A Hot Cup of Arts Crossing and Marshmellows

I e-stumbled down the steep e-steps that were laden heavy with e-snow and packed e-ice due to the Montreal winter, into an elegantly simple, very warm and welcoming site. Arts Crossing provides a meat and potatoes dish that truly brings about sustenance in an all-to flashy fast food world. The site has a very humble appearance that enables the artist members a place to hang up their egos and warm themselves by the fires of collaborative efforts. Arts Crossing sets a place at the dinner table where all artists are welcome to come and write about what they do and about what sort of other artists they are looking for and what types of projects they wish to participate in. You may ask why should you collaborate? The answer may be the 30 paintings you’ve done, stored in your kitchen. Instead of doing what you know you can do (which is your art that you feel comfortable doing) usually alone, reach out and get involved. Collaboration really does help us evaluate the ways in which we make art. And who knows, maybe the paintings done with another artist can be stored in their kitchen instead.

Interview with Michael Greenhut, the founder of Arts Crossing.

Arts Crossing offers a chance to connect various creative artists and their project ideas. There’s a fully functional profile system and a message board to make this happen.

Aside from perhaps gaining some enjoyment from helping artists to connect, are there other reasons for the website?

One of my goals is to inspire new art. For example, I’d love to see a writer, musician and artist get together and invent something completely new.

When you say new, do you mean like a new art form or what?

Think of hypertext stories — obviously, that’s not new anymore, but that kind of thing which involves all facets of the creative mind would be something to strive for. Keep in mind that many regular projects will also come from this site — author collaborations, musician collaborations and so forth.

Why did you start the site in the first place?

I really wanted to make a mark with my fellow artists, contribute something new to the overall community. And, there’s the hope of getting some advertising money once the site grows, grows, grows…

It seems to be somewhat in its infancy, is that an adequate assumption?

Definitely. I’m approaching 150 members now at a slow but steady rate. I’d probably be further ahead if I could afford serious publicity beyond craigslist.

How long have you been running it?

I began coding it last June or July, so it’s been running since the end of the summer, 2006.

Do you have more ideas for the site that you want to implement into the future?

My next idea is a Rorschach generator, a psychedelic inspiration sort of thing, which I plan to work on when I get home from Clarion. I also might put a call out for volunteer administrators to help me run the site.

Are you planning on programming this Rorschach generator as well? What purpose do you want this to serve?

Yes, once I learn Flash. I pick up programming languages pretty quickly, so this shouldn’t be a problem. I’m hoping to entice people to stare at the little animated inkblots and think of bizarre stories, imagery, or any other right-brain type ideas.

Many of the artists on your site seem to be from NY is that by chance?

I’m a born-and-raised New Yorker, and NY craigslist ads seems to yield the most traffic, even though I rotate across the states (and beyond). I’m trying to expand across the U.S. and the rest of the world; we’ve even got someone from Israel, someone from India and some from the UK. Ideally I’d like equal advertising, since I know if I reach the right crowd, this site will become colossal. But let’s just say I’m not at the point where I’m getting five or six figure advances for novels, so I can’t afford publicity beyond craigslist.

To be so interested in helping artists connect are you an artist yourself?

Am I! I’m an aspiring writer with 7 small press (paid) publications. I’m currently attending the Clarion South speculative fiction writers workshop in Australia.

Where are some of your pieces? Can they be found online anywhere?

I’ve had seven small press publications — 6 fiction and one poetry. My latest accessible story will be coming out in the February/March edition of AlienSkin. Google Search.

What has been the largest obstacle in your creative career?

Impatience. I often had a bad habit of submitting stories (or novels) too soon, before my technique was properly honed, which set me back a little. I’m also bad at time management, so when I have random hours at a full time job, my creativity suffers.

How much time and effort do you afford yourself for your writing?

I try to write at least a few hundred words per day. Sometimes I achieve this, but I do go through periodic inactivity.

How much time for promoting the site?

I try to put up one craigslist ad per day, but lately I haven’t had time to do even that. Once I get back home and find a full time job that pays decent wages and offers consistent hours, I’ll be putting a lot more time and money into promotions. My goal is to get enough exposure so the average person on the street (at least, average creative person, if there’s any such thing) will go, “Oh yeah, Arts Crossing, I’ve been meaning to check that out myself.”

Why did you want to go to Clarion?

The Clarion workshops are the best, most intense and most selective workshops out there for science fiction and fantasy writers. I’ve never, ever had this kind of chance to network with my peers and colleagues before, and I may never again. A shout out to my fellow Clarion South-ites. Everyone here is really, really cool.

Do you find yourself learning anything useful or is it basically networking?

I’m definitely getting useful feedback for the critique sessions. The only problem is that in order to really milk the critiques, you have to turn in heavily flawed pieces. I’m a bit brash and competitive, so I’ve been trying to turn in the best, most polished stories I can within the very limited time I have to write them. So, in that respect, I may be losing out slightly. *laugh*

Do you find that when you tell people that you write ’sci-fi’ or ‘fantasy’ that they don’t take you as seriously as maybe they should or that you would like them to?

I’m always afraid of that, but my attitude is it’s their loss, not mine. Mainstream literature circulates just as much garbage as speculative fiction, if not more so.