Transcript
00:01
Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for hosting and coming to this space. We're so excited to show everything that we've been doing with Jumpstart. And we're so excited to show some big announcements that we have. So thank you so much for having this space today.
00:33
Yes, hello, hello, everybody. Hello, Amarnia. Thank you very much for taking the mic and accepting our invitation. I'm just gonna invite our co-host, Artie Mort, to join and take the mic. We're very happy to have you, your community, and to listen to your story this evening or this afternoon if you're in the United States.
01:02
So yeah, really great to have you. We're really happy and we're really looking forward to exchange and listen to your story and to the great news you've been announcing today too, I think, or that you're going to announce during the space. So really curious to listen to that. And I'll give the mic to Brian. Good evening, Brian. Hey, good evening, Max. Thanks for...
01:31
being there just a little bit late, I was trying to find my phone. I've got a few things here and there. I think I had some links ready just to discuss with Emoni and from the other thing. I just wanted to, I know we show you the pictures, so I just wanted to do a little thread with the pick of the artist, the student of Jumpstart Initiative being currently shown all across Belgium.
01:59
And yeah, hopefully it's going to have just a nice little chat with Emoni about Jumpstart, about what she's been up to and how, I guess, this current exhibition has came to be. And things like that. So I'm really excited to see Emoni here. Before we start, Mathieu, do we have anything to announce in our hand, art crush wise, or can we just get started right now?
02:24
Yeah, let's get started. I first want to see some people in the crowd. We have Allison who joined up as a speaker. She is our VP for Jumpstart. We have some students in here. We have Victor in here. We have Jackson's mom who's in here. She's absolutely amazing and supported us through this whole process. We have Kai Shan. We have Mikey. We have Zombie. So excited to have you guys here. Thanks so much for coming.
02:54
Well, that's nice. I didn't know at school we have people around. Please, I'm going to just have them join up as they come. It's just a few people requesting, so I'm just going to have them move up. Hopefully they are all just concerned by what you were saying. And yeah, we'll give the moment for everyone to speak a bit. Just before we do so, I remember, I think I was, I came across
03:22
gem stuff through at some point I realized on Twitter, everyone had this little PFP you currently are rocking, Emily. And that's a bunch of people in the space having those. And I guess that was something trying to racefold at the time or am I mistaking with something else? I think that was. Yeah. So the, the just.
03:46
As a little reminder, if you don't know what Jumpstart is, so basically we have, I've created the nonprofit called Jumpstart Designers, where our main mission is to get computers and digital art programs to kids so that they can create digital art. Because as we know, digital arts are a very expensive field to get into, and there are so many amazing opportunities that have absolutely changed so many people's lives, especially in web three.
04:15
So we just want to be able to provide that. We've partnered with Intel, who has graciously given us all of our laptops. We've partnered with School of Motion, where all of our students now are currently taking additional courses. But in our program, we provided seven weeks of one-on-one mentorship with some phenomenal artists, like Lina Vargas. She helped with...
04:43
me on the Super Bowl graphics. We have Robbie Trevino, who has created some of the most iconic Magic the Gathering cards. We have Tomas Kyoshi, who has worked on animations for Clash of Clans, Cartoon Network. And so these were the mentors for our students, because we did just want to give them the tools. We wanted to give them the education as well. And so I guess I could announce this, but...
05:13
This was our first ever session and I'm so happy to announce that every single student that was accepted in Jumpstart graduated from the program. So this means that they completed every single homework assignment for the seven weeks and they completed their final art piece, which we were absolutely amazed that we had a hundred percent of our students to be able to complete this. So this just goes to show.
05:42
like how motivated and passionate these kids are. And I'm so excited that they are part of this exhibition because for me as an artist, I didn't get my first art shown till way later in life. And so to be able to have them be able to show their art is so huge. It's such a huge moment for them. And so I'm so happy to share this with all of you guys today.
06:08
But yeah, that's basically who we are and kind of like what we're doing today and what we plan to do for the upcoming years. So you guys are seeing the first in history, our first ever session. So yeah, super excited. Oh, and the works are really nice. I mean, what's the average age of students of this program? Yes. So we have kids that are 11 to 18.
06:38
But we actually have Jackson who is our youngest student. He is eight And he's been in our frame-by-frame Class and has been as an eight-year-old. I don't know where you were eight years old But I definitely wasn't creating art and yes Oh the all the students have completely blown us out of the water in terms of what they've been able to create And just this was a very like rigorous
07:07
class. Like what they were expected to do was on top of their schoolwork and so we were trying to be mindful of that but every single student showed up and they were able to make their art pieces and I was so happy to show what they've made today. We have Zoe in here. She was a part of our illustration class and yeah just shout out to all the mentors and all the students that are in here.
07:35
I'm just so excited to share this moment with them today. Did you have a mentor yourself when you were like a teen? Or I mean, how did you came about doing this nonprofit? Is it because I would suppose it was a problem that you were yourself faced with as your girls in the, I don't know, you were in the US, I believe. It's all US students, correct?
