Collaborative Practices Award / Rural Experience Collective and Be Collective

We are excited to share with you two *new* collectives that have been cultivated over the Fall of 2021 as part of our Launch Program Collaborative Practices Award. We’re interested in how we can incentivize practices that build strong networks of mutual support and integrate collective practices. The MCAD MFA Progam is offering $500 to help subsidize a collaborative project, such as critique groups, collectives, shared publications, community supported art, and more. This year we have awarded two collectives: Be Collective and Rural Experience Collective.

• Be Collective: Bo Young An ’22, Jesus Li ’23, Ivonne Yanez ’23, Alejandro Junyao Zhang ’21, Boom Mekavarakul, Chat Sanghiran, Jennifer Charoni
• Rural Experience Collective (REC): Cailey Birchem ’22, Jordyn Brennan ’22, Alexis Schramel ’23, Danni Schroeder ’22, Shoshana Fink '22, Meghan Kleitsch, Shelby Tanner, Amanda George

Read about the interview with the founders of each collective below!

What made you apply?

Bo: I was excited to apply for this opportunity because I wanted to be involved in more collaborative and community-based practices, but didn't know how to get started. This opportunity made me realize that I could be the person to create a space that I have been searching for and others like me may be looking for. As an international student who moved to the US in 2020, finding and connecting with a community was harder due to the pandemic. I wanted to create a space where artists could feel fully supported and celebrated as creatives from different backgrounds. The collective is a space where we are able to have more inclusive dialogues of social/political/economic issues that are happening around the world and in our native countries and communities that have many parallels to issues within the US. This collective opens up a space for safe and inquisitive conversations as some of our members navigate their new lives in the US, and as all of our members learn and discuss what is happening outside of the US. There is an increasing number of BIPOC led collectives and creative groups, but there still aren't enough spaces for emerging creatives to thrive in diverse settings. Setting a strong foundation led by people of colour is important to me as I envisioned this collective as a project with exponential growth where artists of colour feel uplifted and are able to connect further with other artists in the immediate and global communities.

Jordyn: We felt that this was such a great opportunity to build community amongst artists from all over the country who share a unique experience of being an artist with rural ties. Both Cailey and I see connections to our own rural upbringing within our own work and we were sure that there had to be other artists that could relate.

Would you tell us more information about your collective?

Bo: Our collective is a space of creative and intellectual freedom and exploration. Each of us acts as a source of knowledge around the world, especially on issues that are directly affecting the members and ones we are passionate about. We have creatives from design, illustration, public administration, painting, architecture, and media art backgrounds. As individuals of marginalized groups, we are aware of the space we take up and the various privileges and responsibilities that we have as creatives. We embrace the different ways that our creative works occur and engage in practices where we are allowed to just be our creative selves. We are part of the movement of BIPOC creatives who pride ourselves in our cultures and emphasize the power of collaborative efforts with a wide reach.

Jordyn: REC exists to share stories and experiences of creatives with past and/or current rural ties and its potential to create influence on their practice. Members of the collective are not bound to a specific location or region. The purpose of this collective is to build a strong support system for artists and a platform to showcase their work.

What are you most excited about?

Bo: Currently, we are most excited about the work of our debut show "BEING" coming up at Gallery 148 starting Wednesday 9th February. We have invited artists outside of our collective to participate in the exhibition. We only formed recently, but the effort our members have already put in is inspiring and has given us an insight into what we will be able to accomplish in the future. We are excited about what we will be doing within the collective as well as the work we will do with the artists in our communities. We plan on expanding our collective in 2022 and look forward to working with more international artists located within and outside of the US. We can't wait to share our works with everyone!

Jordyn: We are super excited about getting to be in community with so many amazing artists. After the new year we will be having our first annual meeting, starting our quarterly critique groups, and eventually creating a collective zine. We are excited to see how similar and/or different each of our members' rural experience is and how it influences their practice!

Congratulations to Be Collective and Rural Experience Collective on being awarded the Collaborative Practices Award! We look forward to all the great collaborations that grow from these groups! Make sure to check out MCAD's student-run Gallery 148 on February 9 to see Be Collective's exhibition: Being.