SALEM — For many people the coronavirus pandemic has been a time to slow down and return to a simpler and less hectic lifestyle.
Not so for John Andrews, the founder and owner, and the driving force of Salem-based Creative Collective, LLC, who says there simply aren’t enough hours in the day for him since the onset of the virus.
“Our mission is to connect the dots between creativity, community, government and businesses,” said Andrews, who launched Creative Collective in 2017. “We are a big story and have been incredibly busy. I don’t know the best way to tell it but at the end of day the creative community, the creative workforce, the small businesses, the innovative business, the entrepreneurs, the micro businesses, the freelancers, the gig workers, they need very individualized attention because what they do is so unique. That’s where we specialize.”
Businesses focusing on the arts. photography, performing arts, restaurants, artisans and craftsmen, wellness, tourism and education are among Creative Collective’s 200-plus members.
From hosting pop-up events, to summer drive-in movie theaters, to Salem Halloween events, to painting picnic tables in downtown Peabody and Jersey barriers in Salem and Beverly, and working with some of the North Shore’s most prestigious non-profits, including the Peabody Essex Museum, Andrews has built Creative Collective into a go-to partner when it comes to connecting community initiatives and programs with the arts.
His work has been featured on Huffington Post, MTV, LogoTV, CNN and local stations.
Andrews is a busy man. You name it, he’s on it, the “it” being governing boards of many local foundations and charities. He is also the owner of John Andrews Photography, a company he started in 2012.
Andrews has been a key player on the Salem Economic Development Recovery and Revitalization Task Force, which he says continues to be “a lot of work.” He said the city started the project to support small downtown businesses struggling to survive.
“It never started as an arts and culture project,” he said. “Restaurants are critical to downtown infrastructures and the downtown economy. It comes down to if you don’t have an economy, there are no arts and culture. So many people in arts and culture work in restaurants for their second job or rely on restaurants to give them free products and gift cards for their fundraisers, or give them space to host their fundraisers. So we saw the long game. What can we do to support downtown businesses in partnership with the city and how do we get our artists paid ?”
Andrews said once outdoor dining began, Mayor Kim Driscoll reached out to him looking for a solution to spruce up the Jersey barriers on sidewalks outside downtown restaurants.
“She said, ‘we need to get these things beautified,'” Andrews said. “That opened the door for us as we have all these artists who are not working. So we went into our membership and looked for professionals who lived or were based in Salem to do the Salem barriers , then we went to Beverly and worked with their artists to do the Beverly barriers.”
The collective’s next project is with Lynn Main Streets working with Lynn artists on the Streatery and beautification projects. The project, which starts Saturday, includes hydrangea planting and other activities designed to help beautify outdoor dining spaces, be it painting of Jersey Barriers or public tab
“It’s a really tough world right now, hope is needed, color and life is needed right now,” Andrews said. “I know what it’s like for these artists and businesses as I lost 75 percent of my business seemingly overnight..
“Luckily we’ve set up a lot of our members with a giant tool box of assets that they can use regardless of what level of lockdown there is. The coolest thing about starting in lockdown is that’s as bad as it can get. We put systems in place that addressed ‘as bad as you can get’ so if we are in phase 2 or 3, it’s not as bad as it can get and my members have a lot of tools to get through this.”
Anne Marie Tobin can be reached at [email protected].