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

Alright, Katie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Looking back on your career, have you ever worked with a great leader or boss? We’d love to hear about the experience and what you think made them such a great leader.

The best boss I ever had was someone whose leadership style allowed me freedom and agency as an employee. He once told me that his leadership philosophy was to “find the right person for the job and then get out of their way.” He believed in figuring out what an individual was good at and what they were passionate about and putting them to work where they could really shine. As an artistic person, I relished the freedom to explore new possibilities, try new things, and exercise my own creative thinking and problem solving. Almost every idea I pitched to him I was given the greenlight and encouraged to pursue. The few times I was redirected, it was with a reasonable explanation and ideas to make my plan work better.

Under his leadership, I completed a creative project that is perhaps one of my proudest achievements as a professional and an artist. I planned an executed a collaborative mural painting project that offered art therapy to individuals in the early stages of addiction recovery and continues to change the stigmatized narrative around addiction and recovery.

His guidance is a big inspiration to me as a new leader. I strive to find what creates a spark in each one of my team members and what makes them excited to show up to work each day. I communicate that our organization is one that is safe to take a risk, try something new, and be creative. When a team member shows excitement about a new project or idea, I encourage them to pursue it and offer my support. I have nothing but gratitude for Grant Gordy for modeling this leadership style for me.

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

I have always loved creating and consuming art. I’m a visual and performing artist myself and spent two years pursing my dream and creating art full-time. I’m also a people person, so over the years I have worked several jobs in customer service, community outreach, and public relations. I spent some time working for the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau in community outreach and that’s where I was introduced to the concept of “placemaking” to build healthier communities and attract tourism. When the leadership position at Create Conway was offered, I felt like it was the job I had been waiting for my entire life. It blended my aptitude for community outreach with my love for the creative arts.

Create Conway is a nonprofit organization committed to amplifying Conway, Arkansas as a vibrant destination for arts, culture and entertainment. Conway is full of talent and creative energy, but opportunities for creatives have been lacking in the past. That’s where Create Conway comes in. We host creative placemaking events around the city of Conway to support local artists, build healthier communities, and ultimately create an economic impact in our city. Our largest program is Conway Art Walk, a first Friday arts festival that activates Conway’s historic downtown district with live music, food trucks, art experiences, and pop-up galleries. Events like Conway Art Walk support local creatives by providing a platform to sell and promote their work. However, it also benefits the larger community by improving the quality of place in Conway.

There is a direct correlation between the number and quality of events like Conway Art Walk and the desirability of a city for both residents and visitors. Local businesses looking to recruit new talent can point to events like Conway Art Walk as proof that our city is vibrant, active, and a great place to call home. Surrounding rural communities with limited access to the arts can visit Conway Art Walk and find immersive art experiences for free. Conway Art Walk events recruit volunteers from the local universities, small businesses, community partners, and other arts organizations and engage our residents in the community. At the end of the day, the more people that are attracted to Conway as a place to live and/or visit, the larger the economic impact and more we grow and thrive.

One of my proudest moments at Create Conway was the community response to our first Conway Art Walk of the 2025 season. Conway Art Walk began as a small, grassroots initiative to give local artists a place to showcase their work. The first season of Conway Art Walk saw a couple hundred attendees at each event. Over the years, the event has grown to the point it was attracting approximately 1,000+ attendees at the end of the 2024 season. At the beginning of the season, we were preparing for crowds of 1,000 people, hoping to sustain the number of attendees we saw the season before. I was blown away when the crowd exploded to nearly 2,000 for our first Conway Art Walk of the season! It was a really great feeling that the community was responding to what we were doing. All the hard work and effort was paying off.

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

The obvious answer is to financially support creatives: buy their artwork, purchase tickets to their shows and concerts, stream their music, and tip the performers. However, even if a person is not in a place to financially support, simply showing up makes a big impact.

Create Conway puts a lot of effort into fundraising to ensure our events are free and accessible to everyone. Even if someone does not buy anything at Conway Art Walk, showing up and having a presence increases our attendance numbers and helps support our cause. Also, when you show up and observe what we have to offer, you become an ambassador for our organization. You can speak to the incredible experiences we provide and encourage others to attend. When you share your exciting experiences on social media, you’re not only displaying your community pride, but creating organic marketing and outreach for our programs.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

A common misconception about creative endeavors is that one must be a creative or talented themselves to appreciate the work. When I’m fundraising for Create Conway, I often hear things like “I don’t know anything about art,” or the old cliche “I don’t even know how to draw a stick figure.” I remind people that whether you have an aptitude or appetite for art or not, you can still get excited about making your community a better place to live.

The bottom line is, when artists are thriving, their communities are thriving. While we are passionate about supporting our local artists, it’s all working towards a bigger picture: we’re building up Conway and Central Arkansas as a creative destination. A thriving arts community means a thriving economy and a more resilient community.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.createconway.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/createconwayar
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/creativeinstitutear
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/createconway

Image Credits

Image credits: Conway Downtown Partnership