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

Hi Occupy Vacancy, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The project we’re currently working on is some of the most meaningful work either of us has done. The backstory of Occupy Vacancy is rooted in celebrating our hometown of St. Louis. We both left the midwest for similar reasons and headed to cities we believed would embrace us more. What’s been beautiful about this story is recognizing all of the support we’ve received within our home community. I think it’s opened both of our eyes to what is possible with time, but also how we can choose our perception and how we can define opportunity.

Occupy Vacancy, 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?

Occupy Vacancy, is a public art initiative working to highlight the cultural heritage and architectural history of St. Louis’s Northside. We are an artist collaborative established through a shared history and passion for telling the story of our city. Occupy Vacancy uses vacant city lots to install public art that extracts architectural elements from abandoned structures and reimagines them as outdoor art memorials of a shared experience. We strive to underline and address the social and architectural narrative of St. Louis through our public art initiative. Collectively, we work to highlight the heritage of communities through materials and design.

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

It’s essential for society to appreciate art and its contributions to culture. Without culture, who are we? And if society isn’t intentional about supporting it, it withers. Artists touch so many aspects of our lives, and our experiences could be richer if we supported them more financially. I would love to see more local governments budgeting for artist support grants, especially for public engagement projects.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

We wish we had taken advantage of some of the free legal services provided to artists earlier. It’s weird to think about being an entrepreneur under the realm of being an artist, but it’s true. If you are a working artist, you’re an entrepreneur.

Contact Info:

• Website: occupyvacancy.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/occupyvacancy/