#OTVTonight Returns to Fellowship with a Celebration of Creative Freedom
By Rivka Yeker
Photos by Jaclyn Rivas
#OTVTonight: A Return To Fellowship felt like both a return and a necessary revival, both literally and emotionally, as the audience’s enthusiasm permeated the room. The artists who were chosen as fellows back in 2021 and 2022 were finally able to celebrate their work almost two years later in the company of other artists and community. During the middle of the event, in queer millennial fashion, Karla Huffman invited the audience to participate in an embodied centering exercise. The crowd inhaled and exhaled together like a giant balloon, releasing every bit of air in their bodies into space. There was a sense of relief and recognition: what a gift it is to be here, together, celebrating art.
Ahead of the show, I spoke with Co-founder and Executive Director Elijah McKinnon (they/them), Head of Marketing and Exhibition Chris Walker (they/them), and Head of Artist Development Sarah Minnie (she/her) over Zoom. As any creative partners know, getting through the last few years was no easy feat. Between endless pivots, hard decisions, and losses, there was no escaping the ever-changing landscape of the unknown. Despite the whirlwind, this trio had found a way to overcome each challenge they faced as they radiated a clear sense of collective trust.
When asking them what this event symbolized for independent media and production, Chris elaborated on the significance of this event, “We haven’t had this event in this iteration since 2019. The artists put so much time and effort into this thing, having people hear the joke that they wrote three years ago; now there’s this opportunity for them to meet each other, be in space and see people from all over the country and come together to show all different genres.”
Elijah further explained, “OTV Tonight is anchored in disruption. The program itself is designed to resemble a Late Show, which is typically hyper-masculine and politically neutral for a mass audience. We aim to queer the Late Show canon. We designed a program that spoke to us about many years of us doing community-building work.” The event mirrors the work that OTV is always doing and has always done: challenging dominant structure by giving freedom to creative voices that don’t always get the choice to explore.
Open Television’s first event was in 2015 at a converted warehouse in Pilsen. This current iteration of programming is an homage to their roots. Elijah described it as “thinking beyond passive consumption,” creating a multi-sensory experience that would become OTV’s norm. DJ Shaun J. Wright curated a sonic backdrop as the night consisted of the premiere/first looks of some OTV fellows’ films, pop-up interviews, games, and audience participation..
OTV fellowships emphasize how community support is vital to an artist’s sense of creative freedom. When asked what are some of her favorite parts of the fellowship program, Sarah Minnie responded, “It starts with a holistic approach to artwork. It allows artists to come in and be themselves. [They can] figure out their creative process with grace while surrounded by other like-minded artists.”
Minnie uses ‘holistic’ in the literal sense rather than the spiritual one. Elijah expanded, “OTV is one of the many few nonprofit organizations that offer 360 support for storytellers. When we say ‘holistic’, we take a circular approach to the life cycle of a project that helps artists understand how to use that project to create and leverage it in the industry. We support artists from development all the way to exhibition. Many orgs will focus on 2-3 of those stages (production, pre-production, or development and production). We are not beholden to distributors. We are able to take a slow approach to artist development. Holistic is not just woo-woo, but also a practice and execution.”
Though there were eight 2021/2022 fellows, the previews that we saw consisted of Marlo A. Virña “ManicMan!”, Maya Lori’s “Chickweed Magik,” Vee Hua’s “Reckless Spirits,” Latasha Mercer’s “JustLatasha’s Inner Actions,” and Shaan Dasani’s “AGENT OF CHANGE: Project Polymer.” I spoke with a few of them about their experiences during their fellowship.
When asked what she found most fulfilling about the process, LaTasha Mercer reflected, “It was to work with consideration of self-care. Usually, when we’re called to work, it’s through the lens of productivity and accomplishment, where how we feel internally is an afterthought. OTV taught me to allow my wellness to dictate my output, which increased my sense of self and empowered my creativity. It was humanizing.”
Several participants noted feelings of empowerment when reflecting on their work with OTV. The amount of intention behind every action they make is profound and meaningful. Vee Hua commented, “Between the event itself and the curated engagements on IG Live and press opportunities, it just feels like OTV is trying to make a full-on occasion out of it, and not that many people do that for you. The effort is appreciated.”
Open Television is a platform, a supporter, a network, and your number-one fan. They extend their resources and care to an array of artists whose visions encompass a vast variety of genres and themes. No one preview we saw was alike, which confirms that OTV is looking to give artists a total reign of self-expression. When asked how it felt to be celebrated at an event like this, Marlo A. Virña explained, “Being a part of such a celebratory and supportive community as OTV has given me the space to really practice vulnerability. And sharing this story, being vulnerable is so damn freeing.
