from.

- So a ghost light stands on a stage, right?

Whenever you walk into any theater, there are no windows because you wanna be able to control the light at all times.

And so the ghost light sits right at the edge of the stage.

And it's there when the theater is dark.

It's meant to shine a light, to provide a path, keep people from walking over the edge.

(Stephen laughing) And artists can be a little superstitious.

And so the lore is that the ghost light also keeps away all of the negative energy.

So you're walking into a space that is ready to create.

- So these two honorees this year, tell me what it is about them that you think aligns with GhostLight.

- They're the best of who you wanna be.

As directors, as artists, but more importantly as people.

And what is, what was really important to us is to not just do a gala event, to celebrate who we are, but to do an event to celebrate where we want the city to go and how we want that to move.

And you can't do that without honoring individuals that have contributed so foundationally to where we are.

- Yeah.

- I know distinctly that both of these individuals have made me a better artist, but have more importantly made me a better person.

And there is a joy, I think, in being able to honor both of those things together.

- Yeah.

Wow.

Njia that... (panel laughing) Are you gonna get a better testimony than that anytime soon?

- He's hired.

(panel laughing) - I'm leaving.

(panel laughing) - Njia, talk about your work and how it, you know, aligns with what John is trying to do and talking about, but also about the journey, right?

The struggle of an artist over a long period of time.

An African-American artist, an artist who's a woman in a city like Detroit.

This is a singular story, I feel like, in America.

- Wow, I'm humbled of course, by the selection and by the reasoning that has been shared here.

I've basically been doing what Njia wanted to do.

I've basically been doing what I like to do.

And I'm so grateful that what I like to do is actually a contribution and has provided service, example, opportunity for a lot of artists here locally as well as from other spaces.

I do believe that arts are critical to development, to human development.

And so not having that is not an option.

And I don't see where human beings allow that to happen.

And, you know, even just looking at hip-hop and techno and how these young people said, oh, okay, there's no arts in the schools.

We're not getting opportunity to put our hands on musical instruments.

The opportunities have been taken from us, so we're just gonna figure out how to scratch and bang and make it happen.

- [Stephen] We're gonna make noise on our own.

- We're gonna make it happen.

Because there's something in all of us that wants a avenue of expression.

And for a lot of us who consider ourselves artists or who grow up to find out that we are artists, it's compelling.

You gotta do it.

- Dr. Shirley, you are also, I mean, just an icon.

I mean, the both of you really stand out on the local landscape in terms of arts, and in your case, also arts education.

Talk about GhostLight and receiving this honor.

- One of the great things about, one of the blessings being a teacher that you never know who's gonna walk through your door as a student.

And a few years back, this young man came in (Stephen laughing) who was a student at Michigan in the music theater, musical theater curriculum, and opened his mouth and out came this roaring lion bass voice.

I thought, "Okay.

Okay."

- That's pretty good.

Right?

- Okay.

Well, and to see him go from Michigan and do the part of the lion (laughs) on Broadway.

And to have this wonderful career and then form GhostLight.

Going beyond just being on stage but giving back to the community, to young artists what he was gifted with, what he was born to do.

- [Stephen] Yeah.

Yeah.

- That for me is just as exciting.

Maybe even more so.

- [Stephen] Yeah, I was gonna ask you- - And standing on stage doing something myself.

- Yeah, I mean, because you do both, you know, I always wonder, which is more fulfilling.

But it seems clear to you.

- I started teaching music, choral music in the Detroit public schools 1955 when I graduated from Wayne.

Started teaching at Miller High School.

And I've often said I had my job.

I mean, I didn't ask for it.

And my supervisor, a little feisty Irish woman named Marvel O'Hara went to the Board of Education when she found out there was an opening at Miller High School for an emergency substitute.

I hadn't graduated yet.

I didn't ask her to do this.

I didn't know, but she went to the Board of Education and they gave me the job.

I hadn't, well, where did that come from?

And so I had my job.

My future wife and I are planning on getting married in August of 1956.

- [Stephen] Wow.

- And Uncle Sam sent me a letter in May of 1956 saying, "You're going to be married to me in June."

- [Stephen] (laughs) Right.

- Now Korea ended, the draft is still alive.

And I said, "What is this about?"

The Army's the last place I wanna go, but I had to go.

I believe in a higher intelligence, has created everything.

Life works in mysterious ways.

For me to go into the Army was a curse, (Stephen laughing) but it turned out to be a blessing.

- Yeah.

But eventually brought you back.

- Because it was a place that I was convinced to consider becoming a professional singer.