The Only Mirror is a chamber and vocal ensemble performance with photographic montage to be performed at the Contemporary Music Week of the 30th Bled International Music Festival in Slovenia (https://www.festivalbled.com/en/). The work is a compassionate reflection about those who struggle with the consequences of poverty, homelessness and their underlying causes.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Inštitut.abeceda’s 8th composer’s residency program precept.oncept.percept, Institute for Research in Art, Critical Thought, and Philosophy.

COMPOSER: Jeff Firewalker Schmitt

PHOTOGRAPHER: Brody Hartman www.brodyhartmanphotography.com

PRODUCERS: Jeff Firewalker Schmitt and Brody Hartman

FISCAL SPONSOR: Mojo Foundation (501(c)(3)) Donations are tax deductible.

The Only Mirror is a collaboration between composer Jeff Firewalker Schmitt* and photographer Brody Hartman inspired by the impact of the narrowing of social services and aid for those struggling with homelessness and poverty.

This work seeks to capture the kaleidoscopic nature of this topic. We also attempt to shift perspectives between the impoverished and the privileged witness. It is a sonic and visual story of the inequities and ceaseless desperation of being powerless and voiceless in our culture. The work aims to open the audience’s hearts to the struggle, dignity and beauty of our unhoused neighbors. This is a work about poverty everywhere.

MOTIVATION

To create a piece that reflects the dignity of the unhoused, inspires compassion among the privileged, and stands as an antidote to ‘othering’. To tell an important story in a non-conventional form. To bring awareness and, thru that awareness, healing and equity. 

ARTISTIC VISION

Jeff Firewalker Schmitt employs a range of compositional techniques to surface the tender, the frustrating, the painful, and the sorrowful dimensions of our inner landscape. It is a sonic and visual demonstration that only through the heart can hope and healing be forged. The tonal and rhythmic ambiguity set against smaller rising motifs throughout the piece are a reminder that the nature of time in the realm of emotional intensity is not linear.  The work is composed of seven sections each focused on a specific theme:

SECTION 1: Awakening to the suffering and forbearance for all entangled.

SECTION 2: Bitterness arising from the intractability of the problem.

SECTION 3: Paralysis and the pain of change.

SECTION 4: The mirror that poverty and homelessness reflects to us all.

SECTION 5: Stripped down to the heart

SECTION 6: Awakening to Boddhisattva wisdom: I-am-you and you-are-me

SECTION 7: Closure: will, decree and the power of trust.

BUDGET: $7,500*

$1,800 / Photography

$2,200 / Video Editing + Music Synchronization

$3,500 / Travel & Accommodations for Brody Hartman

Fiscal Sponsor: Mojo Foundation (501(c)(3))

Donations in support of The Only Mirror are processed through Mojo Foundation and are tax-deductible.

TIMING

November-March / Photography and videography

April-May / Editing

June 10 / Finalization of video montage

June 22-26 (Festival week, exact date TBD) Performance

* Jeff Firewalker Schmitt is a resident composer for the 2025-2026 season of precept.oncept.percept program. This residency program fully funds the performance and provides professional audio and video recording of the performance.