English major Hope Fell focuses her creative ambitions on building community and fostering collaboration among her peers

By Sophia Bock

Hope Fell has the drive to bring fellow creatives together, and to make that happen, she is inventing spaces that have not existed for her previously, while at the same inspiring other students interested in the arts.

As an English-Creative Writing major, she enjoys venturing into a variety of creative outlets including screen plays, personal essays, and short story collections.

While Fell is giving herself space to grow and change with her creative outlets, she also is embarking on the journey to bring people together through the founding of the Salon of Fine Arts, a space for students to join in collaboration and inspiration.

The organization needed to foster these communities is a full-time effort, but she is taking charge to leave her mark at FSU. The group’s first event was held on Jan. 26 at 621 Gallery in Railroad Square, with a literature focus. The second one was held on Feb. 23 and at the same location.

The Feb. 23 salon included a guest artist appearance from her aunt, Sheila Dunn. Fell notes that while most of her family members are not active in arts fields, her aunt stands apart from them by pursuing music as a career.

“She’s been the driving artistic influence throughout my life,” Fell says.

Yet, despite her avid involvement in the university’s arts community, Fell’s eye wasn’t always focused on the arts.

Fell grew up in Pensacola, Florida, where she attended high school and enrolled in an International Baccalaureate program with a focus on the sciences. In her teens, she anticipated a career in medicine but turned toward her creative ambition when the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

“I had to take a minute to reevaluate and rethink where my life is going,” Fell says.

From the third grade until she was about halfway through high school, Fell wanted to be a doctor, a neurosurgeon specifically. She quickly realized, however, that she was not going to understand people and how they think from studying chemistry.

“I got back to writing like I did when I was little with hand-drawn magazines, and now, I feel like a big kid with unlimited crayons,” she says enthusiastically.

Around that time, she also completed a creative writing internship for Arts for Learning Miami, a non-profit organization that serves 5,000 youths a year by teaching through a focus on the arts. In addition to bringing out her desire to be a writer, Fell worked with other interns to create art, which showed her the importance of teamwork.

“I have been kind of missing and searching for that sense of community and collaboration ever since,” she says.

When she lived in Pensacola, Fell experienced that lack of participation in the arts fields, and she noticed a similar insufficiency when she arrived in Tallahassee to attend FSU.

“Our cultural institutions just generally have a problem reaching the younger audience,” she says.

The inspiration for the first SoFA event came from Fell’s mother.

“She sent me an article about salons,” Fell says “And [her message] was, ‘you need to do this.’ And I said, ‘yeah, maybe I will mom.’

“And then I literally did it. So, it’s awesome and big shout out to Maureen.”

FSU English Professor Robin Goodman has been another beacon of support for Fell in this pursuit. Goodman helped Fell during her first year at FSU, when SoFA was submitted for a university-funded IDEA Grant under the name “Seminole Salon.”

“Hope has researched deeply the history of the artistic salon from the eighteenth century,” Goodman says. “The salon was vital in the formation of modernity in that it created a forum, outside of the state and of industry, where people could discuss ideas freely. The salon was therefore important in building institutional civil structures that underlay the idea of democracy as we know it.

“Hope was aware of this history as she developed a context for students to get together to discuss artistic ideas across disciplines, practices, media, and genres.”

Fell says Goodman has inspired her not only for the SoFA idea but also in sparking her interest in film when she was student in Goodman’s Third World Cinema course. Even with an encouraging environment in the classroom and interactions with other undergraduate students, Fell knew there was a third space missing that could propel her and other creatives into new works and opportunities.

“At the beginning, I felt really isolated, and I thought, ‘well, maybe other people feel isolated too,’” Fell says. “I was having trouble collaborating with [other] undergraduates outside of the classroom. We have workshops in class, but you can’t connect in the way that you need to.”

This point seemed to hit home for many of her peers, as the first SOFA event was a success. A big turnout that included first-year college students as well as ones who are near graduation was encouraging for Fell and the other founders.

“A senior came up to me after the whole thing and said, ‘This is exactly what FSU has needed the past four years I’ve been here—this was a breath of fresh air,’” she says. “And I said ‘OK, I’m about to cry. Stop it, don’t do this.’”

Goodman says it is no surprise that the event drew such a big crowd.

“Hope is super-smart and friendly. She is very enthusiastic about art and creativity, and the enthusiasm is contagious,” she says. “Also, she draws you in by working out her innovative ideas in discussion, listening, and taking seriously the interchange, and responds to other people’s ideas by using them to develop her own.”

Fell established SoFA with help from FSU students Aiden Little, Eve Murdick, and Ashe Cendere. Recalling the difficulties of operating this type of organization, Fell now realizes that it wouldn’t have been possible without the other members.

“Our mission statement states nothing can be created alone, and that is true for us as well,” Fell says. “If I hadn’t gotten the courage and reached out to these other people, I literally could not have done this because it would have just been too difficult.”

The SoFA team is currently looking for new members to join them, with opportunities available in videography, editing, directing, interviewing, and more. Students who are interested will gain experience that Fell knows can open new doors.

“Plush up that portfolio, your networks, and get experience in the craft of your choice,” she says.

SoFA offers resources for students through collaboration, workshopping, and connecting with professionals. The collective is the result of Fell’s desire for an art-centered community base, and her ideas can only expand from here.

Sophia Bock is an English major on the editing, writing, and media track, with a minor in anthropology.

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