08:02
Yes, all US just because at the moment, like there's a lot of paperwork. That's the one thing that I was not anticipating for a nonprofit because I am artists first. And so I was like, oh my God, there is a lot of paperwork in creating nonprofits. So going international is a whole other realm, which we hope to do in the future once we get more funding. But yeah, it was the first students we had.
08:32
students, actually 26 in total. And I think we had a little bit over 50 that applied. So we had an amazing turnout. I was so nervous because we really didn't know how this was going to come about. And it came out to be amazing. Like literally all the students, I am just so incredibly proud of them. So yeah. And then going back to your question about the PFPs.
09:02
The PFP that I have currently is for the fundraiser that we did where we partnered with MoonPain and they basically were like, I pitched to them like, hey, if we can get, I think it was 500 people to change their profile picture to the icon that I currently have now, they were willing to donate an additional $25,000 for our nonprofit.
09:31
and the most craziest thing happened. Thousands of people came through and changed their profile picture on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok. I think there's still people till this day that still have it. I don't have the heart to change it yet, but we had another person who was in the Web3 space who doubled it and were like, if you guys also reach 500, I'll give another 25,000. So we were able to get...
10:01
50,000 in total for having this profile picture. So such huge thing that we were trying to do and it was amazing turnout.
10:12
Oh yeah, okay. That provides some context I was unaware of. Okay. Well, I thought he was sending those, but he was more like a, of a bet. Interesting. Uh, it's, I mean, you've been like the, the spokesperson for this entire initiative and I was curious of what made you came to understand the hardship of like being raised in the household that didn't have access to a computer or don't have access to those tools to be able to, I guess, yeah, as your tagline is
10:42
playing field for up and coming designers. It's helping you experience yourself in your personal life. Yeah, so a big reason why I created Jumpstart. So my career now, I have had such amazing opportunities and I've been so fortunate to work with the musicians like Meg Thee Stallion, Kanye West, and brands like Saturday Night Live and the Super Bowl and all that.
11:09
came from me being able to have access to a computer. But before I was able to get that, I was faced with not having a computer. I was in high school and I really wanted to start creating art. And I remember watching YouTube videos of all these crazy music videos. And it was like, I wanna do that. And I started studying it and I took some film classes in high school.
11:36
my parents had saw how passionate I was for it. And so it was about time that I get a laptop and I remember pulling up to Best Buy and we went to go check out and my mom's credit card declined and we walked out of the store empty handed. And that was like the first time that I realized that I was being held back by not having access.
12:05
And so I, for the next few months, my mom ended up saving up and getting me this really cheap little laptop. But that laptop is what you see in my school newspaper with me next to it saying most likely to win an artistic award. And that laptop gave me the opportunity to be in this field. And it got me to think about like, what happens to the kids that aren't able to go back after the credit card declines? Like.
12:35
where did their dreams go? And it made me realize that not only does the opportunity stop for them, but I think a big part of it too is that we see a lack of color in the space. I think we're all very aware of like the artists in Web3 and how there's not a whole lot of color at the top. And I think a big part of that has to do with the introduction of accessibility.
13:03
Like a lot of these artists that are big, your favorite artists, you know, they all started at like 12 years old or like 15 years old and very young age, they had access like, oh yeah, my dad had a computer or oh, my mom was a designer. And a lot of kids in these like underserved communities don't have that. And so I wanted to create this to provide that access and show like if we just give the access to this, we would see phenomenal.
13:33
amazing like results from it and it's true like we did this and 100% of the students made it through and they completed everything and I know that like they are passionate and they are talented without me. All that I did was just be able to use my platform to provide them um just a little help and they proved themselves they're amazing and
14:01
they have the willpower to do it, and I'm just so happy that I was able to use what I have to provide that. Because I think there's just too many kids that are left in the dark strictly because of accessibility. Definitely, and it comes to drawing to the mission of Art Crush, which is also this notion of accessibility, accessibility to arts in the streets, and the fact that, you know, most people don't get to go to the museum, even less get to go in...
14:30
private galleries, even though usually it's free for people of a young age, but because it's not for their parents, it looks through a lot of things and just sometimes because your parents are not too much into the cultural world, they might feel a bit intimidated by it. So the mission of ArtCrochet is also to be able for people to experiment arts on their daily basis, and when they go commute to work, when they go to schools.
14:56
And whenever they have a moment to glance over the bus stop or the train station, they have the chance to see an artwork and we hope, oh, but this might spark, you know, some passion, some, some inspiration to become an artist or just to be interested in art in general. So we are actually getting in line in that regard of the mission. That's why I guess we ended up showing the student because at first when
15:23
I was reaching out to you about this initiative in Belgium. I was reaching out to you to exhibit your work. But then we realized that you mostly worked on the portrait format. As you've seen from the form and the variety of format we have on this initiative, it was a challenge to make it in a good way, which is your work. So we decided to, I guess, pay it forward to the students and have to do something for the team.
15:50
the children to do something impactful that would have meaning. Because sometimes we had so many different artists participating in this initiative, big artists, smaller artists, artists that have been exhibited across the world, although they've never been exhibited before. And you can tell sometimes that they react differently to the sort of opportunity. I had some issues with some artists that were a bit difficult with it. But then when we do an open call, we have thousands of replies trying to get in.
