Artists of New York

Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell is a cartoonist and comedian based in New York City. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Panic attack move from LA to New York (03:18) Burnout at Slamdance and leaving film festival life (06:41) First impressions of New York and stranger kindness (10:02) Childhood dreams of cartooning and art school detours (13:41) Choosing drawing over animation and film collaboration (1...

Ella De Leon Detlefsen is an artist based in New York City. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Moving to New York for finance (01:18) Childhood drawing obsession begins (03:02) Surreal portraits and Tim Burton influence (04:41) Middle school art obsession takes over (06:18) Family artists and inherited creativity (07:37) Choosing business over art school (09:46) Studying analytics while suppressin...

Caia Diepenbrock is an artist, designer, and freelance art director based in Brooklyn, NY. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Family roots and finding New York (03:08) Rhode Island, Bard, and early city overwhelm (06:11) Seven years in LA, then Brooklyn home (08:54) Why New York felt more alive (11:02) From psych to studio art at Bard (13:41) Growing up with two working artist parents (16:52) Draw...

Chloé Simone is a writer, a spiritual coach, and a DJ based in New York City. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) NYC move via Wall Street Journal job (02:10) New York dreams and Great Migration lineage (04:35) Loving literature; discovering writing talent (06:40) Teen screenplays and filmmaker ambitions (08:40) NOCCA arts high school film program (11:10) “Witchy” New Orleans and strict Christian h...

Jeremy Pinsly is a stand-up comedian and the owner of the new Greenpoint Comedy Club in Brooklyn, NY. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Nashville to Dallas, corporate path, “this isn’t it” moment (03:08) Choosing stand-up, moving to NYC, lining up a bar job (05:55) Brother Jimmy’s bait-and-switch, becoming a bouncer instead (08:20) First New York Comedy Club bringer show, early “crush” (11:10) Si...

Mike Perry is a painter and graphic designer, based in Brooklyn, NY and Athens, NY. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Following love to New York (02:43) Early hustle and instant momentum (05:34) Dental floss letters and studio realization (07:58) Pre-social era: reputation and “Hand Job” (10:41) Independence, Missouri and a creative family (13:28) Drawing obsession and being “terrible” in school...

Shaun Murphy is a stand-up comedian, based in New York City. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Early NYC attempts and returning for good (02:11) Not a class clown, surprising comedy origins (04:05) Discovering stand-up through Comedy Central era (06:18) First stand-up class and graduation show experience (09:07) Early Buffalo comedy scene and first performances (11:52) Mitch Hedberg’s influence a...

Nick Marsella is a Juilliard alum and a composer, based in New York City. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Unorthodox plan to move to New York (03:21) Cold texts, a stranger says “call John” (06:04) John offers help—move “right now” (08:58) Staten Island basement room: rough, cash, roommates (12:07) Long commute: bus, ferry, train to Times Square (15:14) Mice, sleeping on the floor, retail hustl...

Timothy Long is a musician, conductor, and music professor based in New York City and Rochester, NY. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Chasing bigger towns, landing at Juilliard in 1994 (03:45) Small-town Oklahoma roots and mixed tribal identity (07:10) Two churches, two worlds, learning to “assimilate” (10:35) Language, humor, and realizing “Indian” on TV (14:05) Muskogee and Choctaw history, Tr...

Sampy Sicada is a surrealist painter based in New York City. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Moving to US for SCAD, then NYU (03:06) Hong Kong birth, international schooling, UK move (06:11) Early drawing, Captain Underpants, not serious yet (09:02) Hong Kong atmosphere: stress, conformity, not belonging (12:44) Identity split: British colony legacy, cultural tensions (16:07) Asian collectivism...

Eric Berryman is an actor based in New York City. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Destiny, family roots, New York as home base (03:08) Teacher advice: New York won’t walk away (06:41) No single “artist moment,” just always knew (10:02) Childhood assembly poem and grandmother’s prophecy (13:37) Drawn to acting, TV, movies from early on (17:05) Classical-actor dreams: Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov,...

Ofri Nehemya is a jazz drummer based in New York City. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Moving to New York, COVID detour to Israel (02:05) Why jazz pointed to New York early (05:10) Musical family roots, drummer dad, sister too (08:25) First memories: drums at age two (12:00) “It chose me”: passion, fear of losing music (15:45) Gratitude: living off art, doing fulfilling music (19:30) Family imm...

Suzannah Herbert is a documentary filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Born in NYC, raised in Memphis (02:40) Childhood visits, obsession with New York history (05:20) NYU Tisch arrival and film school focus (08:10) Staying in NYC: career, Brooklyn, parenthood shift (11:05) Memphis roots: PBS, Oprah, early documentaries (14:30) Mr. Thames and “Facing History” shaping...

