Martellus Bennett has his life figured out after football. The underrated tight end recently announced that the 2017 season may be his last. He didn't give an explanation as to why he would be calling it quits after a pretty decent 10-year career and didn't want to talk about his announcement when we spoke over the phone last week. But while he was dealing with getting cut by the Green Bay Packers, the only things on his mind were his Imagination Agency and Uncle Smarty Foundation. With both his foundation and creative agency, Bennett hopes to bring coding camps, children's books and apps featuring black protagonists, and a new kind of playground to kids of color across the globe. We talked to Bennett about his participation in Microsoft's #CreateChangeContest, his plans for the future, why coding is so important, and that time he got kicked out of Six Flags AstroWorld when he was a kid.
(This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.)
Tell us about the Imagination Agency and your Uncle Smarty Foundation.
Basically what we've been trying to do is create likeness where kids can have their likeness and representation through arts and creativity. So I just try to be one of the people that empower kids of all colors and all races through their imagination. We want to give them different stories because if you go through the children's book world or movies and cartoons, there's not a lot of Black child protagonists. The same thing with coding. If you look at coding and all the tech companies around the world, there's not a lot of Black kids in those fields. What I've been tryna do with the Uncle Smarty Foundation is trying to build platforms to help those kids in underserved communities to learn about coding and tech fields in general, so they can design a future for themselves and not have to rely on the future they feel has been designed for them. I should write this down [Laughs.]
With after school programs and things of that nature?
More like camps in the summer. Right now I'm working on my first coding camp and I've been a big fan of the [Microsoft] Surface and its capabilities. We just want to introduce them to different platforms and different way to create. I think a lot of it is getting it in front of them, so they know there's an opportunity out there because a lot of times you just don't know, especially when you come from that background. They haven't had somebody that looks like you that you could relate to.
I know the feeling. I had to go to a vocational high school because the one in my neighborhood didn't provide the same opportunities.
That's the biggest thing because those opportunities don't float in those neighborhoods. I'm also building playgrounds as well, I call them adventure parks cause they're much better than playgrounds.
I was going to ask that. So that playground design that you posted on Twitter is going to become a reality?
That's the plan. I've been designing it the last few months, and now we're starting to raise money to build it in my hometown of Houston first and eventually start building them all over the world. I hope I could build one in Africa one day.
How does MartyLand stack up to other playgrounds?
I mean how does Willy Wonka compare to other chocolates? That's what you're asking me right now. [Laughs.] I don't know, I'm Willy Wonka and their just the other chocolates like how can I explain it? What I'm trying to do is build a place where kids can use their imagination again. So it's built for adventure, it's built for you to play with others. Not just swings or boring slides but almost where it feels like you're in an amusement park. I also want to attach a give-and-take libraries to the parks where kids can bring and take books as they please. It's a trust thing where people leave a book for another kid to read. We want to build a community where you could play, read, and enjoy one another. And I built it where the sitting areas will force people to sit together so they can interact while they're watching their kids. For me, it's a long story, but I got kicked out of Six Flags AstroWorld in Houston one summer, I couldn't go back, so ever since then I was like, "You know what? Fuck y'all, Imma build my own theme park in Houston." Martyland is the closest I could get to it so far.
You have some videos on your socials of you interacting with kids while reading your book. Is the Imagination Agency going to be a hands-on thing with kids too?
We do interactive children's book apps. So anytime I do pop-ups introducing new products, I try to make them as hands-on as possible. That way they could play with the app, I read to them, I draw and color with them, I interact with the kids. The pop-ups aren't to just introduce a product, but it's also to spend time and get feedback from the kids. Sometimes I look crazy because I'll be walking around with a notebook staring at other people's kids, jotting down notes. I know parents are like, "Who's this guy? What is he doing? Let me get my kid." A lot of it is just to share that moment and bring it to kids that may not have access.
So the coding camps are to teach kids how to make apps?
It's gonna be huge. I think coding is gonna become the blue collar work of the future. So if kids in underserved communities want a chance to compete for those jobs, they gotta start now. The earlier you start, the better off you are.
The Surface makes it easier for kids to learn?
I think so because they could do multiple things on there. If they have an idea that they can't explain, they could just draw it on there. There's the possibility to express yourself in so many different ways creatively with a Surface which I think is the best thing about it. The Surface isn't limited to just one thing. Kids may not know how to use Photoshop yet but every kid is an artist, so to be able to pick up your Surface pin and draw you could just show your idea right there. I hate typing but I love to write manually. Everybody who works with me knows that they may get handwritten notes back.
Kids love playing with tablets and phones. They always ask, "You got games on your phone?"
It's an interactive book. It's an immersive experience where they could get lost in this world and it's something that they're learning. We're bringing the book to life. You have the hardcopy of the book which I think there's always going to be a place for that because a parent can actually sit down and read it to them. They bring families together. But with the app, you could just leave your kid with it and let them do what they wanna do [Laughs.]
When's the first coding camp?
Hopefully next summer. Right now we're finishing up the curriculum. I expect to see you guys there.
