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

Johnathon, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on would have to be the one I’m currently working on with my band SHADES. Last year, I formed a band with some of my friends from college, and it’s lead to so much growth for us all. As a band, we also formed a club on campus called the Shades Music Club, and this helped us curate a community to promote live music on campus. We held four concerts on campus with our club, as well as performed for other club events held on campus. We had our first off campus performance at Yosemic’s open mic at the Silk Road Cafe, and have performed there a few times now. Our biggest performance to date would probably be the Lehman College Spring Fling, where Attorney General Letitia James was a guest speaker. As a Bronx native who voted for her, it was a huge honor to be apart of such a special moment for The Bronx. Now, we’re working on releasing new music!

Johnathon, 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?

I always knew I wanted to sing, but my family wasn’t very supportive of it growing up because they thought I sounded like a girl and they wanted me to sound more masculine. This made me insecure as a kid, and so I put off a career in music to pursue a career in hairdressing. While I enjoyed being able to create different looks and making people feel beautiful, I constantly found myself in toxic work environments, dealing with racism and homophobia from clients, coworkers and bosses alike. Through these trials and tribulations, I realized it was music that got me through that, and so I went to college to get a new start. I initially enrolled as a psychology major, but switched my major to music a year later after dealing with the most cynical psychology professor I’ve ever met. Once I became a music major, everything clicked!.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is being able to meet the people that are moved by my work. Being a creative can be vulnerable at times, not knowing if people will understand or receive it in a positive or constructive way. I take comfort in knowing I won’t be able to satisfy everyone because this is what allows me to create without the fear of judgment or harsh criticism. That freedom in my expression is necessary for me to create authentically, and that authenticity attracts people to my voice and the message I want to get across in my craft.

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

Honestly, I think our communities need to get more involved in supporting locals artists. The hardest part of the work I did this year was organizing events in the community to even get people to come out and support us. If you enjoy the work of a local artist, make the effort to go to their shows, buy products, share their work and spread the word to other locals. If you can’t afford to go to their concerts or buy their products, posting the events and products on your social media is free and goes a.long way. We reach people on a daily basis now more than ever through social media, so the same way you repost the content of the mainstream celebs, use some of that energy in promoting local artists.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/john.nycanta?igsh=MXN3YWdxM3FwbWg4ag%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@john.nycanta?_t=8ns5UW9sNaw&_r=1

Image Credits

Jeremy Gonzalez
Lehman College Photography