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

Coka, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

It all started with 28 studios…

In early 2003, three artists, Jana Swec, Joseph Phillips, and Shea Little, stumbled upon an idea; They hoped to make an event that would help support and grow their art-making practices while sharing the love with other artists living and working around us in east Austin. They met with as many artists as they could to share the plan, and launched the first East Austin Studio Tour that same year. Big Medium’s formation as a non-profit stemmed from the first East Austin Studio Tour, a one-day event, free and open to the public, with only 28 studios and 50 artists.

Now with over 520 participants citywide, the Austin Studio Tour champions the abundance of talent that makes up the large and wildly diverse creative community of Austin. We’re grateful for the dedicated artists, partners, sponsors, and tour-goers who have made this program possible and allowed us to reach such a meaningful milestone. It is through your support that we are able to further our mission of supporting artists through equitable and inclusive platforms to explore their practice and advance their careers while enabling audiences and artists to create close bonds that elevate our wonderful, ever-changing, creative city.

Coka, 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?

Big Medium’s vision is to create equity through art. We provide opportunities for artists at every level of their career to create, exhibit, and discuss their work. As a result, our programs and artist networks are strong and well-recognized by both the Austin community, as well as across the state of Texas, and we have grown to become one of the only organizations in Austin to work with the large majority of artists in our city. We aspire to further expand our impact by deepening our engagement with our key constituents—artists who have been institutionally marginalized and under-funded, such as BIPOC artists and members of the LGBTQIA+ community—by commissioning new work, ensuring artists are paid for their time and work, and providing them with access to unique creative spaces and high profile co-marketing platforms.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Big Medium is an artist-run, grassroots organization, whose mission is to support artists through equitable and inclusive platforms to explore their practice and advance their careers. Since its founding in 2007, Big Medium has aimed to strengthen the arts community in Austin by connecting emerging and established artists to an engaged and diverse audience who understands the power art has to incite social impact and fuel the economic development of artists.

Have you ever had to pivot?

In February, Big Medium headed to Mexico City to participate in ZonaMACO, the largest contemporary art fair platform in Latin America which brings together leading and emerging national and international art galleries. Through this new venture, we aim to bring international attention to Austin as an art and cultural destination for tourists and will be bringing the work of historically institutionally marginalized artists to the fair.

Contact Info:

• Website: bigmedium.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigmediumaustin/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bigmedium
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/big-medium/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BigMedium
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bigmedium4282