Teiya Kasahara 笠原 貞野

Co-Founder

Pronouns: they/he

I remember 2014 very well. It was the year I was going to give up singing opera. At my lowest, I decided all I could do was turn back to my past. Knowing I had nothing left to lose, I allowed myself to put the “creator hat” back on my head, one that was so well-worn from my childhood, but as an adult, had become foreign, ill-fitting, and cringeworthy. What arose out of those lonely and self-loathing moments was the memory of creativity’s power, the ease with which I could play in it, and the unbridled joy and curiosity that overflowed from my fingertips, and ironically, from my voice, again. 

It was then that I realized that I always possessed artistic agency. I had simply been stuck in a pattern of thinking that when I chose to be an opera singer, that that was an exclusive choice with no room for other pursuits. Oh, how I realized just how wrong I was, how limited my perspective was, how the art had never been pushing me down, but that I was responsible for letting others’ opinions dictate my artistic depth, expanse, and potential for so long. 

I started to voice my truth, like how I did so naturally when I was a kid, telling my story(ies) through characters, through words and music, through laughter and tears. I opened a dam in me that desperately needed to break free, and now this immense flow of energy is unstoppable. Creation allows me to bring all of my unique selves to the table, my ever-evolving queer self, all my genders, my experience growing up as a half-Japanese tomboy, and my love for art and expression. When I put the Creator Hat on now, I get to be in control and free, all at the same time, and that feeling is incomparable.