Okay, Well, today's episode is special. This is a person that I have never done a podcast with before. I'm not even sure that I've ever interviewed this person except maybe at breakfast about how she slept. This is my wife of thirty five years, the fabulous director, producer, an award winning actress, my all around favorite person, Kira Sedgwick. And to make it even more special, we have Stacy Houston,
who runs our foundation six degrees dot org. So this is a very personal episode for me, and there are two people that I'm very very close to, and I think we're gonna have a lot of fun. So lean in. It's a good one. Okay, here I am. This is very very special edition of six Degrees with Kevin Bacon because it's a six Degrees with Kevin Bacon and Curra Cedwric. Hi, how are you doing?
I'm good?
How are you goodhead? You look amazing? Thank you who set up your lighting?
Kevin Bacon?
Well, So, for people that don't know this, what's one of our least favorite things to do?
What is one of our least favorite things to do? Oh? I'm going it's a little very comersed and talk about ourselves.
Interviews about ourselves in our marriage.
Oh yeah, for sure. Oh yeah, that's right. The question what's the secret to a happy marriage?
What's a secret to a happy marriage?
Kurra, that old chestnut.
The secret to a happy marriage is not to take advice from celebrities about the secret to a happy marriage.
Tell me how did you first? You two first meet?
Well, yeah, what's heard it all before?
Kevin? What's your favorite Kia Sedgwick movie? And Kurra, what's your favorite Kevin Bacon. I mean, it's just so it's so hard. I was just on with uh with with Seth and Lauren Rogan, who are married couple. They are first you know, married couple to be on the six Degrees. Although this might air before it, but they seemed totally comfortable,
you know, being and doing things together. I think I think we just have a certain kind of I mean, we've gotten better at it over the years, but we've always avoided it.
Yeah, I mean I think, I don't know, it just feels really revealing to talk too much about, and also it somehow makes it I don't know, I always feel like it sounds like, you know, showing off or it's really easy or you know, coming off like it's too easy and stuff like that, and it's like, I just don't want to come off like that. Plus it's ours, And the more that we talk about it press, the less it feels like it's ours, it's everybody that it becomes everybody else's.
Yeah. Yeah, that's a really good point. I feel the same way about those two points. I mean, I also feel like, you know, I don't want to be the guy that is supposed to give somebody advice right on how to stay married that that I don't I don't know. I just I don't know. And and and the other thing that makes me nuts about it makes me nuts about press in general. But is that you know, when was the last time you read like a full profile
of anyone or a full interview with anyone. Everything gets homogenized down to a single.
Sound bite line sound bite totally.
And or headline or whatever. And it when you're talking about thirty five years of marriage, that that just becomes just silly, you know, it's it's just it's disrespectful. How are you these days, my love? What's what's h How are you feeling about life and about the world that.
Yeah, oh my god, do you want to make me cry. Is that what you want to do is to make me cry.
I never want to make you cry. I never want to make you cry.
I mean I'm feeling I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed, to be perfectly honest with you, with the state of the world. And today we you know, heard about two shootings and it just feels pretty overwhelming, and it just feels like the world is in such a mess.
How could we possibly fix it?
And I know that the antidote to feeling helpless and helpless is to get into action. So, you know, I posted something on my Instagram from every town about you know, about gun violence, and I am talking to you today and I do what I can every day to make me feel like I'm part of a solution and not part of the problem.
So when did you first start to feel like you were like that was going to be a part of it. That no, not that part of it. When did you first start to feel like you were part of the solution rather than part of the problem. Because I feel like, well, we met when you were twenty one, I think it, and you already at twenty one had a pretty big, complicated worldview. Yeah, I think so is it, Yeah, I think. I mean, I know that, I know that having the
kids would definitely kind of send it home. But I remember you definitely feeling like much more so than me, thinking about about just causes and things that were going on in the world. I mean, where do you think that comes from.
I think it's an extension, an extension of an empathy gene that might be dialed up to eleven, you know. But I'm happy for it, grateful for it. I mean, I think that's what drew me to being an actor, is compassion for other people and people in difficult circumstances. And then also this like really fierce feeling of really like black and white thinking around right and wrong, you know, things that were fair and unfair and so much inequality
and so many things that were so unfair. And it's a sort of childlike rage that I can get into.
Like I can't believe it's so unfair, you.
Know, and it's and I'm happy for it, even though it causes me some it causes me a lot of despair sometimes, but I'm happy for it because I think it helps me as an actor and as a director. But I also think it helps me as a civilian you know, to feel responsible for the world I live in and to think that in some ways I can affect change, and change doesn't always have to be huge.
It can also be small, little incremental things. And that's sort of the bigger picture of my activism is this idea of grassroots you know that really like it has to be from the grassroots up. It has to be little things, knocking on doors, you know, giving someone pulling someone up, you know, reaching your hand down and pulling someone up. Like very it can be small and they have a bigger effect on people because I feel like
it's like this great snowball effect that can happen. But I think it really comes from just this very childlike feeling of like they are just things that are fair, and just things that are just blatantly unfair. There may be nuance. As a grown up, I can embrace the nuance a little bit, but there's also some things that are really clearly fair and unfair.
