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

Reg, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

One of the most meaningful projects I’ve done is All Day Blackness, a two-day arts festival in Columbus, OH that commenced in July of 2022. All Day Blackness started out in 2021 as a two-day radio program featuring Black creatives through music and podcast. For the 2022 session, All Day Blackness became an in-person program with artist workshops, panel discussions, DJ events, and free communal food events. The project was hosted under the Wexner Center for the Arts, No Place Gallery, and 934 Gallery where I received immense support. The project meant a lot to me because supporting Black arts in Columbus means the world, to someone from the city. As well it has become one of my biggest projects to date — involving around 200+ attendees.

Reg, 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?

My name is Reg Zehner and I am an independent curator, arts writer, and DJ from Columbus, OH. I got into the creative industry through my studies in my undergrad and as well as being a part of the local DIY community. From there, after college and during COVID, I found myself at a crossroads between pursuing the creative industry, but through collaborations and risk-taking, I found my way as a museum fellow at the Wexner Center for the Arts in 2022.

From there I began my work as a DJ and independent curator. One of my main projects began with Verge.fm, a Midwest internet radio station I and a few friends started in 2020. We began to ramp up our DJ workshop program and events. Most of the audience centered on local and regional community members. With Verge.fm, I felt proud of the ways we connected Midwest creatives to a broader platform and supported folks’ vision through radio programming.

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

Society can support artists, creatives, and a thriving creative ecosystem by creating infrastructure for sustainability and longevity. I believe that artists should be able to have access to grants that support a liveable wage or create a system where artists can live off their art/cities oriented themselves around individual/smaller creatives than massive corporations. As well I believe that society will need to accommodate musical creatives if we continue to stream music (which at the moment pays very little, if at all), and actually provide capital/resources to creatives/their environments rather than providing that to massive corporations, institutions or record labels.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I’ve built my audience on social media by being authentic and as well centering community members that are important to their scene. Additionally, I would suggest working with graphic designers and photographers that speak to your project. I feel that using third-party design apps like Canva can only get you so far versus paying/asking for individuals that are talented to create your content. I also highly suggest utilizing a scheduler and pre-schedule your social posts if possible!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.regzehner.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/love__higher/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reg-z/

Image Credits
Cameron Granger & Dejiah Archive-Davis