16:20
And so we're always happy to be able to offer this initiative to people that are able to appreciate it and really honored to be able to provide their first exhibition to the students with the pictures that come with it. So they actually have something to put in the exhibition part of the resume whenever they are looking to, you know, either get in gallery or do design and job or things like that.
16:42
I just wanted to remind everyone that if you go to the Jumpstart Designer website, you'll be able to see that there is information about the Institute, but also a little button to donate. And I guess you can donate at any point, so feel free to go back to the website and make a little donation. I can tell that I suppose that each student that are part of the program go out with a computer that they are full property of and a license to Adobe. Is that right?
17:11
Yeah, so they not only get the Intel laptop, XPS 15, but they get a Wacom tablet. They get a one-year Adobe subscription. And for our Framework students, they get a one-year Toon Boom subscription. And all of our alumni students, so all the kids who graduated, which 100% of them were.
17:37
They could reapply for a future subscription. So if their subscription runs out, they could apply again and be able to have access to another year of a subscription. So yeah, we're looking to get more funding this year to be able to provide our next session and stuff, so it's all just super exciting. The partners that we've had on this is...
18:05
our dream partners. It's the industry standard. Our frame-by-frame students got to get Toon Boom subscriptions, which Toon Boom is like the lead like programs that it's industry standard. You have Rick and Morty, Family Guy, Bob's Burgers that all use the application. So we wanted our students to use the same one and the same with our illustrator students and VFX.
18:34
We had a total of six classes. So it was the graphic design. So they got to use Photoshop, but they have access to the entire Creative Cloud Suite. So if they wanted to like lean over to something else, they totally could. And we have the VFX class, which I mentored. We had five mentors or six mentors in total. And then we had frame by frame, digital painting.
19:00
and character design and branding. So yeah, we had a lot of things going on. And it was just me and Allison holding it down, trying to make it happen. So this is a very like small person team. Allison makes sure that nothing catches on fire. And I'm the one who's setting everything ablaze. So it's a great team. We always need someone to go, you know, widen someone's tribute to manage them, but...
19:29
About that, I guess I'm going to go to our listen a bit because once she's there, we might as well have her participate. I guess my question, my next question would be about how can you apply and what are the criteria to apply if you want to be, I guess, either someone on the supporting side of Jumpstart, like, you know, speakers and teacher and all the different roles you might need, but also just people that want to apply as a student, what are the...
19:56
What other thing you needed, what other thing you're looking up for, what other criteria and stuff like that. Yeah, so our application process is you submit three art pieces. You need to submit like your income, any federal aid that you receive if you live on tribal land.
20:19
and submitting a 60 second video on what you would do in the program and what you would do with this opportunity. Allison, if you want to speak more to that and kind of what we do with that.
20:39
Yeah, I could speak a little bit to it. I think the reason we have this particular, I mean, obviously this format requires us to kind of vet that we get a good diversity of students with diverse backgrounds. So being able to quantify that in the interview process or in the application process is a big part of it. But really the big major keystone for their application is that video that that
21:06
They need to showcase their creativity. They need to showcase kind of where they're at, what they're hoping to do. And that gives us a really good insight to kind of the person they're gonna be. You know, what kind of designer they're gonna be, what kind of skills and talents they're gonna bring forward and what kind of challenges as mentors we've got. I can think back to a couple of them and just, you could just see.
21:32
the creativity, just the fearlessness and how they want to express themselves. And that gets us excited. That gets us wanting to invest more and do more with them. So it's for our first time going through this, this was an amazing experience meeting these kids and seeing their work. And we only have one window of opening. So following us on all of our social medias will be the best way if you have.
21:59
a young artist in your life and you want to share with them this experience, following us on our social media is where we kind of let us let everyone know when the windows open. And maybe kind of planting that little seed of what do you want to share with the world so when application time comes around, they can have an interesting video and a little bit of an interesting background to showcase so we can get them matched up with the right mentor and get them off on the good, good step.
22:28
Yeah, I also I have to say Kai Shan's in here and he submitted a very adorable submission video. He was a part of the VFX class and he had like a character come in which was like himself. And it was just it was so great like in these little submission videos you get to see like their passion and how...
22:53
like they're excited about being a part of this program. So that's why it was so important for all the students to submit that because you could really see like, oh yeah, this this kid's going somewhere. And how many applications you received usually? So for our first session, we had about 50 submissions. And so half of them were approved and they...
23:22
some of the students who applied, they were like over the age, like they're like, hey, I know I'm a little older, but like I'm still trying to learn and we hope to like eventually be able to like reach out to like all different ages. But at the moment we're just doing students and kids in the U.S. And that was another thing too, was we had some students who were like international.
23:46
that couldn't be a part of the program just because we don't have all the paperwork to do international stuff yet. But we hope to do that in the future once we get more funding for that. And so every student is matched up with a mentor. Yes. Yeah. So they are, they pick a class and I have, we have like entry interviews. So once they are accepted, I
24:14
meet with them and their parents and we, I kind of figure out like what they want to do. They submitted their art but sometimes they're like, I like this but I really like this and you kind of don't find that out until you start asking them questions and talking to them. So it was a lot of going back and forth to make sure that it fits. So like some of our students are Spanish speakers and so we wanted to tie them with a mentor who
24:43
they could feel comfortable speaking in their native language. And that was, you know, providing accessibility. We had some students who have autism. And so our mentors were keen on how to help them. And we were trying to put in like that extra bit of help to make sure that they felt very included. And it's just all providing, you know, the accessibility. And that was our main priority.
