Jeremy Hodges is the CEO of Project Art Collective, a multidisciplinary creative studio. He immerses himself in his creations and curates one-of-a-kind experiences. The most recent example of Hodges and his team’s efforts is the Tupac Museum, an immersive experience centered on the life of the hip-hop legend.
Hodges is now sharing his talents with the Hyde Park Summerfest and promises something unique and fresh. Rolling out spoke with Hodges about his background and what people can expect at the Hyde Park Summerfest this year.
Please share a bit of your background.
So I own a company called Project Art Collective. We’re a multidisciplinary creative studio that works across the gamut. So we work from designing museums, [like] the Tupac Shakur exhibit that opened in Los Angeles to working with the estate of Bob Marley to help with his experience that’s in LA at the moment, to also working with a ton of celebrities and brands. So we work with everyone from Wiz Khalifa, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga to help with creative direction and just kinda overall presence for their shows. We help across the board and we’re based in Chicago, the greatest city on Earth.
Talk about what it means to be a creative director.
I like to call what we do curation. And the reason being is cause there’s a difference in “culture for [a] fee” that you get when you kind of go the agency route. And, we’re not an agency, so I like to make sure everything that we do is telling a story and authentically connects with the culture, whether that’s Black, Brown or whatever. I want to make sure we enhance and elevate the culture to tell these significant stories that are rich and that’s driving pop culture and [the] general market.
So it’s really a celebration of the diaspora. And so what we do is, you know, we make sure that that story’s being told correctly through a creation process.
What can people expect at this year’s Hyde Park Summerfest?
So we went and flipped everything from the look and feel [to] the programming. Then, of course, the artists have been upgraded. We have everything from 2 Chainz, The Clipse, Robert Glasper and Uncle Waffles.
We’re bringing the full spectrum of what Black music is … and it just so happens it’s on Juneteenth weekend to celebrate that Blackness. So you can expect a family-oriented [event], all [of] Chicago coming out to celebrate and come together, and an experience like you’ve never seen before because we’re gonna continue to elevate the artists [and] the experience that you’re gonna have.
The Hyde Park Summerfest will take place June 17 and 18, 2023, get tickets here.
