SALEM — In a year that has been particularly hard on the Salem arts community, John Andrews of the Creative Collective stepped up to help artists adapt and succeed — making sure that this community was not forgotten during these tough times.
“There’s going to be a strong need for the creative community to help us heal when we come out of the crisis,” said Andrews. “We did it during lockdown. We’ll do it when we come out of lockdown.
For the many initiatives he initiated during the pandemic, Andrews is the Essex Media Group’s 2020 Person of the Year for Salem.
One of the many initiatives that Andrews had his hand in was the outdoor-dining project, in which the city contracted with the Creative Collective to work with downtown businesses in figuring out the best way to implement outdoor dining during the pandemic.
This work shaped the city throughout the pandemic, allowing these restaurants to operate as outdoor community spaces, keeping residents connected to their community, and keeping restaurants alive.
He also worked with designers on Jersey barrier beautification, painting over 200 of these barriers throughout Salem, Peabody and Beverly.
“I always look at these projects with an eye for how I can bring the creative community to the table,” said Andrews.
Andrews hopes that artists will come out of the pandemic stronger and more adaptable.
“All of the tools in the toolbox that the creative people have found can now stay as part of their business models even after we come out of crisis,” said Andrews. “The digital pivot of the creative workforce is going to pay off in spades in the future.”
He has a deep respect for the Salem artistic community.
“We have a wealth of diversity in creative types in Salem, from mural artists to performers to creators to singers,” said Andrews. “People flock to Salem because there’s a lot of stuff to do in Salem. We have a festival almost every month.”
Another project that Andrews was involved in was helping shift these festivals so that they could operate virtually. He pivoted the entire Arts Festival to a digital experience, working with dancers to live stream performances, and with mural artists to allow them to conduct their yearly mural slam from home.
Salem Film Festival, Salem Literary Festival, and Haunted Happens which all collaborate with the Creative Collective — Andrews’ for-profit membership organization that works as consultants for all sorts of artistic groups — were enormous successes in virtual form.
“My hope is that this reset of COVID will allow us to start valuing the creative workforce more,” said Andrews. “The creative workforce is typically undervalued and underpaid. We need to change that dialogue and I feel that we have the opportunity to do that now. I want the new normal to establish a better normal for the creative types.”
Andrews expressed his gratitude to his team and his creative partners, along with Mayor Kimberly Driscoll and the City of Salem.