25:14
And so how does one become a mental up-tempo stock? Is it a selection process? Is, you know, I'm sure the space are very talented that I'm sure would be willing to help that way up. Yeah, so that was the tricky part because there's a difference between being a great artist and being a great artist who can teach because there are so many amazing artists out there, but being able to translate that over, I feel like is a lot.
25:43
difficult. And so the people that I had chosen, I had fanpicked myself and they had either made a huge impact on me based on how they talk or if they're teaching. And one of our mentors, Kirk Wallace, he's one of the number one Skillshare teachers on the site. And so we were able to get him for the program. So...
26:10
Yeah, he's an amazing teacher. He got to work with our Illustrator Character Design students. And after the whole program, he was like, I think I want to do this forever. I feel so fulfilled. This was such an amazing process and time. And I really love doing this. And so we want to keep him on for our next set of students because-
26:36
our students that were a part of it loved Kirk too. It was a very mutual thing. So yeah, it was beautiful. So not just mentor, but dread teacher as well, which is, you know, it's true, you know, sometimes, especially, I guess, you know, I always say that when I write text for artists and review text written by artists, I always realized that, you know, if...
27:01
Visual artists were great with words. There would be authors and poets, but usually, if they're great with visual, not all of the time, but usually because it's their preferred way of communication and they are a bit faulty on the writing part at times or the more like communication part. But I guess that's what it is to be an artist. But it's great to know that you had pick and select and try it, I guess, on those person because it's something that can be.
27:29
really challenging to find the right person to be involved, because especially the duration of the course is quite long, so having people that are involved in the long term and stuff like that is really important, and would surely be a challenge when you're going to start growing internationally, but I'm not too concerned. I'm sure you'll manage through. You said you mentioned there was a few people involving the program, students or parents of students who were in the room as well. Any of them?
27:58
part of the speakers already. I've seen people that requested, but I'm checking out the bio, I'm not sure they're already involved with the- Yeah, so the students who are in here, we have, but it's also 11 or 12, so they may still be in class. I don't know if they'll be in all the- Yeah. But we creatures, that's Zoe, she was a part of our illustrator class. We have Victor.
28:24
He was a part of our image manipulation class. He got to work with Ted Chen, who is someone who is so huge in the Web3 space, and he does a lot of image manipulation. He's also created the Photoshop splash page. We also have Kaishan. He was a part of the VFX class. We have Mikey.
28:51
He was a part of our branding illustrator class. We have Jackson's mom, who he was a part of the frame-by-frame class. I think those are the students that we have in here right now. But yeah, if they want to speak, you guys are more than welcome to come up here and speak.
29:16
Definitely. I was trying to pin, as you were mentioning, the peak I have of their work. So I managed to find the one of Victor and Zolay. I'm sure there's a few others. Yeah, a bigger thing, you know, it can be a bit overwhelming to go there in those spaces and take the plunge, but everybody's very welcoming to talk a bit. I see Wiz, so I thought Wiz, you were a student, but now realize you're not. But if you have any question, please go ahead. I'll let you take the stage for a bit.
29:45
Yeah, but my question actually has to deal with the founder themselves because I actually first heard a whiff of this Adobe for Kids initiative when they basically came over to Super Chief LA Gallery and talked profusely about it. And I've been documenting that ever since. A lot of my interests personally lie in the intersection of arts, culture, and technology.
30:13
I'm very curious to hear some of your thoughts, Monty, specifically about this current landscape that artists find themselves in in terms of content creation. Because I think undeniably you are a master content creator and it's an ongoing discourse I see a lot being talked about in the feed, you know, like should you be a content creator or is being a content creator devaluing art and stuff like that? Perhaps you could give some insights in terms of, you know...
30:41
being someone who has not only managed to leverage the tech, but also you'll manage to effectively leverage your presence online. Yeah, that's a great question. I think when we're talking about digital art, we can look at our surroundings and see how embedded it is in our lives. Whereas like everything around you has been created by a digital artist.
31:06
And I think that the career is thriving in the sense of trying to stay updated with the advances. And I think a lot of times people may still like they are being left behind, but it's just because it's such a fast moving pace. It's digital art and we are in the world of tech. And so we have to expect that.
31:30
there's going to be a constant wave of new things that are coming. And I think for the students that were part of this program, so many of them have the drive and motivation that I know can keep them in this space. Content creating is something that I have found a deep love for because I can see all of the opportunities in it. I also just know how
31:58
it fits very well with what I can create. And so I feel like for some students, they want to work with brands. So like Mikey, she had a very clear path that she wanted to go down. And that was like she wanted to create the logos for brands. She wanted to create like a brand design for companies. And it that is such a.
