We were lucky to catch up with Elsie Gilmore recently and have shared our conversation below.

Elsie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I’m currently launching one of my most meaningful projects. It’s called 5000 Hugs, and it’s a Kickstarter-style fundraising campaign for The Hugmobile (a mobile hug dispensary and joy clinic).

The project combines my skills as a web developer with my love of hugging strangers (and spreading joy).

In a time of great polarization in this country based on people’s judgments of each other’s thoughts and beliefs, hugging strangers is the antidote. When I’m hugging strangers, I don’t know anything about them or what they believe. They’re merely other human beings who want a hug. This is a time when we desperately need to see the humanity in our fellow Americans instead of seeing them as a collection of issues or ideologies. Social media makes things worse, so I engage in social art to counter it.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My mother was a world-class hugger. Getting a hug from my Mom was like being wrapped in love. Consequently, I love to hug. I’ll hug family members, friends, strangers, animals… anything or anyone that will let me! Over the years, I’ve done FREE HUGS events during which I stand somewhere for a few hours with a sign and/or t-shirt to give and receive hugs. My motto is, “For every hug you give, you get one in return.”

I’ve had people thank me for hugs, tell me they really needed the hug because they were just in a fight with their son, or tell me that when you get to a certain age you don’t get many hugs anymore. This is how I knew I was on the right track. (Plus, the hugs made ME feel good.)

Lately hugging strangers has taken on a new meaning for me. Our encounters with strangers in real life are an antithesis to our encounters with them on social media. On social media, everyone comes with labels or speech that might make us like or dislike them. But when you hug a stranger, you have no context for their life, and they may not even speak to you. It’s just two human beings sharing a pure, intimate moment together. With all the polarization in our country right now, this has helped me remain empathetic, kind, and feeling good about humans. I get discouraged sometimes with the rhetoric online, but when I’m out in the world interacting with real people, I remember that most people are good.

I’m intent on using my art to counter the polarization in our country right now. I don’t think we can survive it without a change in attitude and perspective.

Once my 5000 Hugs campaign is completed, I’ll be taking The Hugmobile on a tour around the country to give out the hugs that were purchased. After that, I’ll be lining up or creating events in which to participate with The Hugmobile. Not only through hugs but also with a book I intend to write, through speaking engagements, and other inspirational materials, I’ll spread my message of kindness and empathy to anyone willing to listen.

I’ve been creating social experiences for most of my life. (Some examples: orchestrating yarn bombings, organizing spontaneous pop-up parties in parking spaces, putting fun/inspiring tear-off signs around town.) I consider my life to be a social experiment and try to live it that way. I’ve been a web developer for almost 20 years and also founded a women’s networking business that was a powerhouse in Sarasota, Florida. This year, I have more fully embraced my role as an artist and educator and hope to continue to grow in that direction.

P.S. Hugging can be Covid safe! I’ve given lots of hugs during the pandemic when people really needed them most.

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

As I mentioned already, part of my goal is to cut through the polarization paralyzing our country. I want to get people thinking about each other differently. I want to help people become more self-aware about how their speech contributes to the negative narrative and how they can change the world by changing themselves. We don’t have to agree with each other to treat each other with kindness and respect. Our behavior should reflect the kind of person we are and not be predicated on what someone else does or thinks.

There is a saying by Confucius that drives my relationship with the world:

The Universe is my father
Earth is my mother
All people are my brothers and sisters
All creatures are my companions

If I can in any way help people understand and feel this, I will have made a difference.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

It’s cool that this is one of the questions because my 5000 Hugs project is a play on NFTs. NFTs cover a wide variety of things. From a screen capture of Jack Dorsey’s first tweet to legitimate artwork to tickets to the opera. My view on NFT art is that art is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. If the NFT is backed by something “real”, then I don’t see an advantage of using an NFT for the sales. Let’s just say, I’ve never seen an example of an NFT being used in a way that required an NFT. Having said that, I considered using an actual NFT for this project, but I decided not to because it would severely limit my audience. In short, NFTs are exclusive. The majority of people do not have a crypto wallet, and I wanted absolutely anyone to be able to participate. I’ve also never been one to jump on a bandwagon. I’d rather do something original. So, being a web developer, I created my own version of an NFT for the 5000 Hugs website.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.5000hugs.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/5000hugsproject/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crazysexyelsie
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ElsieGilmore

Image Credits
Carol Dekkers, Robert Akins Taylor