Oskar Stenmark is a trumpeter based in New York City. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) First trip to New York, February 2013 (03:28) Naive “magical city” expectations for musicians (06:12) Student visa plan and Manhattan School of Music (09:45) Havana semester sparks desire to leave Sweden (13:18) Havana’s street music, intensity, and community (16:40) Musical family lineage: 10 generations play...

Ginny Hogan is a comedian and a writer based in New York City. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Born in NYC, parents’ Midwest/Virginia roots (03:12) Museums, Catholic school, “New Yorky stuff” childhood (06:35) No comedy plan, drama fan, accidental start (09:48) Facebook ad credits: dating ads go viral (12:58) Writing jokes at work, stand-up classes, introvert performer (15:55) San Francisco com...

Julia Edelman is an author, a contributor to The New Yorker, and a Substacker, based in Brooklyn, NY. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Born in Queens, NYC keeps pulling her back (02:18) Family roots: Brooklyn, Iraq, France (04:28) Grandmother’s escape from Baghdad to NYU (07:03) Writing young to process emotions (09:12) Seventh-grade football tryout story begins (12:41) Injury, bonding, and writ...

Ilana Gilovich is a writer, experience designer, and creative director based in Brooklyn, NY. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Moving to NYC from Ithaca (03:12) Defining art as a way of being (06:05) Childhood whimsy: Peter Pan birthday story (09:18) Early writing, dance, and voracious reading (12:02) Cornell path: English, dance, theater, PhD (15:06) No master plan, just following delight (18:1...

Alise Morales is a comedian based in New York City. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Moving to New York for improv dreams (03:05) Early impressions and New York mythology (06:10) ADHD and craving constant city stimulus (09:00) College degree versus artistic calling (11:45) Discovering improv as true art form (15:00) What makes someone good at improv (18:20) Childhood comedy roots and Amanda Byne...

Jessica Earnshaw is a documentary filmmaker and photographer, based in Brooklyn, NY. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Moving to NYC for ICP (02:08) Growing up with a photographer mom (04:01) Why photojournalism felt empowering (06:18) Grant: documenting aging in prison (08:07) Meeting Rosemary and Jacenta (10:11) Realizing it needed to be film (12:03) How they landed in prison together (13:53) A...

Eviatar Slivnik is a jazz drummer and composer, based in Brooklyn, NY. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Moving to New York to test yourself (04:21) Early heroes and jazz influences (08:37) Falling in love with jazz’s mind and soul (12:54) Jazz as high-level conversation, not noise (16:49) Why expertise matters before improvising (20:58) Childhood development: bands, drive, priorities (25:26) Art...

Lindsey Ferrentino is a playwright, based in Brooklyn, NY. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Moving to NYU at 17 (02:18) Realizing acting isn’t the path (04:35) Family of comedians, early writing habits (07:20) Teaching herself screenwriting in Florida (10:05) Copycatting influences before finding a voice (13:12) Strasberg training reframed as writer training (16:05) Grad school focus: Hunter MFA...

Gillian Morris is a technologist, Substacker, and author, based in New York City. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Born in NYC, Immigrant Roots and Family Story (02:45) Paris Bell Tower Life, Dumpster Diving, and Soup Kitchens (05:20) Letting Go of the Opera Dream and Becoming a Patron of the Arts (08:10) Regression to the Mean: Choosing Government as the Path of Least Resistance (10:40) Solo Tr...

Harold Rogers is a novelist, Substacker, and a comedian based in New York City. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Columbia MFA, standup dreams & moving to New York (03:07) Growing up between Ohio, Brazil & Antigua as a lonely reader (04:48) Discovering serious novels: Lolita, Crime and Punishment & the power of language (07:36) Early stories, autobiographical fiction & realizing w...

Caleb Spaulding is a drummer based in Brooklyn, NY. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Driving a 2004 Trailblazer to Williamsburg with the college band (03:12) Prog-rock frat house: how the band formed and took over campus (06:05) Older bandmates, Jersey staging ground & choosing New York as the dream (09:02) Beginner’s mindset, Williamsburg boom & early social media band hype (12:10) Sing...

Mariel Bildsten is a trombonist based in Brooklyn, NY. Instagram and all episodes (00:00) Childhood Visits and Dreaming of New York (04:18) Grandparents, Ridgewood Roots, and an East Berlin Escape (08:27) California Childhood and Hating Piano Lessons (12:45) Joining School Band and Accidentally Choosing Trombone (16:32) First Trombone Hero and the “Blueprint” Moment (20:58) Moving at 18 and Fallin...