32:24
thriving market. There's always people, new businesses coming in, learning these tools like Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects. These things translate over to so many other aspects whether or not you want to be a content creator or not. So I love content creating and I have honestly seen so many opportunities from it and it's a big reason why we're here today. If I hadn't gotten in the space, I don't know if I would have been able to do this.
32:54
I'm also biased, so.
32:58
I regret to write in money and even from my experiences, you know, I wouldn't be where I am now, even though I'm like quite young, if I wasn't present on social media. I guess one of the opportunities in the art field, especially in crowd art, is that we are quite slow and late in terms of adoption of new technology, especially social media. So anyone that has even the basic knowledge of it, some sort of a hedge.
33:24
over the rest of the market. And I'm sure this will evolve in the next decade or so, but it's quite promising for the future, at least for the people that already are quite involved with it. Um, I'm pleased to see that is Mikey Vitor that came up. Um, you mentioned Mikey, so I might,
33:45
question like that, but I'm just curious if you could say a few words about, you know, how Jumpstart has helped you, change your perspective, I guess, about your future, about what you were about to do, and yeah, how was it like to work with your mentor, all the sort of things you can share about a bit of your experience, you're welcome to do so. Don't be shy, everybody's very welcome to join here, so yeah, if you want to, feel free to take a mic.
34:15
And just to get you guys excited a bit for the soon to know, I'm not sure how much you share about it, the M&E or the initiative, but just want to remind, in Belgium at least, we have, I think nearly 1,000 screens all across the country. It's like in hundreds of cities. I'm not sure how many cities, really. A lot of those screens are located in centralized women, the same screens. But yeah.
34:44
Someone's the mic is too much. You're the person like open. Oh, it's Mikey. Hey, Mikey. No, it's actually, are you able to hear us? Yes. Okay. Actually this is not Mikey, but it is her login. She is a work. We're in high school in class in the middle of lunch. And so we do have some of our jumpstart designers here. Mikey's logged in and listing on a different device. We have Sophia and Claire.
35:11
and a few other students have popped in and are out. I'm Margaret Zulier and I have Chris Coates here and Jennifer Moore, we're the teachers of a digital arts academy in our high school, but we just wanted to say that more of our students are here listening than what showed up in the feed. And thank you for being here. Oh, that's fantastic. Great, well, glad to hear about it. Yeah, so just saying, each student is listening showed.
35:36
I think a couple of million of times in total, like those screens are almost entirely dedicated to art. There might be a few ads here and there, but it's really like limited. And we're always a bit mindful of what sort of ads are running in the same time as the artwork. But literally, if you go in Belgium, if you already friends in Belgium, they cannot miss it. Like it's in a T everywhere, at every train station, every bus stop. And it's gonna be like, cut all the life of people for at least a good week's style.
36:05
So yeah, we're pretty excited about it. It's, I think, one of the largest public display initiatives in the space that has ever been. So we're glad to have it. Then we shared a few. So if you go to the Pinterest, you can see I've made a thread with a few Bejourros. We'll make sure every student gets their Bejourro at the end of their initiative. That's the first peak we managed to take at the, I think it's a, it's a Bruxelles Midi train station. So it's all from the same station, but so.
36:35
But don't be fooled by that. It's really a national wide initiative going on all across the country. So, yeah, it's really important and it's funny for, I guess, you know, I don't know if many Americans know where Belgium is on the map of the world, but it's a pretty cool country, I can tell you that, that has a long history with art, especially with comics, illustration. So, yeah, I'm really happy we were able to get all of you guys to be part of that.
37:05
discover the work and hopefully with those, no doubt, there's something putting your portfolio moving on. And all the QR code on the, I believe all the works leads to the Jumpstart website. So hopefully that will get you some donation as well. We'll see about that. We're trying to evaluate how much impact this sort of things are with interaction and stuff. It's always a little bit of a challenge. Yeah, I-
37:31
I also wanted to thank the teachers that I went to a few high schools to speak and it was just so amazing to have the teachers be so involved and care about their students and let me speak there because to be honest, I'm just like a random person. So they put a lot of trust in me and so I just appreciate them letting me speak and having their encouraging their students to be a part of the program.
38:01
Um, and yeah, I I know that you said uh, Sophia Mikey Uh, I don't know who else was there with you. Um, but Hi guys, um, if you guys want to come and speak and talk about your experience or uh, like any things that you're working on right now, I know um You guys I will we'll put up the pictures and stuff of of your guys's work, but just want to get some of your
38:29
words on on what we've been able to accomplish.
38:39
and have a good part.
38:42
Wait, can you hear me? Can you hear me? Yes. OK. OK. Yeah. Hi, my name is Victor. I am one of the students that was part of the Jumpstart designer. Amani was like truly incredible for everything, the whole process, even my mentor. Just looking back at everything that I've done, I think it was my first time I actually do testing out like photo manipulation, it's getting a sense of understanding and
39:11
My art piece that I made, my final one, which was a dedication for my family, coming from my parents, like being first generation. I knew I wanted to make my first art piece dedicated to them because of like all the trials and tribulations, you know? I just knew that I really wanted to create an art piece that kind of resonate with my family and just something that I could share to them. Because I feel like...
