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

Joline, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?

It was March 2020 when we were scheduled to break ground on the Portobello Cultural Life & Arts Center in Beaver Falls, PA. We had 400 RSVPS. The main drag was set to be closed down to accommodate food trucks. Vendors. It was to be a community-wide event with residents, business owners, county and state public servants. We’d been planning it for 6 months.

You can fill in what happened next. Covid lockdown. Our project was immediately halted. In the months to come, material costs skyrocketed, if you could get them at all, and the project was placed on hiatus.

In the years that followed we tried to keep the project alive and top of mind for people, but everyone was battling to keep their own projects and businesses alive. In the meantime, while waiting, I picked up social media client after social media client to help small businesses stay in the game and in front of people online as I needed to keep working and found that helping businesses with social media was something I did well and took the burden off of them.

In 2022 a local pottery studio decided to purchase an old bank, and as their social media gal (and the artistic director for the now-on-hold Portobello) I walked in to see the space, turned my head to one side of the structure and exclaimed, “This side could be the “Baby Bello.”. The owner agreed and in the fall of 2023, the Baby Bello, a smaller version of the Portobello Cultural Life & Arts Center opened. A year later we are still here, offering art shows, author nights, mix ‘n mingle work nights for makers and artists, improv shows, book swaps, and hopefully even a silent disco. Lol.

We’ve also just secured a grant to put on our County’s FIRST film festival.

Some truths. I FIRST picked up social media clients in 2020, having only run my pages for years. I’d never had “clients”. Two, I’d never been an artistic director before 2023. So, I’m still learning those ropes, too.

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

I grew up in performing arts – a theater kid, who ultimately wasn’t sure I could make a living doing theater so I chose to major in video production and then, never entered that field following college. I had a lot fear of failure growing up, and that stunted my perseverance in those industries.

And yet. Post-college I went back to acting in musicals for fun, teaching kids acting classes, and directing and doing choreography for school musicals, with commercial work on the side, until having kiddos. After moving to Pittsburgh I transitioned my performing/video skills to the fitness industry, teaching fitness, and ultimately offering classes online during the pandemic. And while I performed in two shows, even winning an award for Best Featured Actress, directed a few shows, and coached kids for auditions, that part of my life really took a back seat.

But all of that has contributed to where I am now. I’ve lost a lot of that fear I had as a 22-year-old out of college and the 55-year-old in me doesn’t have the same trepidation to try something new, do it poorly, improve it, and make it mine. I’ve done it with content creation (finally using that video degree) and in artistic directing, bringing arts and cultural events to a small town. I now provide social media to busy business owners who need to focus on their business rather than figuring out what to post on social media. And I’m always looking to bring unique visual and performing arts experiences to our small town.

Everything I did in my 20’s is assisting what I am now doing in my 50’s. And THAT has been an unexpected development.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I remember leaving auditions when younger and redoing the audition in my car, upset with myself for my delivery or wondering if I should have done it “this way” or “that way”. The uncertainty was an awful feeling. Post-covid, I’ve learned to embrace uncertainty and always choose calm over chaos and confusion, for uncertainty doesn’t scare me any longer.

I bet I’d be a better actor now, for instead of focusing on my delivery, I think I’d have the ability to be much more in the moment. I do think this self-trust comes with age – my 55-year-old self knows herself better than the 20-something did – though I still have the energy of the 20-something. I’m just more at home with myself and my choices now.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Honestly, they need to PAY FOR IT and stop expecting art for free.

1. All of our events come with a donation box where the guest has to enter any amount to secure their ticket.
We offer a variety of price choices as well as the ability for them to enter their own amount.
But we don’t give art away for free.
But we also don’t turn people away who can’t afford $5.00.
Recently, I had someone enter $.01 for an author night. When they arrived, they whispered in my ear that they could only pay that amount and I said, “Great. We’re glad to have you!”

2. And we need to stop competing with one another.
If we both share an artist, the artist gets to show their work in TWO PLACES.
Collaboration is KEY.

3. I know the Bello well. And it is my job to protect it, so while I get outside support, advice, and direction from others, I ultimately have to trust my ability to develop programming and turn off the noise. This means, that the Bello won’t always have programming everyone likes. But my job isn’t to judge the art, it’s to give it a place to be shown and discussed and admired, and maybe even disliked. The Bello is a place provided for artists and cultural programming and I have to protect our vision to be that hub in the community. So, number three is for people to PROTECT spaces like these.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thebabybello.com, www.jolineatkins.com (not used as much any more – need to redo)
• Instagram: @joline_atkins, @babybellobf
• Facebook: @babybellobf
• Linkedin: jolineatkins, thebabybello

Image Credits

Rustbelt Mayberry Photography

Harper Atkins