I feel like, correct me if I'm wrong that that was very much. When I hear you say that, I hear your father's voice. Yeah, is that true?
Yeah, definitely. My dad was into politics for a little while on the local level in New York. And yeah, he definitely, he was very passionate. He would get very passionate about things. Oh my god, I shudder to think what you would think now, but if you were alive.
But yeah, for sure, for sure. Yeah.
And I remember when the kids were born, which was about eighty nine.
Trap was born or some eighty nine.
Yeah, eighty nine, Travis was born. Pretty much right away you started to get involved with activism around climate change, which was then called global warming. And it was, when you really think about it, a lot of people really had no idea. Either they had no idea what you were talking about, or they completely dismissed it as you know, some kind of like crazy, you know, the lunatic theory from on the edge or something that was never going
to happen in our life lifetime. And here we are seeing, how, you know, you know, not prophetic. I wouldn't say you were prophetic. You were just smart about it and you actually believe the science. And I thought that it's really amazing to think back that that you were such a on the forefront of that thought.
Yeah, I mean, I think it's really you know, I always think about it as like it was kind of a selfish thing. I started to think about the future for my kid, and I started to think, you know, what do we have here on the horizon? And I think it's sort of a mom's job, a parent's job, but more of a mom thing maybe of like where's the danger and how can I prevent it from happening
to my child? And I think that, you know, it just was something that was in the zeitgeist if you were listening in eighty eight, you know, in eighty eight, in eighty nine. I remember specifically, it was a very hot summer in eighty eight, and people were like, what's happening?
And then there was a lot of information that was coming out, and I just was like voraciously reading up on everything I possibly could and going in and speaking to scientists and getting clear and educated about what was happening and the causes of it, you know, And I think that, you know, no one really wanted to say. Still, no one wants to say, because of because of the power of the of the oil and gas companies, that that it is the burning of fossil fuels.
It is the burning.
Of gas and oil that is that is the it is the reason why we are where we are. And there's no two ways about it. And it used to be that we would, you know, try to say all sorts of euphemisms, like, you know, it's one of the causes, but it's not.
It's the cause.
You can talk about other things that contribute to it, but it is the number one cause. And I think that I also think that plastic was something that I was, you know, really understanding, was is a petro chemical?
Is a petroleum product.
I realized that I knew, I understood that plastic is a petroleum product very early on, and try to you know, diminish our use of plastics around the kids entirely as much as we possibly could.
So hard with kids to write, everything they touch, everything they use, is plastic. It's just you're just inundated with plastic. I remember when when our son was born, we decided that we were going to use disposable diapers, and we were complete vagabods. We were living out of suitcases with this brand new baby and going from town to town making movies and The Curious Movies and My movies. And we'd come to a town, you know, in the middle of nowhere and have to set up a diaper service,
and people look, are you out of your mind? Why would you have a diaper service when you can just you know, go right down to the store and buy a nice giant box of plastics, dis multiple diapers and make your life easy. But you were you were so adamant that that that we not do that, and uh, and you know, I just have to say, it was it was, it was just it was. It's just always I'm just always impressed with with with you around around those things. You know, you really you really do walk the walk.
Thank you, honey.
You know you mentioned uh being an actor and being a director, and I wonder, uh, which is it? Is a chicken in the egg thing? Is? Is is your compassion for the world, for the planet, for other people? Uh? Sort of a result of the emotional kind of work that you that you've chosen being an artist like this, or has it has that influenced the choices that you make and the kinds of uh the films that you want to direct or the kinds of parts that you want to play. I mean, which came first?
Gosh, I mean I think it's kind of both. I mean, I'm sure that I was an empathetic creature way before I thought about you know, acting. But then then once I started acting, the first thing I did was you know, Tidle and Fiddler on the Roof and and you know, I remember just feeling like I've been through the pogrums and you know this has actually happened to me, you know, and.
You take it very personally.
Yeah, yeah, it felt good to make that my story for a little while, you know what I mean, It felt good to walk around in other people's shoes and to you know, feel their big feeling. So so I think that probably you know, my empathetic, you know nature, my my you know, I it's not it's not always a great thing. Like I find myself a little bit like invasions, invasion of the body snatchers, or I kind of leave my body and go into other people's bodies and feel their feelings.
But you think that's a bad thing. Why would that?
Well, because I think that it's a lot of it's a lot of I think it's just makes life a little bit harder if you're if you're taking other people's feelings on a lot, and when they're not asking you to, when you're not getting paid for it. You know, No, I think it can be irritating. I could point out a couple of ways in which it's irritating and you'll go, oh, yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about.
I mean, do you mean to other people or it's hard hard on you.
I think it's hard on me. I think it's an added bird burden on me. Like she's really upset, Like there's one person in this party that's upset and I can tell, and it's, you know, making it impossible for me to have a good time at this party. Plus I want to be annoying and keep going up to her and going, are you okay? You okay, okay? And that's annoying too, right, so right, right, yeah.
But then I think that, like what, it's.
A great quality I have as an actor.
