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

Matt, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Ever since I was a young kid, I have always been fascinated with creative expression and human storytelling. I knew early on that I wanted to dedicate my life to the arts. As I made my way through middle school, high school, and college, I kept immersing myself into the visual and performing arts (music, theatre, film, writing, etc), as well as education (I knew I had a passion to teach others in the way that I had been taught by my incredible teachers). I can’t remember a time in my life where I wanted to do anything else. It was just always in my head that my life would be surrounded by these things in a tangible way. And I made very conscious decisions as I finished school and started working that I would find ways to combine all of my interests as I built up my professional career.

Matt, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Out of everything that I do in my career, I am most proud of being an educator. I am currently a professor at William Peace University where I teach arts and humanities courses (including music, theatre, interdisciplinary arts, and culture). I had amazing teachers who helped inspire me, and I love paying that forward to new generations of students. I firmly believe in the power of being a life-long learner. I am also a professional in the arts industry. I am a composer for film/tv/media, a published author, a musician, a theatre leader, and an arts entrepreneur. My degrees include a B.A., M.A., and M.F.A. (all arts related).

I am deeply passionate about how we as humans creatively express ourselves and tell meaningful stories. I think the arts is one of the most important pillars of society and culture, and I love sharing that passion every day with my students, colleagues, and collaborators.

If anyone would like to know more about my work, please visit my official website WWW.MATTHODGE.COM

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I think it’s important to find personal reward and value in the work that you enjoy doing. I also think part of that journey is understanding the different ways you can define “success.” The projects that I have done that were most fulfilling or rewarding for me were not always the jobs that involved the most money, the most famous collaborators, the largest audiences, or accolades. Yes, all of those things are wonderful and helpful in building a career, and I’m extremely grateful that I’ve had those “big scale” professional experiences. But my list of most “successful” works and most “meaningful” works would not always be the exact same lists. And that’s an important lesson that I pass along to my students. Sometimes the opportunities that seem “small” can end up giving you an overwhelming amount of fulfillment and joy.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I’m not sure if there is one particular goal or mission driving me. But I can see patterns as I get older. Lately, I’ve noticed I’m very passionate about interdisciplinary approaches to my work. Since I am fascinated with and passionate about so many different things (music, theatre, film, literature, folklore, spirituality, pop culture, tourism, world history, etc.), I love finding ways of connecting multiple interests into my research, writing, teaching, and artistic work. I love exploring how all of my cultural and societal interests are connected in more ways than they are detached from one another.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.matthodge.com

Image Credits
Photo credits are all mine