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Idlewild Artist Investing in Restoration of Historic Property

Lydia Hicks, originally of New York state, first learned about Idlewild in 2016. She was researching historically black resort towns for a school project.

“I was working on a project about black people and our relationships with water and swimming. And those two work together really well – those two themes – and started finding all the other resort towns around the country, and then I was working as a filmmaker in residence at Interlochen Arts Academy and was like, oh my gosh, Idlewild is very close and was able to drive down and just kind of explore a little bit and fell in love.”

In the beginning of the pandemic, Hicks lost her job and her home. It was in Idlewild where she found a sacred healing space from the trauma she experienced.

The stars aligned – receiving a grant and a payout from a class action lawsuit – allowing her to put a down payment on a dream property across from Paradise Lake in Idlewild.

Hicks then had the idea to offer a sanctuary for artists of color, like Idlewild has been for generations prior.

“It’s been a really destabilizing time and I just want to have something, a place, where I can offer people,” she says.

The property is known as the Poindexter Motel. It’s now Hicks home that she is restoring with the help of the community.

It comes with a house and a motel in the back, and is named after the creators, the Poindexter’s.

“One of the first things I did was I started trying to find the original family and I was able to connect with Randall Poindexter, who is the son of Katherine and Frank and their family actually built all the houses on my block,” says Hicks. “Then they helped to build a lot of the other houses in town. And so that was a really big highlight is connecting with them and learning about their family. They’re very excited to be able to come back and visit the house when it’s finished.”

But Hicks hit a snag in the restoration. A month after moving in, she discovered a very bad mold problem. The house had to be gutted, setting her back financially.

Now, she’s asking for help in repairing the roof so she can continue with her plans to create an artist residency out of the motel.

“The house is almost finished, and then after that I’ll be working on the motel in the backyard,” says Hicks “And the plan is to create a residency space. The motel is wild because it had four units and they’re very tiny, which is classic Idlewild. I found out from Randall [Poindexter] that Little Richard stayed in there and and the Supremes, minus Diana Ross.”

Hicks says it’s important to be able to create a safe space for young artists of color. It’s in line with what Idlewild represented in its heyday where black artists would come to perform in the beginning of their careers.

“It was one of the few places where you could come and the whole community was open to you, ” says Hicks. “I think it is overlooked a lot. A lot of people are excited to say that, oh, Aretha Franklin played here, but it was young Aretha Franklin and one of her first performances. And the community was so loving that they contributed to Aretha Franklin and letting her become the legend that she is. So I really hope that it also reverberates with the community for them to realize that they have contributed so much to what artists are capable of.”
Many people have contributed to Hicks GoFundMe campaign to restore the Poindexter property, raising over $4,000 so far.
Hicks says she feels the weight in the responsibility of restoring a building in the historic and culturally significant town.
“The  weight of it for me actually comes as like understanding the historical patterns of artists who come into places and trying to be aware of how my actions affect the community,” says Hicks. “I spent most of my first year just trying to listen and understand and meet my community.”
To help Lydia, you can donate to her or .
You can also follow her journey restoring the Poindexter and creating a community garden on Instagram: and Facebook:

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