Obviously, yeah it is.
It is a great quality. It's just dialed up to eleven. Sometimes it's a little bit much. But I think that definitely. You know, especially the things that I've picked as an actor, they have to have meaning for me, like in the world, like I have to it has to be it. I have to feel like I'm making a contribution of some kind, you know, I'm not just putting like more trash out in the world that feels really important to me and
always has. And also like and then as a director, certainly, I mean, if you're going to spend over a year on something like I want to I want to know why I'm making it. I want to know the fact the effect that I want to have on people. Like Space Oddity was very much about, you know, a twenty something year old who's really depressed round on climate, you know, and around the grief and the loss of a sibling, and because of that, he wants to go on a one way journey to Mars.
But he grew up on a flower farm.
He's seeing climate you know, change firsthand, and he's really in despair about it. And so it's really about his journey of like falling back in love with the earth right and becoming like I want to fix things here. There is no planet b right. So that was like
very much why I wanted to do that story. It like felt really critical that I'd make a story that had to do with you know, climate and climate change and the effect that it's having on everybody but specifically this young man and then tell the and then give like the antidote to that is like fall back in love with the earth, like take care of this planet, take care of your relationships, like deal with your grief around it, and then move on and fix things here.
Don't check out and go away. And that felt like a big reason to do this. Do the movie.
You started producing when you were very, very young. I mean it was I didn't even really even at the time, think of the implications, not only of your age, because you know, I just never thought of you always seem like such a grown up, a grown woman to me from the from the from the time I met you and now and now when I finally had had a daughter many years ago who turned twenty one, I thought, wow, is this one I married your mom? This is like crazy,
you're like a child. But I I you were so hands on in in creating your own opportunities work wise, in terms of like finding scripts and optioning books and things and and creating ideas. And it's as a as a not only as a young person, but as a woman. At that point in the industry, it was kind of unheard of to a certain extent, certainly for an actor
to be doing that for for themselves. What what what do you think it is that that gave you that that impetus or that that confidence to want to like to take charge in that way.
You know, I don't really know except to say that I I mean sometimes when you're older, you look back and you go, God, I can't believe I had all that hut spot, Like, what the he?
How the hell did I get that?
You know, I I just think that it was always a desire to do more, like to be a bigger part of my business, to be a bigger part of my my ability to make choices in the world, a bigger part of creating my own opportunities. You know, I'm I'm really like, as you know, I'm a jack in the box and uh, you know, and you know, always wanting to.
I don't know life.
What I mean by that and what you mean by that, because people may not quite get it. So give an example.
The Jack in the box is like, I could get up right now. I don't really want to even sit here. Yeah, no, I mean it's really hard for me to sit still, you know, and waiting around for scripts was not something that I did well or continue to do well.
My Jack in the box, our Jack in the Box story is.
That you know, we sit down to watch something, and you know, literally every five minutes, I'm getting up and doing something.
I mean, I'm always have a reason.
For getting up and doing something.
But sure you do.
But but but I'm it is hard for me to sit still.
And you multitask, you have you have a lot of things going on all the time on a whole bunch of things that you're holding inside one mind at all the time. And I would I would point out that you know, a lot of them, a huge percentage of them, are various ways of doing service for other people and
other causes. And whether it's you know, making sure that somebody you know that is close to you, you know, has a chance to you know, have a conversation, or or making sure that you show up on a picket line, or or or you're trying to you know, make calls in a political I mean, it's it's not just like, well, I got a script over here, and I got a call over here, and I gotta you know, I'm you know, having lunch with my friend and you know, get my
hair done. It's it's like a lot of big part of the multiple things that you hold in your head are are are just ways of giving service and giving back. It's it's it's it's pretty impressive.
Thank you.
That's not really a question, was it. Uh No, But I think that.
I also just want to say that thing about the producing thing. It's like, as a woman, like you can't really sit around or just wait for shit to happen, right, you know what I mean. It's like you gotta like keep things moving, you know. I mean as an actor, it's hard to sit around and just wait for the calls to come in. And I, frankly, you know, even with all the success I've had, I've never had the career where I could just like sit back and wait
for this stuff to happen. So I think that, you know, I've always thought entrepreneurially that way. My father was an entrepreneur, and like, you know, I'm going to get this thing here, and when this thing here, I'm going to put these things together. And knowing what you don't know is just as important as like knowing what you do. Know. It's like, I don't know if I can do that, but I'm
pretty sure I can do that. And if I don't know what I'm going to do, I'm going to bring in this guy and bring in this girl and you know so, so I think it's exciting and makes you feel like more in control of your life, and especially as a woman, and especially as a woman in this business, like we need, we need to take charge because otherwise, I don't know, you'll get forgotten or railroaded or something.
And then, brilliantly, after all these years and having this tremendous success as an actor, you said, you know what I want to direct, and you know, talk a little bit about that, that moment where you know you decided to shift gears. You're not the first actor that decided has decided to do that, but I think it is. It's interesting, it's challenging, and I think in your case, correct me if I'm wrong, it was a little bit of an aha kind of moment.
Yeah, totally.
