Narration by Y-Bình Nguyễn
Animation by Wil Renderos, Audio Chemists
Creative County Initiative…
CREATES a regional voice for arts, culture, and creative expression in Essex County.
PROMOTES transformative community and economic development.
ELEVATES arts and cultural experiences that celebrate diversity, equity, inclusion, and access across communities.
INVESTS in artists and the creative economy in an environment of rapidly changing demographics.
CELEBRATES Essex County as a vibrant place to live, work, create and collaborate.
Transcript
I think whenever, I’m in creative spaces, it’s always healing and always has the capacity for healing. To have a creative practice and to invest in the creative community is really important for healing for us the process the trauma that we go through every day. I think a lot of creatives of color don’t have space to be creative for the sake of being creative. As like the, all of us are first-generation immigrants to so it’s also one of those things where you also have to consider what it means to be in a country like after your parents have been able to survive right and what they want for you in rectifying what you want for yourself. It’s really hard for me to explain to my family what I’m doing in artistic spaces as a form of livelihood or even investing in general. I think there’s so much creative talent in Lawrence and communities like ours, right communities at the margins of society, and I think we need to create to survive, right we need to do this for us and for the young folks that come after us and really like the future of the planet. I can’t say enough for having a supportive arts community. I get it. It keeps you going. It keeps you believing in your work. I think a lot of times like systematic oppression affects us in ways we don’t even know our bodies are able to create but the act of creation in and of itself is a really healing process. That kind of is what I believe our community is to see and know and understand about itself more and more. And not that it doesn’t already but I think we just need more art spaces. I think it’s just another art space that it is worthwhile to invest in and see grow so that people in our community have more access to things that are really cool, that they want to be a part of.
