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

Alright, Ty thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Mightier Than The Sword Awards at Sunset Film Festival

Ty, 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 began my dedicated journey in 1999 at Appalachian State University, in Boone N.C. as a musician. And with a hip hop background, I used to be very careful with using that term, but during a business trip to L.A. last year a young woman told me that your voice is an instrument, so even if you aren’t playing something with your hands, you are in fact still a musician. I’m going to ride with that. I released my debut solo album in 2007 and was the runner up for Independent Music Awards album of the year, approached by Okayplayer to sign with them, and declined and ended up winning that award in 2016 at the Lincoln Center in NYC on a collaborative album I did with labelmate, Tenacious.

In 2003 I took my first international trip to Milan, Italy and that opened my eyes, heart and mind up to so much more than I could have ever imagined. It was the first step of being a more rounded person and what I feel as well cultured, also it was the early stages of my interest and love in the fashion industry.

I start with those two points in my life because that really was the springboard on what got me into my craft and what I have been able to accomplish in the past 25 years that all have evolved from a college kid’s heart filled from travel and hip hop. Since then I have traveled to 18 countried and lived in and around Shanghai for five years.

Now in 2024, I have expanded into Filmmaking, taken fashion design as a serious part of my craft, along with photography and I have successfully just finished programming and directing my hometown of Asheboro, N.C.’s very first International Film Festival January 11 & 12, 2024, which was the culmination of 2023 being full of film festivals that my own work was included and shown in and over 100 awards won in over a dozen categories.

Even though I do have clients, I always approach my work and what I do with my city of Asheboro as my main client, closely followed by my state of North Carolina. That is in a nutshell who I work for… there are vast cultural voids that need to be filled therein and I am dedicated to do what I can to fill them myself or find others who can. We are in the South, the Bible belt is real and so is racism and close mindedness and art is the only way to build that bridge to take steps for awareness because there is also so much beauty and potential here that far too often gets suffocated by the aforementioned.

I am most proud of the family I have built, and the balance between that and my work that I continue to improve upon each day. If I didn’t work hard with my commitment to gain the full trust of my wife, I wouldn’t be able to give her my all, and if I wasn’t able to give her my all, I wouldn’t care and love my children as I purely as I do, and if I wasn’t able to love them as purely as I do, I wouldn’t be able to create at the pace I have been since they were born with the quality that I have. It all comes from home life and the relationship I have with those living in the same house as me. When it comes to straight up work though, I am the most proud of this festival we just got finished with. Mightier Than The Sword Awards at Sunset Film Festival was an amazing success that really changed our city for the better.

What I feel like sets me apart from others is all the layers that I have and how I am dedicated to each but can overlap that dedication with commitment to something that aligns with that. For instance, I learned how to create films while making music, I was uninterested in spending ridiculous amounts of money for music videos, so I bartered with some friends and learned from them how to do my own, then a few years later learned enough to be able to create my own music videos and short films. And then it was that much easier to learn composition and photography as well, kind of like spoken word and hip hop, they are closely aligned but can be separated into two completely different angles, with different fan bases and demographics. I guess I learned that from my college days where I would take electives that were required but also could be used to gain an additional degree.

The main thing I want people to know about my work and brand is that I do a whole lot. It can be confusing but try and keep up. So simply; I provide fine fashion. awesome art. meaningful music. fascinating film.

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

This one has been heavy on my mind lately. I spent quite some time in Hollywood/Los Angeles in 2023, representing my films, releasing albums and showing off my music videos at some of the best theatres and cinemas in the city. During these opening receptions, award shows and red carpets I have been really fortunate to network and get to know fellow filmmakers and industry professionals. In a deep conversation one woman told me that when it comes to art and the art world that very few people ever have enough money to find out how great they can be at something and that really stuck with me since then. It’s a harsh and unfortunate reality.

Every time a theatre or film festival contacted me in 2023 and told me that they would be showing my work I would weigh out the importance of attending. And if it made sense and was a golden opportunity, I would call out for donors, sponsors and backers to help with the traveling costs to attend. That and maxing out some credit cards was really the only options.

So in my opinion, society can help the most by appreciating art either on a wider scale or a more locally focused scale. Often times we are force fed what to consume and it might not be intentionally, it’s just the easiest to access or what someone else has deemed to have the most appeal.

It takes some work, but find out who in your area has high quality work and support that work and unfortunately more often than not it’s all monetarily based. So philanthropy is direly needed in these circles and so is more accessible grants. Because as artists we all know they are out there, but sometimes it’s easier to decipher hieroglyphics than it is to apply and write these grants.

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

We live in a time where what is new rules, and that’s something I’ve seen since I was a kid. People love the new and as creatives we get lost in that to where we lose touch with our former artistic selves by producing something new and at a faster rate. The lesson we are taught as creatives without a formal teacher is to give the world something new.

While I agree with that, I also have to bring up the fact that at the current level most of us are on, what’s old to you is new to 99% of the population of this earth, so keep promoting what you have created in the past at the same pace as you create something new. You can’t just let that fall into the void of nothingness, because it will do just that unless you remind yourself and the people of the world what you have already created.

I think of how art is most certainly an aquired taste, it takes time and many different variables for people to appreciate it’s worth and only then can it’s true impact be felt. Many finer things in the world are compared to wine and how the length of time, the surrounding circumstances during growth and even the barrell can determine it’s taste. It’s the exact same with art.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.filmandfashionbybrueilly.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/livebyacode
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therealtybru
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ty-bru-b2b11866
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/TyBru
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/MTTSTV
• Other: https://linktr.ee/tybrueilly