39:38
Growing up, art wasn't a big thing in our family. And I want to know to know that I was able to speak about our story in a way to other people through art. And I feel like that art piece really helped highlight the struggles, how it was to be first generation and just kind of in a sense, like what it takes to build yourself a generational Lee, I guess, family wise, I can't really say too much, but I really dedicate that piece to our family and
40:08
Even now, whenever I tell them about this art piece, I'm in like a WhatsApp group with my family and I share it with them and they're like, oh, hyping me up. They're like, oh, wow, that's so cool. They're very proud of me. But yeah, I'm really appreciative of everything. And even right now, I'm taking that course that Armani was talking about, School of Motion. And I'm truly enjoying that as well. And yeah, I really want to thank the whole.
40:37
up start design team and everything because without this I don't think I would ever continue to pursue art as much as I was that I feel like my ambitions were like were truly like got stronger. But thank you. Victor's piece is the yeah, it's the first one on the thumbnail list. It's called They Didn't Know We Were Seeds and
41:03
It to me, it is such an impactful piece. He was able to use Photoshop to create these like seed packets and you can see, uh, like workers on the packets and it just really speaks so much volume and so much intention went into that piece. Um, I, it's, it's so beautiful. Honestly, I feel like it would work so amazing as like a poster.
41:31
So maybe we got to get that printed out and give some of the proceeds to Victor because they're absolutely amazing. And Victor is such an ambitious artist and honestly is so passionate about anything that he puts his mind to. He's like, yeah, I'm trying to get this scholarship and I'm trying to do this and I'm trying to do this. Like he is someone that you guys want to look out for.
42:00
Yeah, Victor's piece was one that I'm glad you spoke of Victor, because going through all the art pieces at the end of the program, this is the reason why Imani and I wanted to diversify the space. You know, that's that story that's told in his poster is something that, you know, a lot of our students are from California and we see a lot of these immigrant farm workers and everything else. But their story really isn't mainstream. It's not being told or discussed.
42:26
as much as it should be. And so art pieces like this, from this perspective, with someone who's kind of lived that life and wants to share that story, like this is the whole reason we wanted to get this diverse group, the tools and the means to have this discourse in a space where people can really dive into what it means on an emotional scale, on a creative scale. Like this is a great example of why Imani created this. So thank you, Victor, so much for your artwork. It's an amazing emotional piece. I personally
42:56
My husband is an immigrant, so I really understood that piece at a level that made me really emotional, and I had to share with his family as well. So thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. I was just going to talk more about the art piece. I used some of my family member's photos of whenever they were farm workers as well, and I forgot to emphasize that, but the middle section is my family members who worked.
43:22
specifically, I guess I could talk about history, I guess. I thought about my family. A lot of them were farm workers in Washington and Florida when they first came here. And they were picking oranges, cherries, asparagus, and like all these various fruits and vegetables. And I feel like even my grandmother would tell me stories of like how some farm organizations are just the proper, like they hurt themselves because of like.
43:50
physical labor, but also the chemicals that the pesticides have inside those vegetables and fruits. And I feel like, I wish I was able to like make another art piece talking about that issue as well, like the Paris, like all that harmful things that they put themselves into that type of work, because I really feel like that's also another point of discussion. But thank you, I really appreciate it.
44:18
Yeah, you had a lot of compliments there. Make me part of, by the way, your series of artists we've shown with ArtCrochet as well. Conan, Jenny, Calcoline, I'm just gonna put our work there. I'm sure you'll like it, Victor. But one thing that I believe is really cool about that work and the context, which is shown, the context is always very important, is that it's not gonna be like a crowd of posh people in a white cube gallery that's gonna see those work. It's people just like your parents that's gonna see those work.
44:47
people that are in the train station, people that works in the market, that have a hardship worker environment with a lot of physical work, a lot of, you know, especially in Belgium, it's the land of a lot of people from abroad that has this history of moving around from different countries and stuff. So I think it's important to be aware that those works are going to be seen by people that's going to understand that story, that's going to be sensible and onto that story. So...
45:16
So yeah, that's something I'm really happy about. I see a bunch of hands raised. I think Mathieu, you wanna just, I'm just gonna go to the host a bit because Mathieu, I think you wanted to say something. Then to Weez and Mikey will get to you or at least the entire class behind the mic, you kind of gotta get to you right after that. Mathieu, can you... Can I... Sorry, can I jump in for a second? Oh, sure, sure, sure.
45:41
This is Claire. I was part of the character design and illustration program along with Sophie. So yeah, we don't have much time because we gotta get back to class, but I did wanna mention how much I really enjoyed this program. Having a one-on-one mentor time, specifically with Kirk Wallace, because he's just such a great teacher, it was really beneficial. It's like, like...
46:07
my progress in my art because I was getting like hands-on feedback for like the things I wasn't sure who I could even talk to about. So having that like person to walk with me throughout this journey like really made this program worthwhile.
46:23
Thank you so much, Claire. I love your piece. I can't wait. I don't know if we've showed pictures of it yet, but it looks amazing on the screen. And I'm so happy to have you a part of this. So thank you. Thank you. This is Sophia. And yeah, I'm here with Claire. And I think basically the same. It was just a little bit hard to like my times.
