#SPOTLIGHT ON THE CREATORS OF VELVET
How did you come of age as an artist? How did you come to your current practice?
Since this show was a collective effort, our personal statement below best describes how this project came to be.
“When Demetra, a competitive professional, is forced to reevaluate her social life, she strikes up a friendship with Cymone, her seemingly much cooler coworker. As their worlds collide to form a brand new #squad, these five young Chicagoans begin to reevaluate their own identities as well as their relationships to each other. By weaving together public and private experiences, VELVET comedically explores the joys, vulnerabilities, and everything in-betweens of making new friends in your mid-twenties.”
What was the inspiration for your OTV project?
Based on personal experiences and backgrounds of five of its creators–Allie Dunn, Tyla Landry, Clifton Lyons, Dru Greenwood, and Sydney Levison–VELVET started to grow from a shared Google doc of real life situations and jokes to a fully outlined episodic series beginning in March 2017. Allie Dunn and Tyla Landry met in 2016 as co-workers at a minority-owned financial firm in Chicago. Similarly to VELVET’s story, the two became fast friends and, as a result, their friend groups started to merge. The five ultimately became a new squad, complete with their own new complicated (but mostly loving) relationships to each other.
What's next for you or your series?
Fundraising to compete the first season!