Meet 11 Dynamic Creative Entrepreneurs
Creatives in Charlotte are not only essential to our quality of life and our reputation, they are vital members of our local economy. As we’ve said many times in The Biscuit, each individual creative is a small business. But, to thrive in a business town, both part-time and full-time creatives need business knowledge to help them chart the path forward.
INVESTING IN YOUR CREATIVE FUTURE
With funds from Wells Fargo, Charlotte Is Creative (publishers of The Biscuit) launched the Creative Entrepreneurs Initiative (CEI) in the fall of 2021 with a class of seven emerging creative entrepreneurs.
Each member of the class receives 10 sessions of business and project management training, support and promotion created by local subject matter experts, plus additional support and promotion. They are paid a stipend to attend each class – a reminder that investing their time into building their business is important.
Upon successful completion of the program, each creative will get a $1,500 grant to be used to enhance their creative business with equipment purchases, legal fees, infrastructure, a public event, marketing or other needs that will strengthen their creative businesses.
APPLY TO BE IN THE 2023 CEI COHORT
The current class features 11 members, ranging from literature experts to photographers, makers and visual artists. Get to know them. Hire them. Or, join them. Applications are open now for the next CEI cohort, which will meet from January through April 2023. The deadline to apply is Sunday, Nov. 27 at 8 p.m. READ MORE AND APPLY.
MEET THE 2022 CEI COHORT
Abel Jackson
Full-Time Visual Artist
Available for Hire
IG: @artbyabel
WEB: abelartworks.com
ONLINE TIPPING: CashApp: $aArtByAbel
In 2002, Charlotte artist Abel Jackson started airbrushing with the motto: “Paint anything on anything.” Twenty years later, he’s still at it, but with an expanded focus. “Art brings many contributions to society,” said Jackson. “One of the main effects of art is bringing people together.”
Photo by Dionna Bright.
Arko
Visual Artist and Curator
Available for Hire
IG: @arko.clt
TIKTOK: @arko.clt
ONLINE TIPPING: CashApp: $ArkoCLT | Venmo: @ArkoCLT
“Art saved my life. Arko came to be when I quit drinking and began putting that energy into painting.”
The Charlotte artist known as Arko has built a strong presence in Charlotte over the last several years, in part by collaborating with a wide array of other creatives. Sometimes he supports them. Other times they support him. Each time, he learns.
And, he passes that knowledge along to the creative community. As he said, “I create and execute large- and small-scale interior and exterior murals, paintings and sculptures. I curate, manage and direct projects as well as offer material and tech assistance to projects.”
Photo by Dionna Bright.
Bunny Campbell-Gregory
Visual Artist and Creative Community Engagement Organizer
Available for Hire
IG: @ug_battleofthearts
ONLINE TIPPING: CashApp: $UGmobileart | Venmo: @UGMobileArt
Bunny Campbell-Gregory knows Charlotte. Flat out.
While she embraced life as an artist and community engager later than some, Campbell-Gregory brings a unique blend of youthful energy and the wisdom of experience to everything she creates. And she creates a lot – murals, portraits, upholstery, upcycling, costumes, props and event decor.
As you drive around Charlotte, keep a sharp eye open for her UNDERGROUND Mobile Art Studio, a converted “skoolie” (school bus) she built to provide free community youth engagement. You can also hire Campbell-Gregory and her bus for private art events.
Darrell Anderson
Graphic Design and Fashion Design
Available for Hire
IG: @saintmarkvintage
TIKTOK: @stmarkvintage
WEB: stmarkvintage.com
ONLINE TIPPING: CashApp: $TheAlleyKatWay | Venmo: @StreetKatDaka
Darrell Anderson is an active member of Charlotte’s burgeoning fashion design scene. He specializes in thrifted and upcycled fashion and vintage couture. He started his own brand, St. Mark Vintage Clothing in 2020 to explore his love of clothing and fashion and share it with others. He’s a fixture at Charlotte pop-up fashion shows, where he loves to dish out fashion advice, as well as share his unique creations.
And, if you’re a hopeless fashion victim, Anderson has your back, offering personal shopping, custom clothing design, styling and creative direction to help you develop your look.
Dionna Bright
Full-Time Photographer & Visual Artist
Available for Hire
IG: @dionna_bright
TIKTOK: @di_alchemist
WEB: dionnabrightphotography.com
ONLINE TIPPING: PayPal: @dionnabright | CashApp: $DiBright | Venmo: @Dionna-Bright
You may not know it, but you’ve encountered Dionna Bright this year. You may have bumped into her at a creative event. (It seems like she attends them all.) You have probably seen her work on social media. Or, you may have driven past the Charlotte Convention Center and seen a giant mural of her face.
“My photographs are vibrant, light-filled, nature-esque and authentic,” she said. “Connecting with people and allowing them the safety to feel themselves while capturing their essence is at the core of what I do.”
