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

Hi Hayley, thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

While I wish I had started my creative career sooner I also understand that I am exactly where I need to be at this moment. I think of my “creative career” as being broken down into several components: artistic practice, curatorial practice, teaching practice and professional development for artists and curators. Without having taken the path and time that it took me to get where I am today, I would not have been able to forge these practices. For example, I had studied art in college at NYU, mostly painting and drawing but didn’t truly find my passion until I was in my 30s and discovered bookbinding and artist books. When I took my first bookmaking workshop it was like a light went off and everything just made sense, I knew I had found my medium. But while I was in college there was a great bookmaking class that was offered which I didn’t sign up for, I wasn’t in a place then where I saw the value of this practice, it took time for me to grow through other experiences before I was able to see what was before me. With curating, one day I passed a storefront and thought wow that would be a great place to curate a show, I went inside, spoke with the owner and arranged a 2 day pop up later that month. That was an incredibly valuable experience where I learned not to be afraid to ask and that I was able to make things happen. It took time to build this confidence and understanding of what I was actually capable of.

Hayley, 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?

As a freelance consultant I wear many hats that include maintaining an artistic practice, teaching art workshops, curating exhibitions and providing professional development for artists and curators. Having transitioned out of a 10 year career teaching art to young children, I find my background in education an integral part of my work. It is really important to me to provide educational and nurturing opportunities to artists and the public by providing them the tools and techniques to explore their creativity. Sometimes this takes the form of adult or family art workshops in bookbinding or paper marbling, other times it’s partnering with art organizations for studio visits with their resident artists. All of this work fuels me in my own creative endeavors of curating and bookmaking and I consider it all to be holistically one practice. The combination of these varied but connected disciplines put me in a unique position to understand arts production from multiple angles- as an artist and curator. Additionally, with almost 10 years of experience managing operations for various non-profit organizations, I also have a birds eye view of what it takes to organize programming including workshops, festivals and conferences, manage facilities, lead fundraising initiatives and apply for grants. It is this mix of knowledge and experience that I wish to bring to artists and art organizations to help guide their initiatives and growth.

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

I taught elementary and early childhood art for 10 years. About 5 years ago I chose to leave teaching on a full time basis to explore my passion for the arts. During this transition I spent time developing new connections by volunteering and freelancing for different organizations, focusing on my newly found interest in bookmaking, and cultivating curatorial opportunities. I eventually took a full time job as an administrator at Chashama, a non-profit organization that gives space to artists, where I learned everything about running a non-profit, continued to expand my network and maintained flexibility to create art and curate. I took any and every chance that came my way which over the years has grown into a rich community of peers and opportunities. I now have a set of administrative skills that allow me to work with non-profits as well as balance and organize my other practices while maintaining my original vocation to provide educational opportunities.

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

In my opinion it would be great if society can provide more free resources to artists. As a freelance consultant, I prefer to work with organizations who can pay me to work with their artists instead of charging artists directly. There are non-profits and organizations out there that do this but we need more of them and more funding from the city and state not only to support artists in their creative projects but also to provide them opportunities for professional development and growth.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hayleyferber.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hayleyferber/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayleyferber/

Image Credits
Photos are a collection of my artwork, exhibitions I’ve curated and my studio.