We were lucky to catch up with Brian Tryon recently and have shared our conversation below.
Brian, appreciate you joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
In October of 2023 myself and my business partner opened up a brain child called Shutter and Strum. A community art center working primarily with underserved youth “at risk” youth. I had been wanting to do so for a few years. I had worked in the education system for 15 years and worked :taught/ mentored these awesome individuals. I could see that the education system was more broken than ever and after Covid I saw even more youth “at risk” , if you will. Even my own kids. I was fed up with how the education, administration, school boards etc.. were corrupting the school system by bringing in their weird political and religious agenda into the mix. So in February of this year I left my 15 year professional career in education. I cashed out my retirement, lost my benefits and started working more at Shutter and Strum. I definitely saw a need to provide art , gallery management, music and everything involved in the arts to our youth. Schools defund art programs, ban books, remove art programs and water them down, the system in general, are doing so as well. So far it’s been pretty damn cool, I’d lie if I told you it was easy. It’s a hustle and more than a full time gig. But, I don’t regret it!
Brian, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I started getting back into art and photography after a long hiatus, due to addiction and alcoholism. Addiction robbed me of my soul and my passions. I started making art, photographing, skateboarding and such in my early teens. As my addictions took control of my life I left all this to the way side including other parts of my life. So, 16 years ago I started in recovery and all this blossomed into me picking back up a camera, making art, painting , skateboarding.
I was given my early art shows from a now good friend Abigail Kreuser. I’ve been fortunate enough to have consistent art shows since then. I have a darkroom I built where I teach film photography developing and print techniques (my passion). I teach film photography, mixed media arts, art gallery curating and management. I also provide some mental health aspects, mindfulness etc.. Art is an amazing tool for coping with mental health issues. I think the journey in the project is more important than the final product, the final product (artwork) is the cherry on top. We need to be mentally ok before we can move on, to produce, to live life. Using photography, painting, music , whatever medium as a healthy coping mechanism a healthy reprieve as a tool for our mental health works wonders. I provide this for the clients I work with, then like I said the end product is the reward, coping skills and a produced product. I’d say I’m proud of how far I’ve come and I’m able to provide the tools and art to others. I myself was a “at risk” youth. No one in my corner and nothing like what I’m providing to our young adults was available. It would of probably helped me immensely at an early age. I truly believe we can heal mentally with art , with knowing there are alternatives to addiction, self harm, disassociating, anxiety, depression you name it. This isn’t the silver bullet but a tool a gateway to more recovery.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
As mentioned before, I had many years of relationship repairs and new relationship making. Recovery was where my reputation started to be repaired. I was able to “fix” broken relationships and build lots of new relationships. Walk the talk. I have a proven track record I guess , I’ve worked hard on myself and to be able to provide what we provide at Shutter and Strum (and beyond) . I’ve worked hard on making the right kind of relationships with the right people . You gotta stick with the winners. Be healthy and find healthy people to have in your corner. I owe most all of what I do to my support circle and building a “good” reputation. I’m grateful.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
So basically I started a gofundme which the people who believed in me and what we do donated. Parents of students I worked with and community members.I threw a few of my dollars in. Back to the reputation thing… I also met amazing folks who believe in what I do that offered a space for the business and rent etc. that wasn’t ridiculous expensive. We also applied for the Redline , arts in society grant. Which we amazingly received. Reputation and belief was also brought into the mix by a donation from a community member and their group to help us out. Really the story is the reputation factor and proof in the pudding.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shutterandstrum.org
- Instagram: @shutter_and_strum
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550347179391&mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: Brian Tryon
Image Credits
Brian Tryon