It was kind of shocking because if you read some of my old interviews, I would always say I'll.
Never direct, I'll never direct.
Boy, I really learned my lesson around saying never say never because you just don't know. Oh. But I think I was afraid to direct. And I think that number one, you know, I think that I wasn't exposed to a lot of female directors. I mean, after working as an actor for over forty five years. I've worked with a handful of female directors.
I mean, it's pathetic.
So I don't think if you don't see it, you can't dream it, you know. And I think that that's a big part of it. And I also think that as you know, there was some famous line about you know your your your taste and your talent, like you know when you've been doing something for you know you
haven't done it at all. You have this really you know, you have a you have a high level of taste, you know of like understand like I've always understood what makes not understood or like I've always I have a very I have a very clear I opinion of what I think is a good film. Oh yes, yes exactly, and you know, thinking and then. But my skill set
would never be as high fluten as my tastes. Right, So I think that there's understanding that disparity can make you frozen in like paralyzed, you know, perfectionism, paralyzation, right, So I think that paralyzed and perfectionism, I think they can follow each other if you're too you know, worried about being perfect. So I think it's scary to take a chance. Women are generally risk averse for good reason, because I think we only get one chance, maybe two.
Don't get me started on that, and so we are a little more risk averse. But I think that, honestly, it had a lot to do with you, which is I you know, it's hard.
To get enough credit, but I mean, I think for years you were like, you really should direct, you know, you really have an eye for it, you And.
And I just told myself a lot of stories, you know what I mean, about ways why I couldn't do it. And then I stopped telling myself that story. And I had something that I had been wanting to make into a film for a really long time as a producer, and and I finally was like, you know, I've lived with this thing for ten years, and the opportunity came to make it, and I was like, you know what, and I want.
To direct it.
And literally, when I set it out loud loud in the meeting, it was sort of like, who the hell just said? That? Was that me that I say that? But I but once I said it, I realized it was true. And I think that it was scary and it was you know, I felt the fear, and I just did it anyway, you know, and then fell madly in love with it, you know, so now I don't want to turn back.
Well, there was no shock to me that you fell in love with it, And the reason that it was no shock to me was that I could always see you either on the set when you were acting in something, looking at things with a directorial eye, and I towards what's happening with this process? Is there anything that's going on here that's not going to be useful to us in the final product. You also oftentimes knew exactly what it was that another actor was missing in terms of
their performance. And when we would watch films together. Now if we go to the movies, we sometimes have to, you know, try to remind you to you're not allowed to talk back at the screen, but while we're at home you do all the time. Oh my god, please or oh wow. These are things that you would say while watching, which to me sort of indicates that you're you're you have a certain kind of analytical thing about
the art of filmmaking. Not to mention you know, your point of view or visual style, but I think you really came to it from a personal mostly a personal
and human kind of, you know, connection to it. So it never really surprised me not only that you would want to do it, but that also that you would be so good at it, especially since I remember, you know, from the very from very early on, you come to the set and I could see you watching me off camera, and every once in a while and you come up and say, hey, do a little less or hey, you know, you know, don't smile some of whatever it was, you know,
little little tips for hobby that you just couldn't resist. And sometimes I'd have to say, honey, uh, you know, maybe don't make any suggestions right now, because that's you know Clint Eastwood over there, or Ron Howard or or Oliver Stone or you know what I mean.
But but it's it's it's it makes complete sense to me that you would have, you know, found this this other way to communicate all the all the you know, artistic talent that you have.
H when you when we first started this conversation, we talked about, you know, how you were feeling and how overwhelming, uh, you know, life can be and the news can be and all those things. How do you personally kind of deal with that when when you when you when you have those feelings, well, I.
Try to remember, in terms of the environmental depression that can overwhelm that part of my job is to love the planet exactly how she is today.
And to.
Take joy and solace in her beauty. And I feel like that's super important to do. So when I get overwhelmed with like how terrible everything is and I get so scared, I still that feels like a guiding life for me, like a very important thing to keep in mind that I get to, you know, be joyful and love what's here now. I think doing service is really the antidote to feeling bad.
I mean, it just it just is. That's the question you asked, right, honey. Okay, yeah, yeah.
I mean if I can do something every day that makes me feel like I'm taking an action for healing around, whether it's you know, what I buy at the grocery store, like avoiding single use plastic and going you know what, I'm not going to I'm not going to buy the you know, tuna sandwich that's in a plastic box for no reason or God forbid, like the plastic covered orange.
You know, I'm going to make a choice with my dollar to you know, buy something that I know I can that will not create a lot of waste that will last longer than the Pyramids, which is what plastic lasts. How long plastic lasts. It will last millennium. It will be here long past my lifetime and my children's lifetime. So I have to understand that every time I use a piece of plastic, contrary to popular belief, it does
not get recycled and recycled. For these companies are putting it in the ocean or burning it, which I don't think is recycled. Like three percent of all plastic is recycled, so that's a paltry number. So I have to So that's a way to take action right and make me feel a little bit better and a little more a
part of the solution. And also doing service, any kind of service, whether it's you know, doing something for the food bank for New York City, or doing something for Swing Left, which is a you know, political group that I'm involved with, or or whipping up you know, phone bankers, getting on a zoom or going somewhere and going raw raw.
