Words by: Lawrne Owens

Photos by: Johnetta Thompson

Butter Art Fair provided a platform for necessary conversations amongst the creative community this year. One being the topic of the creative economy. The Legends panel featured Keepers of the Culture Deborah Asante, Mariah Ivey, Antonio Maxie, and our own editor-in-chief Le’Deana Brown. Plus, stay tuned after the jump for a poem from Mariah Ivey.

A few key points of the conversation were as follows:

“Art is loving the task. Finding what you love and keep doing it. Study people. Study the greats. Get around people you want to learn from. You can never have too many mentors. Ask if they can pour into you.”

⁃ Mariah Ivey

“Define success for yourself and be confident in your definition of success. If you are hung up in other peoples definition of success then you will feel like you’ve failed. For me, success is the freedom to be able to create.”

⁃ Le’Deana 

“Work your plan. Find likeminded passionate people to be apart of the journey with you. Remember some relationships are seasonal. However at the end of the day it’s all love. Don’t make it all about finance. The money will definitely come. People can when you love what you do.”

⁃ Maxie 

“To build a healthy economy it starts with children and how we make art accessible to children. We have created a space where we say you walked in here worthy…Face your fears. When you face your fears, break throughs happen… I’m UNSTOPPABLE!”

⁃ Asante 

Our editor summed it up best with her post-panel thoughts:

“Having a thriving creative economy makes a way for creatives to be free to produce the art of their wildest dreams. We deserve that kind of beauty in our lives. Cultivating the creative economy is my way of freedom fighting. Freedom isn’t free. But isn’t it beautiful?” -Le’Deana Brown