46:50
to do homework for school and sports and jumpstart at the same time. But it was so good, like my art is looking so good now and it is like a very good opportunity to, like you can ask whatever you want to your mentor and they can explain you very good because you are basically the only one they are teaching at that moment. And yeah, I really...
47:20
I really want to do it again, actually. Thank you, Sophia. Well, you're basically a part of our alumni program, so we'll definitely have to include you guys on some future opportunities. We hope to be able to like pay you guys for like future gigs and have you guys make coasters for us and stuff so that those are things in the works in the future. But thank you so much. I loved your piece. I think it's like on.
47:48
like this the pieces are on rotation but I have this really a great picture of it and it's centered and it looks absolutely amazing and I think you had talked about possibly putting it in an art show so I mean keep up the amazing work.
48:10
Thank you guys for taking the mic before you had to go because I would have been a mess without this Those testimony and hopefully you guys are really happy and proud to be shown With us your crush Matt You had something to say before we went to my key or the anything at all Not really which is the mic lip lip. Yeah would work out and so yeah, okay cool But I get to wheeze that who has has is
48:39
ends up looking away now. Good way. Yes, just to rebond on what you said. Can you hear me? No. I'm rugged or what? I can hear you. Yeah. Yeah, you seem to have some technical difficulty or term or you don't seem to be able to hear the host it sounds like. Ah, my bad. Yes, no, I don't hear him whatsoever. Yeah. So, yeah. Classic spaces, man. I've been there, done that. Trust me.
49:09
Well, then, just put a thumbs up, Matt, when you're done talking, so I don't talk about you. He's saying once you're done talking, put a thumbs up. So we can get the video to you. So we just wanted to comment on what you said about the Victor story and the fact that it is people like his parents that are seeing the artworks.
49:36
The vision, and I posted that on my professional profile when we created it two years ago, when we created Art Crush, the vision is really about colouring the life of people in outstanding ways. And the vision, how I described it on my profile was my dream is that in three to five years now, there'll be a hundred thousand screens around the world. We have now about 2000 playing art every day. But the vision is that in three years, we have a hundred thousand screens.
50:05
in the bus stops at the rail station was also in the subway station. And the vision was like that a dad and his young kid of eight or ten go to the subway, go to school and go to the work every day. And then the kids notice it and sees it and starts drawing and start painting with Adobe with whatever. And he makes his dad happy and he makes his uncle happy. And two years later, he's
50:34
that I've made you happy with my drawings and with my paintings and with my art. I've made our uncle happy again because he was crying because he lost his dog for weeks. And this is really what I wanna do. This is what I wanna do in the future. I wanna keep drawing and I wanna keep painting and I wanna keep making art. This is what I wanna do. So it's so meaningful to have the artist of that age.
51:01
like 11 and 12 and 13 forging their path and being able to be shown in thousands of billboards in Belgium. It just really makes sense and it connects with what we are trying to do, which is all as creators on our part as entrepreneurs, but also helping the artists bring color in the life of people. Because life is gray sometimes, life sometimes a little dark
51:31
waiting and getting nervous in the metro, you have to go to school, you're late, you're with your dad, but the art is there in the billboards and can inspire a good future and an inspiring future for those who are ready and have the talents to develop their talents with the tools that Jumpstart provides and other tools that are more and more accessible. So I think that...
51:55
Thanks to the tools, more and more people will be able to make other people happy with art, and we're really very happy that today it connects with the vision that we wrote two years ago. This said, I'll give the mic to Wies, and thank you very much for this. Yeah, and thanks again for the time, man. That would be an honest question for the day, because actually to have studio duties to attend to myself, you know, being a full-time filmmaker and everything, and actually this goes to the entire panel. I'm very curious to hear, you know, what your thoughts are on this.
52:26
topic because when I look at the current generation, it being Gen Z, right? I think it's undeniable that it's the most online generation to date. You know, there's so many tools, so many platforms, and so many techniques or styles or movement to choose from. But I do think that there's something to be said about balancing the message versus the commercial appeal and how to do so effectively.
52:55
especially in the midst of current events regarding say 2020, for example, when there was a big pandemic going on and I didn't really see that much of it, depicted in art. Maybe I was out of the loop, but yeah, I'm very curious to hear how do you guys grapple with the gravity of the human condition, but at the same time, still keeping it in service of brand alignments and stuff like that.
53:25
Um, yeah, I think it's trying to really figure out what type of presence you want online, um, I think is what is first and foremost the most important thing because brands will, um, kind of take that and attach that to their own brand. So like being able to set yourself on online and how you want to be perceived, um, I think is.
53:54
incredibly important. And it's also easier for brands to be able to bring you on because they know exactly what they're getting. I think when there are like major events that are going on, it's hard as an artist to not want to include that into your own work because for me, I'm, I feel like I'm a very vulnerable artist sometimes. Like I'm, I try to be as transparent as, as possible when it comes to like,
54:23
mental health are just things that I am feeling. And so I think if you stay true to yourself, brands will be able to read through that. And that was something that I feel like I learned like in these past like two years that I was always so scared to like be like hyper feminine or like a super way, like a different way online that like once I realized that if I stayed true to myself I was able to solidify
54:52
those brand deals and continue, you know, doing what I want to do and be recognized for the person that I am. So I think the biggest thing is online, especially for like the younger generation is just trying to stay true to who you are as a person. And I think people will gravitate towards that.
