Creative Types: New initiative spotlights local creative community

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For Lexington artist Anne Kindl, creating art is about more than making pretty pictures – it is a form of therapy that has helped her overcome many fears in her life, including those that surfaced when she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

The story behind Kindl’s striking pastel art was the first narrative to be featured in a series of “snapshot bios” produced by the new local initiative Creative Lexington, which aims to move local artists’ backstories to the forefront with a series of thoughtfully crafted videos. The project is the brainchild of small-business owner and supporter of the arts Bryan Mullins, who, having long admired Lexington’s art scene, is hoping to change what he has seen as a dearth in local initiatives that focus on telling artists’ stories. To be sure, there are organizations and events that spotlight and promote local art, but Mullins has found that finding the artists themselves can be difficult – and learning the stories behind their art an even greater challenge.

“You have to basically know, or get in, the network to even find out if there are certain artists doing things,” said Mullins.

Although he doesn’t come from an artistic background, Mullins has always admired his friends who did.

And as the owner of Red Oak Digital Network – the company that owns the television monitors seen above many Shell gas station pumps in town – he has a unique access to a vehicle for providing exposure. While the monitors typically play various advertisements and short, client-sponsored videos, Mullins had been wanting to create and broadcast some of his own original content for quite some time.

“I like to be exposed to something I haven’t seen before and be surprised by it,” he added.

His passion for the arts community combined with this desire to create material for his displays helped Mullins come up with the concept for Creative Lexington, a project that creates two- to three-minute videos highlighting local artists and the story behind their craft. He wanted to create short, shareable stories that could easily be distributed on social media and through other channels. Initial challenges – primarily, lack of funding and resources – sent the project to the back burner for many months, and last spring he avowed that to get the project off the ground, he would initially have to fund the project himself. That meant investing in a professional videographer and donating valuable advertising time that he could otherwise sell to potential clients.

Mullins was able to enlist the help of Lexington’s premiere cultural development, advocacy and fund-raising organizations, LexArts and the Lexington Art League, which have taken up the role of enlisting local artists to be featured – Mullins lets the organizations know the type of artist he is looking to feature, they find an artist who fits the bill, then contact him or her to see if he or she wants to participate in the project. (Mullins also fields requests through Facebook and his website.)

Intent on showcasing the diversity of Lexington’s artistic community, the Creative Lexington videos highlight a variety of genres; in addition to Kindl, artists who have been featured include Lexington Children’s Theatre costume technician Julie Glover, UK Opera Theatre director Everett McCorvey and Kentucky Ballet Theatre principal dancer Kelsey Van Tine.

For Kindl, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

“As artists, people don’t really know what you do, and by having these snapshot videos, it really helps to get your story out and connect with an audience,” she said.

“I’ve had people contact me and say, ‘this is going to sound really strange, but I saw you at this gas station,’” Kindl added with a laugh. She was also recently contacted by an out-of-town director who saw her work and wanted to use it in his film.

“I’ve had responses from all kinds of people ... it’s been really positive, and I’ve made some good connections and very interesting prospects.”

Since the project, which launched in October, is still in its infancy, Mullins is looking for help in any available form, especially from local videographers and musicians looking for experience and exposure. Music from local musicians is featured as background music on the videos and has included original songs from John Ferguson, Matt Duncan, Cameron Webster and Tedrin Blair Lindsey.

“Anything will be helpful,” he said.

Visit www.creativelexington.com for more snapshot bios.

He wants to keep a consistent style to each snapshot but allow each videographer to present his or her own interpretation on that style, which he sees as yet another angle of immersion in the local arts scene. He is also looking for different methods of distribution in the area, including radio spots or various websites. Financial support and sponsorship is a major goal, since he would like to be able to eventually feature a different artist each week – which would mean an annual cost of about $75,000. The project is currently posting a new video about every two to three weeks on the website (www.creativelexington.com), as well as through social media and other local channels, including the Red Oak screens at the Shell stations, which rotate one- to two-minute versions of the videos, slightly pared down from the original versions.

Since starting the project in October, Mullins’ vision has already started to evolve to include new elements, including a side project called Positive Change, where community members can update their own short videos about “teaching moments” that have changed their life in some way, and a locally produced video serial drama highlighting interesting historical facts about Lexington. Positive Change, which will include a tutorial teaching users how to create and submit their own videos, is slated to launch within the next month or two, and Mullins said he is now looking to launch the serial drama, which he initially envisioned happening “way down the line,” much earlier than originally anticipated. He has started producing videos for corporate clientele as well, an endeavor he hopes will help foot the bill of the other projects, which he initially saw as a philanthropic project for the community.

Ultimately, Mullins said his goal is to flood the community with awareness and appreciation of the local art scene – to have people who may have never set foot in a gallery see what a hidden wealth of artistic talent surrounds them.

“No matter where you work, what socio-economic scene you’re from, you’re going to get exposed to this art,” Mullins said.

For more information on Creative Lexington and to view the videos that have been produced thus far, visit www.creativelexington.com. ss

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