The Resource Exchange recently received a donation from Concrete Cowboy! Concrete Cowboy is an upcoming film directed by Ricky Staub based on the 2011 novel Ghetto Cowboy by Greg Neri, which was inspired by the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club. The Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club is a local nonprofit that has been a part of the Philadelphia community for over 100 years!
“The mission of The Fletcher Street Urban Riding is to save and restore this historical, important facet of Philadelphia’s community, and most importantly, its children. Fletcher Street’s horse community is for many children, the only safe place to be mentored, to feel good about themselves, to learn important lessons in responsibility, discipline and reward.”
The Riding Club recently reached their crowdfunding goal* to help them set up their first-ever permanent stable at Bartram’s Garden! Read more about the organization and their future stables in this recent Hidden City article, “Concrete Cowboy of Southwest Philly Finds a New Home at Bartram’s Garden”, written by Samuel Newhouse, here!
The film saw that some of their set materials were still in reusable condition and contacted The Resource Exchange to help divert them from local landfill. Among the donation of set materials were three wooden scenery flats, jacks, tempera paint, and kraft paper!
When The Resource Exchange began in 2009, initial efforts were focused on spurring more sustainable practices within the local arts and entertainment industries. Building and tearing down film and theater sets, like traditional construction and demolition, uses a tremendous amount of resources which often end up in landfill. Building and art materials, unique set pieces and props, costumes and fabrics, and many types of housewares and home improvement items are used temporarily, and then discarded.
Read more about our mission and history, here! Michael Pisa, a customer of The Resource Exchange, was able to reuse the donated scenery flats in their home saying they “needed a spot in my open space for cloths boxes etc… thanks for the super affordable option!”
The film, Concrete Cowboy, is about a 15-year-old boy from Detroit who is sent to live with his estranged father in Philadelphia and learns about the local urban cowboys. Filming began in North Philadelphia in August 2019 and stars Idris Elba. Staub originally got the idea for the film when seeing a man riding a horse down a Philadelphia street, which led him to researching the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club and discovering Neri’s book.
“I’m thrilled you all are in existence and helping to fight the wastefulness that is so prevalent in the film industry. Happy to donate and buy from you all!!” -Eli Kleinsmith, Concrete Cowboy
*April 8th, 2021: Blog post has been updated with current FSUC GoFundMe link