55:15
I guess to kind of piggyback off of that, I do video editing and shooting and filming in the corporate space. And corporations, when you get into the professional sphere, especially Brangler Corporation, you're going to hear my alerts going off. They're becoming more aware that through art, through video, through all that stuff, you can really resonate with.
55:45
empathy. Like art is one thing where we get an opportunity to explain who a group of people are or a current event or emotion or something that moves us through art and it gathers empathy. So there's always going to be space for art in the future and art that is more approachable from a vulnerable place. I think we are making a shift in the corporate space to be
56:15
you know, more of this diversity and inclusion. They want to be more mindful about wellness and work-life balance. And as an artist, you know, your services are needed to kind of reinforce this new culture shift that's going on. And even more so, a diverse voice, a diverse understanding of the world is kind of where the corporate world is shifting. So, I mean, I think these kids, especially our students,
56:42
actually have a leg up on a lot of the artists currently in this space because they have a story that corporations are now realizing needs to be told, but they don't know how to tell it. And these guys, of course, are professionals. They know exactly how to tell it because they've lived it. And through that, they're going to push the rest of us artists to be more mindful about how we represent different people and stuff in our art and make sure that the messaging goes out to everyone and we're not being inclusive or being disclosive. We're adding everybody into that voice.
57:12
I think going forward, this is going to be their superpower. And I'm super excited to see what they do with the space when they get into it. Yeah. So if I may say one more thing. So for me, storytelling, without a doubt, it's really important in the wild that I navigate, you know, it being filmmaking. But also, you know, a lot of what I do is also documenting the real world as is because I make documentaries. That's kind of my thing. And the reason why I even brought up the question earlier, actually, for me,
57:41
It resonates specifically because I'm someone who I've noticed a decline in terms of people, for lack of a better term, not appreciating the time they live in a bunch. It's usually reactionary as opposed to introspective. And I'm very curious to see what the next generation is going to be able to do with these tools, especially when you get into the whole AI territory sort of things, because a lot of people were saying that...
58:08
All EI does is just take something and spit it back out. You know, it doesn't come up with something. But I don't know, like I'm not, personally I'm much more optimistic. I think if you give these younger folks the ability to actually express themselves and the room also to do so, a lot of interesting things can happen. And I for one, I very much look forward to see what that looks like. Yeah, now I agree. I think right now we are in a good space
58:38
And I just want to thank the team for helping us make this happen and having this huge exhibit for our students. I know that they feel excited. I feel even more excited about it. Like, I don't even know how that's possible, but I just am, I feel so grateful and I'm so happy that we were able to figure this out. Brian, I thank you so, so much.
59:08
for reaching out to me. I feel like the universe made this happen. It wasn't meant for my art to be up there. It was meant for their art to be up there. And I absolutely love that. And I love that we can have their art shine and give them that spotlight. And I just wanna thank everyone for being here today and taking the time out of your day to hear our huge announcements and congratulate our students and give them more flowers.
59:36
You guys are going to see their names more often. They are going to be like the next big artists and they are a part of something huge. And I just feel so happy. Thank you, Allison, for being my wing woman in this whole thing. And we got to go out for some dinner soon because this is a huge, huge wallet for us. And I just feel so grateful that.
01:00:04
the years that it's taken to get to this point. We made it, we did it. So it's really, really awesome. And thank you so much again. And I look forward to the next session and I hope to have your guys' support in this. And we wanna keep pushing and make this even bigger and bring even more students on. So thank you so much again. Well, thank you, Emoni, we really...
01:00:31
fortunate to be part of this initiative journey, a new journey. And yeah, so we already reached our mark. I think both Mathieu and I need to thanks to our family. So we're going to close here, but just another page. I'm sure we'll have many ideas, of course, in the future to do stuff with your students. It's always, you know, we are an open project. So that's one of the reasons we do open calls. And I guess that's one thing for people that are in this space. If you.
01:01:01
look up to what's next. I've pinned the latest OpenCore we do. So we have everything I've told about in Belgium, but we have also the same sort of initiative in Australia. So there's a bunch of OpenCore, you know, you're free to participate and get everyone as a chance. We don't look at the phone number card, we don't look at if the people are friends or foes, or we look at just the artwork and the art. So if you're free to participate, and best luck to all of yous.
01:01:31
I wish you, I guess, a great day if you're in the US, great night if you're in Europe, and we'll look forward for next space. I think we might have another space in a few weeks. I'm not so sure about the planning, but we always do this little space with Mathieu and I, and we're always really grateful of the guests taking the time to talk about their projects, their future, their work, their art, and yeah, hopefully we get to chat a bit more about your work, even in the future.
01:01:59
but we were really glad to be able to talk about some stuff. On that note, I think I'm going to say bye to everyone and I'm going to close up to space. Bye bye.
01:02:10
Bye!
[Whiz Pill Podcast 61] Emonee LaRussa & The Jump Start Designer Non-Profit