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Friends, this summer Target Margin goes on VACATION! We love hard work at this company. We embrace radical change, with all its stress and labor. That is all the more reason why TMT believes in the pause, in breathing and reflection. We will slow down our operations through August, shut down the office for periods, try to get some distance on all this flux so we can breathe and listen. We go fast slowly.
Did you say Change?
The biggest change of all is that our core staff is changing!
Moe, Victoria, and Matt are all branching out toward new opportunities and we say farewell with a joyful and wistful spirit. Above all, we celebrate the amazing work and achievements of the great Moe Yousuf. Moe’s been with TMT on and off since 2012; he has given himself completely to making our work and our impact grow. Moe Yousuf has shaped TMT in beautiful ways, and strengthened our company for the long haul. Victoria Linchong accomplished amazing things, even amid the pandemic– so many interesting Listening Sessions; such inquisitive online partnerships with the New York Public Library; all the magical little shows in storefronts and church steps and at the yellow roll gate. Matt Hunter has supervised our facilities this past year, and no one showed up with more game and more heart for every task, from low to high.
We miss them all already. But no one really leaves TMT; they will still be around, connected to the work, visiting the space, and in our community of artists. This summer we will update you with more about their travels, adventures, and reflections.
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TMT: What’s next on your agenda? What’s after target Margin?
MOE: “In the spirit of Target Margin, next year is just one big experiment. My goal is to slow down and focus on physical, mental, and spiritual healing and getting my money right. My friend Kyoung recently reminded me that financial health is a part of overall health, so I’m focused on being more thoughtful and intentional in every regard. I bought a PS5, a new cookbook, gym membership, and hired a GMAT tutor, if these can tell you anything about my post-TMT priorities”
MATT: “First things first. Visiting some friends and fam after a long long year”
VICTORIA: “I’ve lost my passport but if I manage to get one in time, I’m planning on heading to Europe this summer. My boyfriend Micha and I are headed back to Sicily, where we were when Italy lockdown happened. Maybe this time we can see Palermo when it’s not a ghost town. I’m also working on AMERICAN ASIAN, a web series that unpacks the Asian stereotypes that are embedded in American culture”
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TMT: What’s your favorite TMT memory? What was the most artistically fueling moment for you?
MOE: “Favorite TMT memories include: launching our 2020 facemask project with local health org AMPHS during COVID and bike messengering masks door to door for people in need, getting a group tattoo with the TMT Institute, and watching Green Eyes on the riser steps in the Bushwick Starr. I’ll think back more about the people (too many to name) than the shows but for what it’s worth I’ll always remember After Midnight at The Brick in the first Yiddish Lab right before Hurricane Sandy; The Really Big Once, which I left five minutes before it ended because I had to pee; and
the Iceman Lab, because fuck that was amazing and only the kind of performance experiment you can do at Target Margin. In terms of my own personal work, Yogeybogeybox in 2018 and News of the Strange in 2019 were deeply gratifying experiences and I cherish every single person whose mind and hearts were in them with me”
MATT: “From this year: standing out in the cold, hanging onto the audience’s tent for dear life during NOW GO with sheets of rain coming down and wind pumping up 52nd street, watching the cast make magic completely unfazed — just a pause in the show to move the footlight in from water danger, about 6 inches.
I can’t single out an artistically fueling moment – I have been awe struck and revved up by people’s work and energy at TMT over and over. Being able to see so many ways of working and making at this point in my life has been buoying”
VICTORIA: “So many memories of food! Egg tarts, moon cakes, lavish Turkish spreads, dim sum, tacos galore. There was the time during the pandemic when we all gathered in front of David’s brownstone and sat in the middle of the close-off street and had Manhattans together.
The pandemic interrupted a lot of plans but I still think we did something wonderful turning the steps of Our Lady of Perpetual Help into a giant theater. First there was the day when the entire facade of the church was decorated with toilet paper streaming in the wind. And then we had a dance with 10 meters of red silk billowing from the balcony”
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TMT: What words would you like to leave us with?
MOE: “From a recent text to the TMT Institute:
Hey y’all– there’s no way to express the impact each of you have had on me. I’m so grateful to have spent these past 18 months with you. You will all inevitably be linked to the profound and traumatic experience of the beginning of the pandemic and whatever small triumph of personal growth I have experienced. I am forever changed by being in your presence and keep y’all in my heart. I encourage and make one final plea to you all: stay in touch with each other. Make an effort to convene when possible. Hold on to the magic. It’s yours.❤️”
MATT: “Love, and deep deep thanks to a community where it feels like everyone lights up rooms. See you soon!”
VICTORIA: “Thanks for the memories, see you on the road!”
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