You guys, you're volunteering. You're amazing. I'm so excited that you're here today, and let's go out and knock on some doors, you know, encouraging people to vote, encouraging people to use their voice, helping them understand that they make a difference, that everything they do makes a difference, and not be inundated with the apathy that they, the corporations want us to feel all the time and the political entities want us to feel all the time, so that
we just don't make any noise and we don't get too angry, and we don't force them to make a different and better choice.
You know.
So I'm going to be that person who's going to be like, you can do it, yes, And that feels like something I can do. I'm good at, you know, going on MSNBC and talking about why I walked in the Climate March and specifically why I walked in it, and so, you know, just doing what I can to use my voice to elevate people that don't have as loud a voice, you know, or don't have people pointing a camera at them.
And is there anything that you do? Uh, those are all amazing. Is there anything that you do personally just for yourself? I mean, drink tea or I don't know, I think people would be interested in a Yeah, I.
Mean I think I exercise a lot. Exercise really helps me to both my serotonin because I can get you know blue. I feel like it's a it's a real like chemical thing for me. I meditate, try to meditate every day utterly and perfectly, because you know, there's no such thing as a perfect meditation. You know, you're constantly trying to discipline your mind to just come back to the breath and uh. And I find it really helpful because because it's so easy to like land on the negative.
For me, it just it just is. And so so if I can like see that negative and move right past it. You know, sometimes sometimes it's important to immerse yourself and in, you know, the problem, so you can understand what the solutions might be. But sometimes it's like really unhealthy to immerse myself in the problem, so I try to like figure that out.
You know.
Community like community like talking to people, having friends, having a community that I can go to to talk about, you know, talking to other activists also really makes me feel good. Really, those kinds of things can help like quell the like despair and like you know, hamster wheel in my.
Brain well, I think this is a good segue to bring in our pal stay Hugh Kacey. Stacy runs six degrees dot org, which is the foundation that I started and that Kira has oftentimes interacted and overlapped with, and that is where this where this podcast sprung from. So Stacey, welcome, thanks so much.
I'm happy to be here.
How are you doing.
I'm doing good. Similar to Kira, it was a rough way to start the day, for sure. I know in this airs it'll be getting Tuesday and we're coming off of the holiday with our family and a good in a good space. But yeah, filming a few weeks ahead of time. Obviously, we woke up to some pretty sad news and it's almost numbing, but also the reason why we we get up every day and we do this work. So I'm just glad that I get to be with with you all today.
And speaking of doing the work, which we're going to talk about, but I want to find out from you what is it, I mean that makes you want to do this work. You've been with six Degrees how many years has it been there?
Almost eight years?
Almost eight years? And when you came on board, it was just the greatest moment, I could just feel all of your compassion and energy and intelligence and drive. And you know, I'm always impressed with people who choose a life of being involved with, you know, giving back, And I just wondered what you think it is about you and about your upbringing the bride to this place.
I think, first off, thank you, that was all so kind to hear. I think often this work finds us and it chooses us. You know, Kira, and I don't know if you remember this, we did a podcast together, the Web of Women, a few years ago, and that's when you and I really got to know each other well, and so much of what you spoke about that day
and earlier today resumeets with me. I grew up in an environment pretty kind of mid upper class kind of town, but I had a mother who was legally blind, was in a car accident when I was eight years old. I had a father that was abusive and then left shortly after that, and then a stepfather that was an alcoholic, a wonderful man, but had substance abuse. And so a lot of my life was trying to sit in with
what I felt like were perfect lives around me. Everywhere I looked which we all know that was wasn't the case, right, But that's how it seems when you're when you're young sometimes.
But I was having to grow up really quickly, being somewhat of a caretaker and thinking about my mom and supporting her being visually impaired, also being the recipient for so many programs that helped our family get by and allowed me to play sports and play varsity volleyball and be a part of the school newspaper and go on to college and you know, be able to pay for the university that I wanted to go to, and so on and so forth. But I my whole life, I was a pretty deep mpath and still am, and I
often would find myself similar to here. It just like overcome with emotion when something in the world was so painful. And when I had this opportunity to come and work for you, I felt like it was a culmination of all these different things in my life and my career because at that point I had been doing new market development, business and sales for quite a long time on the
for profit side. But it was an opportunity to finally kind of use those skills and talent to move the needle more than I felt like I could do as just an individual, and you a looted that platform, that extension of you and your platform and Kira as well to help move these programs and help amplify these campaigns so that we could do a great deal of good.
So really, I think it was, yeah, the culmination of kind of life experiences and knowing that I needed to take a step and I would only be fulfilled if I was doing kind of purpose driven work.
Amazing, Well, this is an episode where we are shamelessly tooting our own hoards, starting with having listen to anybody would be lucky to have my wife as a guest on her podcast, So I and it was Stacy's idea, and I was like, well, like, I think she's going to want to do it. Let's say I'll get her to do it. I think she probably did it more for you, Stace than she did for me.
