In the fall of 2012, Nasrene Haj and Mila Pinigin formed the Creators Collective. At the time Haj and Pinigin, who had recently graduated from Sarah Lawrence College, were interested in creating a collaborative space in which other artistic individuals could come together to network, generate discussion and develop projects and events which challenged the status quo. In the two years since the Creators Collective was founded, Jeremie Gluckman joined the organization as Research Director while Haj has remained at the helm guiding the Creators Collective forward, always seeking out new and innovative ways to engage the arts on a micro and macro scale.

I spoke with Haj who is the Director and Co-Founder of the Creators Collective, about what it is like being a working artist in Brooklyn today, what challenges she faced starting an organization, and what changes she has seen in the Brooklyn arts community having grown up here

Anni Irish: How was the Creators Collective formed? And what was your intent for this organization?

Nasrene Haj: I founded The Creators Collective with one of my best friends from college, Mila Pinigin. One evening, while studying abroad in Italy our junior year, we were having dinner and started throwing around ideas for projects we’d like to work on together. We thought about how amazing it would be to create a small collective in Brooklyn that would engage these various projects with other friends and community members. A few months after graduating from college, we came up with a name for our collective and began organizing our first event, 3 to 1. Our tag line sums up our original intent for this organization. “providing space and resources for interdisciplinary collaborations in unique spaces.” However, over the past couple years this has become more complex.

A.I.: What is your relationship to art?

N.H.: I studied dance growing up, and really loved to choreograph. I took advantage of any opportunity to create dance works and perform them in front of an audience. I thought that was what I wanted to do professionally – dance and choreograph However, when I got to college, my relationship to dance and art shifted and I began exploring other disciplines such as drawing, painting and poetry. My senior year of college, I returned to dance and incorporated all of these artistic interests in the works I created that year. I also always enjoyed working in arts administration, so once I graduated, I knew my interest in the arts was broader. This is something that I paid close attention when was deciding what I wanted to pursue professionally both with the Creators Collective and otherwise.

Photo credit: Nicole Malagodi

A.I.: How has your interdisciplinary approach as a dancer and working artist been incorporated into the collective?

N.H.: For my senior dance piece, I supplemented my choreography with live vocals layered over a monologue from an Italian film and designed the costumes based on the same color scheme I was exploring in my paintings. Seeing the complexity of this final work, paired with the collaborative nature of creating something that crossed disciplines, I experienced a fulfillment I’d never felt before when making art. In that moment, I felt a deeper appreciation for working with other artists. Professionally that realization has since contributed to the projects I’ve developed for The Creators Collective and the way I work with other members who join me in executing projects.

A.I.: What have been some of your approaches in getting local businesses and artists involved in your organization?

N.H.: My goal for the Creators Collective is to build a community of people. Whether they are individual artists, other collectives or local businesses, who are looking for an outlet or are open to working with others to support the arts in their community. I try to engage others through bartering offers. For example if a local business were to donate their space to us for an evening, the Creators Collective would then offer to expand their online and local presence through advertising their business on our online platforms and bringing a physical audience to their space. With artists, we are offering them a permanent spot in our online artist registry and following their participation in a Creators Collective event, we provide them with a video and photo from the project that they can use for their own publicity and archiving. On our end, we are able to utilize these relationships to execute programs and events that foster the presence and value of the Creators Collective in the Brooklyn arts community.

A.I.: How has your work with organizations such as Alvin Ailey and BRIC helped you to develop CC and the kinds of projects you want to be involved in?

N.H.: Working at Alvin Ailey and BRIC has given me the opportunity to learn how larger non-profit organizations operate and has provided me with countless networking opportunities. There have been many people who I have worked with in one context who have later participated in a Creators Collective project or supported one of our programs or events. Through this outside work, I have also found clarity in the type of organization that I want the Creators Collective to grow into.

A.I.: As a Brooklyn native, and someone who came through the school system here what are some of the changes you have seen regarding the arts on a local level i.e. in public schools and on a larger scale?

N.H.: When I was in high school in the mid 2000’s, the arts always felt like an afterthought. There was not enough support from the administration to back up what these teachers and students were capable of and interested in exploring together. Luckily, there was amazing organization where I studied dance, so I wasn’t relying on the public school system for arts education. Unfortunately, most students didn’t have this same opportunity I had.

I can’t speak fully to the current state of the arts in public schools, as my only interaction with a public high school has been through the Creators Collective’s film making residency, Not So Silent Films that I organized for the 2013-2014 academic school year at the high school I attended in Brooklyn. I have had many conversations with the classroom teacher, an amazing educator and inspiring woman, Clare Bauman, students we worked with in the classroom, and the teens and professional artists who are participating in the Collective Storytelling. Everyone seems to feel the same as I did growing up–which is that arts education still seems to be an after thought and that there needs to be more accessibility for students to engage with the arts both in school and in their local community.

On a larger scale, I think the arts are continuously becoming a huge part of the culture of Brooklyn and have contributed to the growth of certain neighborhoods and the borough overall. Unfortunately, opportunities in the arts for youth do not seem to be increasing at the same rate as the overall growth of the arts in Brooklyn. Being part of such a vibrant artistic community is something that that public schools in this borough could deeply benefit from; for example, bringing in skilled teaching artists and community members to bridge the gap between in school and public arts education.

Photo Credit: Nicole Malagodi

AI: How would you characterize the state of the arts in Brooklyn today?

N.H.: I believe that the arts in Brooklyn have grown in a very public and accessible way. I notice a lot more site-specific work being developed and performed and I think there is an increasingly communal appreciation for art as it becomes more accessible in neighborhoods across the borough. But, I have also noticed that as community-based and interactive as the arts in Brooklyn may be, I feel a sense of separation at times, quite simply due to the nature of working with the same people on many projects and interacting within the same few neighborhoods. Finding myself falling into similar patterns, I decided that I wanted to build a platform for Brooklyn collectives to connect–initially online through the Creators Collective website and a list serve email platform for space and resource exchange, and eventually through collective meet-ups. We’re calling it the Alliance of Brooklyn Collectives (ABC).

A.I.: What is next for the Creators Collective?

N.H.: In addition to the Alliance of Brooklyn Collectives, we are expanding the Collective Storytelling program to include a writing and photography residency to take place in a public high school in Brooklyn this fall and we will also continue to develop the writing and performance component, offering a second teen writing workshop followed by more opportunities for professional and young artists to connect and create collaboratively. We are also brainstorming a few more ideas that will extend Creators Collective programs into different cities and towns, hopefully launching in the next year or two.

In the very near future, we will showcase the current stage of Collective Storytelling on August 10th and 13th, with an open rehearsal for those interested in exploring our method of developing this collaborative performance work and a work-in-progress viewing in Prospect Park of what we’ve created this summer.

For more information about this project and many others the Creators Collective are involved in check out their website.

–Anni Irish