Welcome to THE CREATIVE INDEPENDENT. It’s our first day here.

The Creative Independent is a new resource of emotional and practical guidance for creative people. Our goal is to educate, inspire, and grow the community of people who create or dream of creating.

Everything you read on The Creative Independent will come from artists and creators. This space is reserved for their perspective. The Creative Independent is ad-free and backed by Kickstarter, PBC.

Each weekday we will publish one interview or essay by an artist—including musicians, authors, filmmakers, dancers, designers, and others. Conversations will explore themes like collaboration, creative beginnings, process, fear and anxiety, failure, triumph, and bouncing back. Each artist will also share some personal recommendations—resources that are important for contextualizing their work, good tools for people who also make things, or simply things they enjoy.

There was a point in history when it was possible to read every book that had ever been published. That’s no longer the case—especially with the web. But we hope to provide you with something you can read from start to finish each day.

We’re also organizing events. Our live conversation series kicked off in August with Ian MacKaye. Upcoming events include conversations with Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, and Dennis Cooper. We’re also presenting performances by Shamir and Waxahatchee and readings by Dorothea Lasky, Mychal Denzel Smith, and Jazmine Hughes, among others. Sign up here for information on how to attend.

We’re a small staff. Brandon Stosuy is Editor-in-Chief, Laurel Schwulst is the Creative Director, T. Cole Rachel is Senior Editor, Charlotte Zoller is the Director of Community Engagement, and Hannah Street Elliott is our intern.

We hope you enjoy this project. We’ve had a great time putting it together for you.

All best,

Brandon, Charlotte, Cole, Hannah, Laurel