Meet Edie Young | Artist & Community Organizer & Activist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Edie Young and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Edie, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I don’t own a business, but I do run a community organization called We Are Artistic. I started this organization because I saw how difficult it is for artists to receive free or cheap support. In addition to providing a supportive environment for artists, I wanted to establish a place where we could use our artistic abilities to uplift others. Since every work of art has something special and good about it, all artists should be supported.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Hi, my name is Edie! I run a community organization called We Are Artistic! I started it in 2019 after realizing it was hard for artists to get support and costly. My love for art started in Ms. Maria’s drama class in elementary school because she made drama fun by letting us put on plays..

My organization does virtual events like we have done the social hour in the past (an event for artists to hang out and do art) and in-person events such as card-making events, where we set up a table, cards, markers, and stickers and allow people to create as many cards as they want. The cards are really artistic sometimes or just contain a simple message like “you are awesome.” Regardless of how creative they are, we always appreciate them for taking the time to make a card. The cards go to Cards for Hospitalized Kids, an awesome organization started by Jen Rubino.

We also do artist support posts, which are posts on Instagram where artists can comment about themselves, interact, and find new artists.

In addition to artists support posts we offer a Discord and Facebook group where artists can freely interact with each other in a welcoming and safe environment. I want all artists to know to never be afraid to join our community because we welcome each and every artist.

Outside of art, I do queer and trans rights activism, gun violence prevention activism, and other human rights activism. community organizing and lead a club at my school called the Disability Student Alliance, which I created to be a safe space for disabled students and their Allies to hang out, advocate and have fun.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to give credit to all my friends, family and colleagues who have cheered me on, supported me and encouraged me. Also, I want to thank my friends who volunteer their time to help my organization We Are Artistic because we are volunteer-run and need volunteers to function, and my parents who have been willing to drive me to events, and help me set up. Also, I would like to thank the generous donors because we also rely on donations to keep doing events.

Website: https://www.weareartistic.net/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weareartisticgroup/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/we-are-artistic

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/weareartistic

Other: https://discord.gg/ZsDwZZTkWm