We appreciate that.
But since we are here tooting our own hoards, let's talk about six degrees and what we have going on these days.
Yeah, for sure. So I think most people know the sixth degrees separation theory and what has been synonymous with you Kevin and your career, the sixth Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and just a little background for those that you know know that idea but know less a little less about six degrees dot org. You basically started this organization in
two thousand and seven. You really wanted to take yourself out of it in a way, and you've talked about this lots of time in the past, like if you take me out, we're all just human beings looking for and in fact really needing connection. So six Degrees was founded along those principles and much of what Kira and you talked about earlier, like providing opportunities for people to connect with one another through these different service opportunities and
opportunities to get back. So you know, we really just support initiatives that sustain in rich local communities. We're focused all in the United States. This podcast has been a way for us to kind of look at organizations globally, which has been really really fun. But our core programming have always been really focused domestically because that's where we believe we can make the greatest impact. So we have
four pillars. Those pillars are youth empowerment, which we obviously do a lot or work around young people through music and education and you know, getting them tools and resources that they need, just as an equity, which is you know, it's a wide whye reaching of course from gender equity to and we kind of touched on that through LGBTQ rights,
so on and so forth. Improving a sustainable living environment, and that's where we kind of do the work around climate action and PSAs to help people to move in the right direction towards better sustainable goals in terms of our environment. And then we really try to remain agile so that we can support some emerging crisis that come up. And it seems like that's happening obviously more and more directly related to gun violence or natural disasters that seem
to be on the uptick. If you are inspired by today's episode, please join us in supporting six degrees dot org by texting the word Bacon to seven zero seven zero seven zero. Your gift empowers us to continue to produce programs that highlight the incredible work of everyday heroes, well also enabling us to provide essential resources to those that need it the most. Once again, text b A c N to seven zero seven zero seven zero or visit six degrees dot org to learn more.
It's interesting talking about these pillars, and we've talked about it a lot, and it really relates back to you, Kurra. You know. You you were saying how you were kind of going down this list of uh, environment and hunger, your your relationship with food bank in New York, and gun violence and the times that you've you know, reached out and also on political causes. And you know, we're kind of in the same boade in terms of six degrees.
And I often talk about how if you're going to be a celebrity and get involved with the cause, it's probably going to be easier if you just pick one,
you know. And And when when I was taught thinking about doing this this uh, you know, six degrees dot org, every time I would think, well, I'll just do you know, save the redwoods, or it's just going to be kids, or it's just going to be you know, whatever it is, I just kept going, Yeah, but there's this over here, and there's this over here, and there's this over here.
And there was something about the number six and the and the and and the and the idea of connectivity that I just really resisted and and so I think that it's interesting that all of us, all all three of us have that point of view where where where we just are, uh, we just see so much out
there that that you know, needs help. And it's been so fascinating from the podcast point of view because people come in and every time I finished talking to the person that runs their organization, I'm like, oh, yeah, that's the thing, you know, and then somebody else comes in and we talk about that, and I feel that as well. I mean, are there challenge Jesus if I challenges in terms of that stace, like in terms of like, you know, keeping our focus being spread too thin?
I mean, you know, I think absolutely. And for the first few years it was a struggle to also community keep that to funders, right because at the end of the day, you're doing all this incredible work. We know it's not just anecdotal. We can see the impact, we have the metrics around it. But you know, we talked
about this. Sometimes it's easier to say we do water, we provide access to water and you know, and we put in wells, and that's a very easy and clear message, but quite frankly, it's it doesn't speak to kind of who you are, who I am here is like there are these diverse needs and they're all seemingly critical, right, and we want to be able to utilize the resources that we have and like our basically our core free
programs to address these these needs. And so much of our pillars overlap, right because and we can talk a little bit about this some of our different programs, but you know, when we build kits, that's like our main program right now, where we are focused on pulling essential resources together and give them to different people in need.
I mean that touches racial justice, food injustice, environmental impacts of injustice, and oftentimes we're coming in after natural disasters to help support people, or we just did this building kit in Houston to help with hurricane preparedness kids so that they could be better prepared should that inevitable hurricane come and hit that area. So I mean we see
such an overlap now. So I do feel we are kind of keenly focused on core areas that we can do the most impact in the other core programs are Cause Evolved, and that's really what you're seeing with the podcast. So we're utilizing our unique expertise to create really compelling storytelling, and our hope is that we cut through the noise and really capture attention and then inspire people to action. So with this podcast, that's why it's really important that
we have these call to actions. We have the people on the ground that are the true change makers on the podcast to talk about their day to day activities, because we know that no one tells a story better than those people that are like the battle soldiers on the ground doing this work day in and day out.
And the celebrity is the hook, right Like, it's not, and it's different, right I think that we really have been thoughtful with the different celebrity or talent that have come on this show and that will continue to come on that we want them to have a sincere connection to truly care about the work. You know, it's more than a tweet, although tweets are important, right Like, it actually does draw a lot of attention those simple actions
because of your immense platform. But we've used six degrees to you know, do format shows like this or play on which was the music benefit we did. We raised over seven million dollars for racial justice and food insecurity back in twenty twenty. You know, at the you know, basically what we thought was almost the end of the pandemic, and it was really only just beginning at that point.