Hasheem Halim
Part-Time Architect & Maker Space Creator
Available for Hire
IG: @saturnatelier
WEB: saturnatelier.org
ONLINE TIPPING: CashApp: $SaturnAtelier
Hasheem Halim has been creating since he was a kid. “I have been drawing shoes since I was 6 years old,” he said. “From there I discovered architecture.”
From his work as a professional architect, Halim discovered a passion for helping the community create. Now, he runs and teaches at a local community maker space he established in the Derita neighborhood. The studio offers access to woodworking and sewing tools and 3-D printing equipment along with software for design like AutoCAD and the Adobe Creative Suite.
Julia Rojas
Full-Time Visual Artist
Available for Hire
IG: @saltandlightcreativecompany
WEB: saltandlightcc.com
ONLINE TIPPING: Venmo – @JuliaValle16 | Paypal – hello@saltandlightcc.com
Julia Rojas indulges in many creative disciplines, but she primarily works as an illustrator/painter and woodworker. She makes custom art and frames, but she is also available for hire for branding, packaging design, stickers, prints, window/sign painting and mural work.
Rojas started her career as a landscape designer, but the siren call of her own creative business was too alluring. “I needed a creative outlet and to escape from my corporate job, so I just started painting,” she said. She resigned her old job and began life as a full-time entrepreneur in January.
Lauren Morris
Part-Time Used-Bookstore Owner
Available for Hire
IG: @lorrainesbookshelf
WEB: lorrainesbookshelf.shop
ONLINE TIPPING: PayPal: lorrainesbookshelf@gmail.com
Lauren Morris has experience working in libraries and finds book fairs, festivals and book clubs to be the highlight of her curating experience, especially for students and young adults. That work opened a new chapter for her. “When I worked at the library, I discovered my love for creating, curating and hosting book clubs,” she said.
Now, she devotes her spare time to expanding community love and curiosity for Black literature. She’s establishing Lorraine’s Bookshelf, an online used bookstore that encourages Black readership through accessible, sustainable and affordable literature.
Matthew Honeycutt
Full-Time Visual Artist and Creative Community Organizer
Available for Hire
IG: @matthewscotthoneycutt
ONLINE TIPPING: PayPal: mxh720ac@email.cpcc.edu
Matthew Honeycutt is a familiar face in the local creative community, having lived in Charlotte since 1984. After some necessary surgeries, Honeycutt used art as part of the healing process. “I stumbled onto painting as a therapy while struggling to heal from some surgeries,” he said.
Honeycutt is an oil painter, but he’s also an active participant in creative community engagement, helping other artists create their work and public exhibitions. He prefers the process of collaboration. He loves studio visits and traveling around the city to work in other creatives’ studios.
Sahar Iman
Full-Time Hair and Makeup Artist
Available for Hire
IG: @s.i.hair
TikTok: @s.i.hairbyinternalappeal
WEB: internalappeal.com
ONLINE TIPPING: CashApp: $InternalAppeal
Sahar Iman is an expert on hair. Full stop. It’s the focus of her career, and it’s her creative medium. “My work consists of natural Afro-textured hair care and design,” she said.
Iman works in salon settings but takes her work out into the world for photo shoots, special events and fashion shows. She also creates original art using hair as a medium. As a 15-year Charlotte resident, she began by recreating styles from magazines on herself and others. That work expanded into a full-time career as an entrepreneur.
Yash Mistry
Full-Time Videographer and Photographer
Available for Hire
IG: @thatmistrydude
TikTok: @thatmistrydude
WEB: mistryprojects.com
Yash Mistry is a full-time videographer with an innate passion for filmmaking, directing and editing. Mistry started his creative journey as a designer, but quickly fell in love with the lens.
A deeply involved member of the creative community, Mistry is a frequent collaborator. If you see a film or an event you like from another creative, chances are, he helped out in some way. He produces media content for advertising and marketing purposes but is expanding into documentaries and web series.
Charlotte Is Creative is proud to announce the launch of The Drop – a cultural meet-up series centered on the revelation of a brand-new, community-conscious mural created by diverse Charlotte-based artists each and every quarter.
For The Drop’s debut, we have partnered with #BeattiesFordStrong and commissioned artists Danyelle Ray, Ty McBride and Ricky Singh to create a moveable mural that will hang at our venue partner, Divine Barrel Brewing, before traveling to other sites around Charlotte. The mural will also be featured on beer cans distributed statewide for three months. The Drop seeks to combine compensation with innovative exposure to support and lift up artists on the rise.
Join us for The Drop on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. to be among the first to see this exciting new work, engage in conversation with the artists and creative team and meet new Queen City creatives. To get updates on The Drop, click here.
This project is supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. The Spark the Arts grant promotes audience inclusion and reengagement in the arts.
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