We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sasha Haydn. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sasha below.

Sasha, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I am grateful. To have had every opportunity I have had regarding the arts. It is truly a privilege to be able to declare myself a creative– to be able to put time and energy into what I feel the most passionate about.

Am I happy? That is a more complicated question. I am fulfilled and want to consume copious amounts of art– a workaholic, a perfectionist, a devotee, a cliche, etc.
But I am also a college age art student. I am not always happy or proud of my choices.
Students in the arts are waking up every day making the conscious commitment to take a series of emotional risks, knowing that everybody around them is doing the same– navigating their own creative obstacle courses. It is not always easy, and yet, I love it. And it does not always leave everybody happy. I am happy. I am also not happy, I am conflicted. I do think of having a “regular” job, but I would never be able to choose a different path or want to choose a different path. Being a musician, performer, artist, is all I have ever known. Was that too artsy of me to say?

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Sasha Haydn. I am a singer/songwriter, a writer, and a creator of a small arts market, Mountmarte Artist Market. I’m twenty years old and struggling with the feelings that I am already too old to be doing what I’m doing. I also think too much. Is that something?

I’ve been doing music since I was extremely young. My blind grandfather knew me by my singing around the house. I started writing music in the third grade, and would often force my friends or little brothers to participate in performances of these songs. And, I just released my first single last month, “Little Blue”– it has taken me quite a few battles with perfectionism and fear to get this project going. I do not know and have never known a love like I have with music and writing music. It is too much, too much to try to explain.

My first single is inspired by the nursery rhyme “Little Boy Blue”. Essentially, in the nursery rhyme, Boy Blue lets his guard down and falls asleep, losing his sheep in the process– by wolf or by other unfortunate happening. The girl in the song lets her guard down too, maybe knowingly, maybe not knowingly, because it is easier to “fall asleep” and deal with the lost sheep in the morning. I did all aspects of the song from writing, to instrumentation, and all the vocals.

I am releasing my next song next month. It is an unconventional love song for circumstance. I wrote it after being accepted to a dream school– getting a taste of independence and commitment and experiences I craved at the time. Hopefully, this is something we all can relate to. The character in the song is devoted to doing things that she knows are hurting, hoping one day it’ll all pay off. She can’t get exactly what she wants at the time, but she is hoping if she hurts enough one day it’ll be her who is the craved experience– who represents the joy and light and commitment. Does that make any sense? I don’t know.

My sound engineer is Landon Alley of Sound Bridge studio. He is a joy to work with and a musical genius and a genius technician. Such a lovely guy. I will definitely continue to work with him.

On the other side of my work is the arts market.

I started my arts market at a very low point. My partner at the time had been in a coma for three months with a traumatic brain injury and several additional months fighting for his life. I was told he would not survive. I was spending every day in the hospital hoping he would. I needed something to fuel my soul. I needed something to provide levity. I have always been a connoisseur of all types of art– though I am not very good at doing all of it. I have loved getting to know so many creative beings through the process of forming a community. (I have done theatre all of my life and am in a BFA program for it. My mother was a dancer, my grandma a designer, my father an author, my grandpa a poet and playwright, my sister an artist, my brothers are upcoming filmmakers, etc. etc.) I wanted to create a safe space for people who also needed soul fuel and levity. Any type of person, any level of artist, anybody is welcome at the market– as long as they are willing to provide safety and acceptance for everybody else.

The market is a traveling endeavor (right now we are located at the Lost Acorn Gallery in Salt Lake– another wonderful community to support). We have a variety of vendors who come to share their work– bakers, painters, knitters, glass artists, tarot readers, jewelers, tattooists, designers, etc. Some are students, some are full time mothers, some are grandfathers– we even have a returning vendor who is a mere seven years old. Live musicians accompany the events– those who have recorded full albums or just sing in the shower. All proceeds thus far have gone entirely back into supporting these artists’ work and keeping the market alive.

Being a full time student, full time musician, and a full time business creator is definitely something I laugh at hysterically at points of exhaustion. It helps to have the most wonderful community of friends and family at my side. They have done more than words can explain to keep the community alive, to keep me alive, to keep art and joy alive, etc. etc. It takes self-discipline and communication. I am not an expert at either of these things at all times, but it is a great way to learn skills like this.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I’ve always envied the creatives around me who are able to laser point their motivations into one straight road– I feel like I’ve always been swerving around in twelve different vehicles following twelve different maps. My passion for the work feels like a motivator in itself. Needing something to love, having too much love to give. I have an addiction to genuine connection– creation is an invitation for connection. There are so many brilliant people in the craft. I love learning– art is a place that is ever-changing, I can never not be a student of the work.

Through the arts market, I have wanted to specifically give a voice to artists who have not had the opportunities to share those. I strive to give voice to diversity, and especially to women in the field– and women who are new to the creative world.

I know on a very personal level that “making it”– or navigating art as a business- promoting yourself as if you were a business or a product– is extremely difficult as a woman. I have watched men in my position rise and cure the algorithms to their liking and women in the same place being ridiculed on social media– told to stop taking up room with their voice. There is competition in the world of women that men haven’t yet had to experience— there seems to always be room for men because the world was curated that way. This is especially prevalent in the music world.

This being said, I have wonderful male artist friends who I will always support and care for who do the same for the women who surround them.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

It’s all balance, I think. There are so many artists and creatives to support (and so many people who are not who also need support). Personally, I think the best thing to do is to be a well-rounded art consumer. Spending time appreciating all creation for what it is– go to local art galleries, museums, read blogs, read books, listen to performers, see theatre, experience new restaurants and buildings, etc. Then, a true art supporter takes the next step. Nowadays, so much of “success” comes from a social media algorithm that develops in the favor of an artist. Take the millisecond to like a post, to share it. Play a new song at a party. Compliment an art piece. Little acts of kindness that mirror the ones we should be using to pay it forward anyway– the equivalent of opening the door for someone behind you, or picking up the wallet that someone dropped and returning it. It is a competitive world. For everyone. What can we all do to dampen the competition and make everyone feel seen and seen for seeing?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/sashahaydn
• Instagram: @sasha.haydn / @mountmartemarket
• Youtube: @sashahaydn
• Other: My music can be found on all streaming platforms underneath my name: Sasha Haydn!

Image Credits
Kiki Wilkinson, Steven Wilkinson, Alexander Wilkinson, Sasha Haydn