And then our third program, which is Degree Shift, and that's been something that we've been doing for quite some time, which is just being a convenor of these different campaigns together, different stakeholders, different people of influence organizations, and we get everyone, you know, with a single call to action and really trying to maximize the impact of that by drawing attention
to a singular cause. And so most people probably will know the campaign that we did I Stay Home For and that was the beginning of twenty twenty when covid had just really shook the whole world, and you know, we call it kind of like a lightning and a bottle time period because it was a pandemic. The entire world was facing the same thing and we were all
being told to kind of shelter in place. And our way of trying to support that was the campaign that you launched via six degrees Kevin, asking people to share a video or a photo simply saying who they're staying home for. And the idea was to say, we're not doing this for ourselves. Like you might be healthy, and you might be young, and you may not have any pre existing conditions, but you're staying home for your grandmother or for your sister that you know has an autoimmune disease,
or so on and so forth. And through campaigns like that, we've received lots of recognition and support from the community through you know, Webbys and Shorty Impact Awards and Telly Awards and those sorts of things, which which is all great. That just lets us know that people believe that we're on the right track here. But the idea is that we build these campaigns that are really accessible for people
to do. They're also easy to replicate, so that people can take ownership and make these campaigns their own and spread messages and appeals to their own networks and try to help further you know, the impact, and do good in their own communities and neighborhoods.
Cure, I don't I don't want to put you on the spot, but do you remember any kind of six degrees based the thing that you were involved with that was memorable? Yeah?
Remember that really great spoken word thing. Remind me a little bit of.
That stacy we were That was a couple of years that was in d C. Yeah, March for Our Lives.
Yeah, that's right, it was, that's right. Oh god, oh it's hard to think. Yeah, right, exactly, it's it's it's it's amazing because it was really I think it was Marjorie Douglas High School had that horrific shooting and that was the catalyst for March for Our Lives and it was a you know, trying to bring attention to gun violence in d C. And before the march, there was a an event at a like.
A like a.
Venue where people did spoken word about their experience with gun violence. And it was extraordinary and there were a lot of young people there and it was I think it was hosted by sixty degree and it was extraordinary. I mean it was You really could feel the need that these kids had to share their experience in a communal way and to have people be affected by it.
And it was it was incredible for everybody, for the people that were watching and the people that were participating, and I thought, oh, you're really doing a great thing here, you know, you guys, really you really really got your finger on it. You know.
It kind of comes back to us really focusing on amplifying voices with lived experiences, and that was an example an event where it was actually just young people that were asked to speak and share. And what Marjorie Douglas did so well when they were the kind of the catalysts for this March for Our Lives was enormous and I remember, I mean it was palpable the pain that you fell in the air from all these young people.
But also their intention about making a change and having their voices heard is that they were inclusive in DC the night before out of all the young you know, inner city young people that experience gun violence all the time, right, and it's in their neighborhoods and in their communities, and they made space for that on on you know, during the poetry event and and the day the next day at the march. But I remember that I think that
was our first time meeting in person. Yeah, yeah, yeah, And I just remember it being I mean, it is one of those things that's a unifier because it was very heavy, but but I think it's it's important, right, It was like comfortable. It was very hard, a lot of tears shed, but we show up and we look at it because we walk through that privilege that we don't you know, have those lived experiences all the time, right, but we want to show up for those that do, and we want to be an ally.
I totally agree. And I think being you know, not afraid to look is a really important thing, you know, I think because these things do exist in our lives and they're happening all the time and they need to be witnessed. So I think that having that was pretty extraordinary for them and for us.
Yeah, it was great. It was a great night. We have some special announcements scenes. This is Giving Tuesday of Stacey. You do want to talk about what we have going on here or any kind of call to action that we can hit right now for six degrees dot Org.
Yeah, so, because we are still under this strike, I'm gonna dance around this a bit. But you think that I did that.
I see what you did there. Maybe by Given Tuesday there won't be a strike.
Maybe maybe we can bleep it into the script. But a certain dance film that has been synonymous with your career, Kevin is turning forty, which, oh, how is that happening? I don't It's like right twenty years ago, But somehow the film has aged passed you. So it's a fortieth year, which is amazing, and in celebration of that, six Degrees is going to commit to.
By the way, I was, I was seven when I made that film exactly.
It was amazing.
It was amazing. They aged me up a whole bunch. It was sorry, I'm sorry to interrupt, go ahead.
