Meet Erica Bradshaw (Director) Val Birch (Director) of Kalamazoo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Erica Bradshaw (Director) Val Birch (Director)

Hi Erica Bradshaw (Director), we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
The Starlite Collective (TSC) is a creative collective that got its start in 2021 searching for connection, a supportive creative community, and a trusted place to share resources. With just 10 members in the beginning, TSC began hosting affordable pop up maker markets from a studio at The Park Trades Center, Kalamazoo.

TSC has since grown to a collective of over 150 creatives throughout Michigan. We focus on fostering transparency within creative spaces, sharing resources, events, markets, job opportunities, and small business tips. We have since planned, hosted, and run 10+ affordable events, and opened a community studio where emerging or established creatives can afford to have their own work space.

2025 is a year of extreme growth for The Starlite Collective and we can’t wait for whats to come!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Our biggest struggle has been forming a creative collective in a society that naturally pushes back against it. Our society is often focused on creating spaces that only include a select few, and have a head strong priority on profit.
Building an inclusive, and accessible community that actively works to break barriers and enact change in an outdated system has been an effort that we have to unapologetically shout about.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We will always prioritize community, and the successes of the people within it. At The Starlite Collective, the directors are creatives first- equally to the rest of the collective. Behind the scenes, we relate to applying to shows and not being able to get in purely based on medium used, or the fact that you sell stickers at your booth! We are proud to welcome people of all backgrounds, skill levels, encourage growth, and don’t take ourselves too seriously!

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Luck is the residue of effort. We feel lucky to have grown into this community, but it has not come without listening closely to what our community wants, and finding a way to make it happen.

In our community there was a need for affordable, accessible shows that creatives could launch themselves into without any history selling their work in a professional space.

We saw this, and started a market where all people had to do, was drop off, and pick up!! We provide all fixtures, set up the market, and run it for 3 days. This is now known as our annual December Art Mart!

As Art Mart grew, there was a request for larger affordable markets where creatives could be in charge of their booths. This is now known as Mega Mart! Happening in May and Oct 2025.

We were even lucky enough to have our local Kalamazoo Growlers and the Team at Outlier Events reach out and invite us to host the first ever Starlite Collective Arts and Music Festival! Coming in August 2025 !

We are lucky to have support from our community and support the community right back. Now, it is more important than ever to support local.

You can visit our website to get involved, apply to calls, and learn more! You hold the light!!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.starlitecollective.org
• Instagram: https://Instagram.com/thestarlitecollective
• Facebook: https://Facebook.com/thestarlitecollective
• Other: [email protected]