Art Blast took a minute to catch up with NADEEM MAZEN for some wise words on Art, Boston & feeding your true passions

HI NADEEM!! We are the Boston Compass, a free cultural newspaper! We expose Boston’s music, art and film scene– we hear that you are working on some really great projects and love our community as much as we do! Do you have any ideas on how we can begin to support our scene and get more artists and musicians involved? How can we make our scene more (danger!)awesome? 

 Hi, Boston Compass! I’m NADEEM MAZEN, co-founder of @danger!awesome (a laser cutting and 3d printing makerspace), Professor of Creative Futures at SMFA, and City Councillor in Cambridge, MA.  I believe in everyone’s right to make a living doing what they love, which has inspired me to start arts and education businesses and to teach others how to do the same.  Don’t believe a word I say—just get out there and do it.

First, get a home base!  Find a place like danger!awesome where you can volunteer, teach, learn, and make on the regular. You have a daily routine to eat, to be active, to meditate or pray, right? Turns out you also need a daily practice to create and express yourself in order to stay fully human! You may not always notice when it’s gone—but it feels so right when it’s there. Treat yo’self!

Next, don’t be afraid to canvas! You know the scammy people who stand on street corners and accost strangers for donations? They make it even harder for real community mobilizers when we try to engage people. Nevertheless, we must claim that space— street corners, public events, our own neighborhoods—to recruit new awesome-izing friends to join the ranks. So go forth, occupy the streets!  Add three artists or arts consumers to your network every single day.

Last but certainly not least, make an artventure!  It can be an art adventure just for yourself or a for-profit venture with an art focus. That’s up to you. The point is to grab this new network of yours—artists and friends you’ve recruited—and go make change in your community, collaborate on shared projects, and generally make your mark.  Whether that’s midnight long-exposure photography, setting up and funding a new community space, or simply flash-mobbing an undersubscribed arts event.  You already know that you have energy, opportunity, a great network, and a lot of potential.  Now it’s time to spend just a couple of hours a day growing your community impact and feeding your true passions.