Exploring the Intersection of Art, Faith and the Human experience


Catching Up

We sat down with Hayden Arp last Friday afternoon in our gallery to catch up. Hayden was an intern last summer at Convergence, and just completed his freshman year at Oberlin College and Conservatory. A local artist and composer, he talked about how his Convergence experience helped to shape and visualize his goals. Check out the conversation below!


How have you been?

I’m good! Summer’s treating me well. I was super lucky to get to do two super-cool internships in June (one at the Folger Shakespeare Library’s poetry wing, and another at Beltway Poetry Quarterly, a quarterly poetry publication based in DC), and then I just finished my first tour which took place at the beginning of July.

Sounds like you’ve been keeping busy! What was it like going on tour?

It was great. A mixed bag, for sure, but we knew what we were getting ourselves into from the get-go. I’ve been a real fan this past year of throwing myself into the deep end of things in the hopes of forcing myself to learn how to swim, and that was much of the thinking behind this tour. It was inevitably going to bring mistakes, but the point was to learn, and in that regard I think we were pretty successful. I also had my friend and fellow Oberlin-musician Margaret McCarthy playing with me throughout, which helped the show sound a lot better, as well as helped me through some of the more hectic moments. She’s super lovely, and her music rocks.

You did a show here, right? How was that? 10456807_10204245084555429_4163301226807070879_n

It was really wonderful – definitely the best show of the tour. Alexandria is where I have the most people who know my music, so we had a really nice turnout, and on top of that many of the people coming out were already friends with each other, or had been friends but hadn’t seen each other for a long time, so there was a lot of warmth in the room before the music even started. This was compounded with the marvelous Lucy Dacus, who played a beautiful set before me and Margaret went on, bringing peace and love into the hearts of all (also a dear friend and amazing musician, check out her music as well), so the evening was great. The Lab also rules in terms of sound and lighting as well (they still had the Christmas lights from Fest Too), so it was probably the best show of the tour in that regard as well.

Could you talk a little bit about what your experience with Convergence has been?

Yeah, I interned at Convergence last spring as part of my high school’s “Senior Experience” program. A lot of the work I was doing was focused on preparing for Fest Too 2013. I remember distinctly being tasked with figuring out the way signs over the two buildings would have to work (surprisingly fun work). I worked a number of shows as well, and was also given the freedom to design a project or program for Convergence to adopt. Mine was centered around the creation of a bi-annual CD that would showcase the recordings done in the Lab studio. Never came to fruition unfortunately, but a lot of fun to design.

How has your Convergence experience enabled you in your freshman year/helped you grow as an artist?

Similar to Convergence, the program I’m in at Oberlin gives me a lot of freedom to pursue what I’m interested in, and my experience at Convergence helped me in many ways prepare for that. It taught me to have a bit of patience with myself as well, to let the creative process happen as its will. It’s fraught with stresses and pressures, that whole creativity thing, and that reminder that things will come if you let them has really helped me a lot in my first year. I also really dug the daily prayer at Convergence, and have since joined a group on campus that does a similar thing.

Similar to Convergence, the program I’m in at Oberlin gives me a lot of freedom to pursue what I’m interested in, and my experience at Convergence helped me in many ways prepare for that. It taught me to have a bit of patience with myself as well, to let the creative process happen as its will.

That all sounds awesome. What are you up to right now and for the summer?

Working on lots of music, mostly. I’m currently trying to finish up an EP called “For Gabriel” that I wrote the week before heading out on tour, as well as some other things. I recently released a song called “I Ran My Fingers Through Your Hair And It Felt Like Water” on Soundcloud, which is small but warm, and I’ve got a number of other projects in the works as well (a second full-length LP, as well as an EP with Margaret). Hoping to get a lot of this finished before heading back to school. I’ve also been doing a bunch of visual art on my computer, and reading, and catching up on some video games (which has been unbelievably lovely).

It’s been great to hear about your journey. What are your goals for your artistic future, and in what ways did LAA help you to manifest or visualize those?

Yeah, if my thinking has taken any grand shifts over the last year, it’s toward a wider view of what I should be pursuing as an artist. Music is a home for me, and one I don’t plan to leave, but my world has expanded radically in the last 12 months – dance, film, performance art, photography, painting, and sculpture (among others) all have gotten me ridiculously excited and I’m really looking forward to diving into them all soon. Convergence and the Lab helped me with this by encouraging me to be free, and to try things outside of my comfort zone. This was especially true with the open mics. I would often have songs that I was nervous about, or wasn’t sure were ready to be played for other people, but I could always play them at the Lab. It was always unbelievably safe and loving, and for that I’m immensely grateful.


It was wonderful to catch up with Hayden, and we wish him the best as he continues his artistic journey! Below are the links to his website, as well as the websites of both Margaret McCarthy and Lucy Dacus.

Hayden Arp’s Personal Website

Hayden Arp on Soundcloud

Lucy Dacus on Bandcamp

Margaret McCarthy on Soundcloud




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