The song “Never Again” came to fruition during production after Bates and Michigan-based Holocaust survivor and painter, Rene Lichtman, had a one-on-one interview at Lichtman’s home. Since Lichtman has an artistic expression of his own, he decided to create a painting called “Never Again.”

Our filming began at Second Baptist Church of Detroit located in Greektown to film the opening scene with Curtis in the basement of the church where there is a painted map of routes taken on the Underground Railroad. Curtis then walks upstairs to meet the Detroit Children’s Choir, cello player Lillian Navin, and pianist Eric Taylor on stage to deliver his lines at the pulpit. Second Baptist is a significant piece of history as it was one of the locations used on the Underground Railroad, saving roughly 5,000 lives during its operation. We’re very excited to feature this piece of Detroit’s history in the film and we want to thank Rev. Lawrence Rodgers for allowing us the opportunity.

We then filmed several scenes of Curtis at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History focusing on the MLK Jr. displays, then in front of two Eastern Market murals from Murals In The Market, and then headed to the The Berman Center for the Performing Arts. In the Berman Center, eight Holocaust Survivors and ambassador Hailey Callahan joined Curtis on stage where survivor Rene Lichtman revealed his painting “Never Again” to close out the song.

Thank you to all of the Holocaust survivors that came out to join us for this monumental event: Edith Maniker, Elizabeth Silver, Fred Lessing, Katherine Sattler, Gita Griesdorf, Irene Miller, Rene Lichtman, and Sheri Kohen. This was truly a once in a lifetime moment for everyone and we’re so excited to be able to feature four additional Michigan-based Holocaust surviviors in this film.

And a huge thank you to the Detroit Children's Choir for their outstanding hard work and dedication to this project. We wouldn’t have been able to do this without the help of Executive Director Sandee Singer, Artistic Director Eric Taylor, and our nine incredibly talented DCC singers: Addison Lackey, Amaya Danzler, Angelina Perez, Bryann Turner, Ella Sidorowicz, Jahleel Hunley, Ruhi Balaji, Shanya Duncan, and Vanisa Kumar. It’s been a true joy working with you all and we can’t wait to share this piece with you!