We were lucky to catch up with Jacquelyn Tolksdorf recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jacquelyn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

Ah! That age-old question every creative person asks multiple times throughout their life. What would it have been like to be…”normal.” Being a creative person is like living in a kaleidoscope—every day is a swirl of colors, wild ideas, and unexpected adventures. Your brain is constantly dancing, and you see potential masterpieces in coffee stains and cloud shapes. You might lose your keys, but you’ll always find inspiration in a forgotten corner of your mind. A “normal” person, on the other hand, lives in a world where things make sense 100% of the time (boring!), and their socks probably match currently.

And while I have mismatched socked feet in both the 2 worlds of organized calendars and the other foot in a world of doodles of dragons fighting aliens…I wouldn’t change a thing.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

All fun aside, the creative mind is never a comfortable mind. We’re never settled. We always want to create more. Improve our skills more. The urge, nay requirement to create something often keeps us sane (well, somewhat).

If you ask someone creative; we knew pretty early in life that a life without art or creating would be a sad one. I knew around 8 years old I couldn’t have a future without unleashing creativity. I was lucky my sensible dad pushed me in the direction of graphic design for a more reliable paycheck. He got me on a computer young which sounds funny to say today with toddlers knowing how to do everything on the iPad, but I’m from an era before the PC. The print design industry turned into adding web development skills, which turned into needed marketing skills, and with years of working in top design and marketing agencies, I ventured out on my own and built my own marketing and design studio in 2015. I’ve worked with clients on design, branding, marketing, and grant writing like the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and American Ballet Theatre.

But as my creative brain ages into my late 30s, I longed for something more meaningful and accessible art has always been a huge value of mine. The term “starving artist” is such an exhaustive term – but in Central Wisconsin, especially – we have them!

When Rise Up needed a hybrid service of grant writing, marketing, re-branding, and accessible adult art class programming – I jumped on the chance to settle back into my hometown and bring access to art to the artists at home.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I find it so interesting that for whatever reason (be it political or just without understanding) people in change-making positions say they don’t support the arts. I hear excuses from why should we help beatnik artists who refuse to get a “real job” to the more level-headed excuse as their other causes that are worth supporting besides art. Which…is fair. But without art, your society crumbles pretty quickly.

When a city doesn’t support local art, we get a cultural vacuum.

A cultural vacuum is like a big cosmic Roomba, mindlessly sucking up all the creativity, art, and fun until there’s nothing left but gray concrete walls and a never-ending loop of elevator music. Imagine a world where every song sounds like a ringtone from the early 2000s, and the only movies are government-approved instructional videos on “How to Fold Your Laundry Correctly.” In this artistic black hole, no one is allowed to paint outside the lines—actually, they probably took the lines away too, just in case. It’s a place where creativity goes to die… or at least take a very long nap. And then your city dies. Anyone under 40 moves away. No new business startup. And soon…ghost town status. And all because the city didn’t support art or want to foster local artists.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

And that’s what Rise Up has been re-branded to. We foster artists of all kinds. We support you how we can. As an art nonprofit that both creates public art and creates an open studio stocked with donated art supplies for the community to use – we aim to build up a better economy of artists in Wausau and throughout Central Wisconsin.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.riseupart.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riseupcentralwisconsin/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RISEUPCentralWI/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rise-up-central-wi

Image Credits

Featured: Kurt Wagner Photography (Wausau, WI)
Second Image: Wolfskull Creative (St. Paul, MN)