AI was involved in the conversation then as well, apparently, but no, I, it's as we're going to build forty thousand kits for the essential care items across the entire country. So that's our commitment at six trees dot org. We're going to be partnering with our network of community partners
across the whole country. And what's really special about the forty thousand kis it's people might say like, okay, like you know, sure there are hygiene items and books and you know, shampoo conditioner, Like what does that really do in the longevity of this partnership. But we've been running this program now for six months, and we've been working with nonprofits at the grassroots level for a lot longer than that, and what we find is that, you know,
it's the best way to put it. This way, you walk into target and if you want to buy house targets and to say I'm sorry, like we don't sell you houses, right, But when you're a constituent and you walk into a nonprofit and you might be there because it's a food bank and you're hungry, but guess what, you also need clothes, you might need job services, you might need housing. When you're in this type of purpose
driven work, you don't just turn people away. You exhaust your resources and your efforts and your bandwidth trying to either you know, turn someone to another organization that you create a partnership with or it's local in the community, or you open up your pockets and you provide them
with what they need in the moment. And so what we're doing at six degrees is providing these essential kits, really talking to the nonprofits on the ground what they need, what they're being asked for, providing these items to those organizations so that they can focus on their core programs. So this is a way that we can serve them, help with their bandwidth and their resources and get them focused on what they're doing day to day to really
make an impact in a greater way. So we're very, very excited about.
That we stopped three three hundred backpacks the other day down in DC.
We did.
It was it was awesome.
It was awesome.
Yeah, yeah, And that was a perfect example of like community organization coming together and local people that live in the area just stopping by and helping us with stuffing these backpacks and then getting them directly to a great organization that helps families and transition.
So it's in a.
Look that way, and it's going to cover kind of all of our different core pillars. And to officially launch us for Giving Tuesday, we have a fantastic partner which is Bonfire, and they are committing to twenty five thousand dollars in matching gifts. So if you text the word Bacon to seven zero seven zero seven zero, you can make a gift today and your gift is doubled, and
it'll go on throughout the whole month into December. But it's going to be this kind of initial appeal for twenty twenty four and Bonfire is a really important partner for us. Bonfire has been a partner that we've worked with lots of times, and in fact, you and Kira have worn their shirts several times. So when we just did the Dragon is an art campaign people are listing, saw this little dynamic duo do a Taylor Swift dance
with these really cool, beautifully designed T shirts. We did that with Bonfire, and it was an apparel campaign where we raised over fifty five thousand dollars and forty eight hours for ACLU and their Drag Defense fun which was really supporting lots of anti LGBTQ legislation fights that were all over the country. And we felt the need to stand up and exercise our voice. And you two stepped up and did we have the shirt? And you definitely did right, and you know, and with that we obviously
did a great deal of good. But we also created these like walking billboards everywhere. And the great thing about Bonfire is like they're free to use. They take care of all the customers service for us, so we didn't have to really worry about our limited bandwidth or logistics. When it comes to fulfilling these products, it comes through as a donation for the organization, so that's a wonderful gift. People can also donate when they buy items. It's not
just T shirts. We did coffee cups right now and toats and lots of different things that people can wear to help spread a message, right, and so Bonfire is open to the public. They can partner with them and they can put these beautiful campaigns that helped them to raise money, read a message, do a lot of good. They've been fantastic work to work with. We're just so excited, but really just a great, great support to the nonprofit community. And so they are a partner for this. We couldn't
be more grateful because that's what it takes. It takes corporate partners stepping up and supporting us in this in this fight to the you know, spread good, spread kindness, build these kits, do social impact productions like this. It really takes a village. So we're grateful for hours. And today we are super excited because we're launching a special
addition T shirt from your signature dance movie, Kevin. So if listeners go to bonfire dot com forward slash Kevin, they're going to see a super cool T shirt that we designed and got license and all that fun stuff so that we can raise money for all the programs that we talked about here today. And there's so many ways that Bonfire supports nonprofits and other individuals and change
makers that are doing a world of good. So we have some really specific call to actions and they're easy, right, Like, mainly could share this podcast and you know, follow us along on all of our social media channels. All the links will be in the show notes. But really, following and engaging in content for nonprofits does a whole lot of good. Obviously, it helps us cast a much bigger net,
increases our reach and therefore our impact. So we'd love to hear from you, guys, Hear what you're liking about the show, about the work that we're doing, and if you're so inclined, please join us as we fundraise to build all of these essential care kits by texting Bacon B A C N to seven zero seven zero seven zero.
Thank you, Thank you, Stacy, you rock, You really do so hard amazing. I'm so grateful to have you with six degrees and yeah, it's the best. It's the best means and also to know you and your beautiful, two beautiful little girls and your fantastic husband. Yes, we're thrilled to have you as as our friends and hire. I'm very happy to have you as my friend too.
Thank you, Thank you very much, thanks for asking me to come. It's amazing. It's an honor, really, it really is. You guys are incredible and six degrees is incredible. I'm so proud of you guys and what you've accomplished and what you continue to do with that podcast. I think it's really something special. So I feel lucky to have been a part of it.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Kia, and come back anytime. Kay, Let's dat some more love you guys, Thanks for being here. Hey, guys, thanks for listening to another episode of six Degrees with Kevin Bacon. And if you want to learn more about six degrees dot org and all the work that we are up to, you can head to six degrees dot org, reach out to Stacy on our social platforms, get connected,
get involved. You can find all those links in our show notes, and if you like what you're hearing, subscribe to the show and tune in to the rest of our episodes. You can find six Degrees with Kevin Bacon on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you next time.