We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brad Erickson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brad, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

Definitely the biggest risk I’ve taken in my professional and creative life was leaving my 19 year position as executive director of an arts service organization, Theatre Bay Area, in San Francisco, selling my home there, and moving to South Carolina to create an artists residency. Fortunately, my husband was on board for this major change as well — although as he likes to relate, each of us, on our long road trip across the country, was silently wondering “What the hell are we doing???” The result, so far, has been more than we could have hoped for. We’ve been embraced by our town of Summerville and the larger Charleston area, we’re nearly 100% booked with artists through the end of our spring 2023 season, and, most encouraging of all, artists are telling us how incredibly valuable their stay at South Porch Artists Residency has been for themselves and their work.

Brad, 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?

Sure thing. As I mentioned, for nearly twenty years I served as executive director of Theatre Bay Area, a nonprofit serving theatre artists and companies in the San Francisco Bay region. One of the things I loved most about that job was finding concrete ways to help artists and theatre companies advance their work. Like giving out grants! Or working to bring in more money for the arts from public funders at the local, state and federal level. Artists and arts organizations need money, they need know-how in specific areas, and they need to be connected to each other. I’ve always been an artist myself and was trained as an actor at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago, now The Theatre School at DePaul University. I’m an award winning playwright with several plays produced in the Bay Area and theatres across the country. Now, I’m loving my job running South Porch, and I’ve just launched BE creative coaching and consulting, focusing on helping arts leaders at a pivot point in their careers.

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

It’s my strong belief that the arts speak to us about the human condition and reveal the universe in ways that other disciplines like science, philosophy and religion don’t and can’t. My personal mission is two-fold: 1.) to be a maker of art myself, to use my unique voice to add to the narrative of human experience from my vantage as a gay, white, Christian, cis-man living in America in the early 21st century; and 2.) to support other artists in their work. Artists are vital to our society. They do important and hard work. And yet are largely undervalued. My job at Theatre Bay Are, my coaching and consulting practice, and South Porch Artist Residency all have the same underlying purpose: to make the work of artmaking a little easier, a little more joyful, a little more connected.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Yes! More than once. I pivoted at age 30 when I turned from acting (and waiting tables) to taking a job in the administrative offices at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC. I discovered I could actually make a living in the arts inside the admin office! I pivoted again when I intentionally turned from returning to acting to pursue playwriting as my main artistic medium, partly because I had for a decade laid playwriting aside for acting, and partly because playwriting gave me the flexibility to pursue both writing and advancing my career in arts administration. That decision led to 19 great years as executive director of Theatre Bay Area. Towards the end of my tenure, it was clear another pivot was in order. I had a kind of epiphany while on a playwrights retreat in Joshua Tree, CA. Hiking in the desert, I suddenly realized what I wanted to do when my time at TBA came to an end. I wanted to create and run an artists residency. Five years later, that’s exactly what I’m doing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.southporchartists.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/southporchartists/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/southporchartists/