Today we’d like to introduce you to Aja Cobbs.
Hi Aja, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have always been a creative ever since I can remember. I have always felt I had a good sense of direction for where life was supposed to take me and I followed it. I felt like I always knew I was supposed to fight for something that I loved and was passionate about, which lead me to embracing my creative side.
Growing up, I didn’t always have much money to buy the trending clothing so often times I found myself creating those same looks at home from old garments I could find. Drawing, gluing, sewing until I started to see the garment I was eying on TV. I created with anything I could find around me. I painted portraits of myself and others and at school would even win at the school’s art shows!
In high school, I looked into attending schools like SCAD (Savannah College Of Art & Design) to take up a career in the arts and fashion design. I also had a desire to be a hairstylist. I did not know what direction to take. I decided to attend Mars Hill University for one year, taking up fashion design and running on the track team.
I moved to charlotte in 2015 to expand my career in the arts. (I was living in Asheville, North Carolina, this is where I spent most of my life from grade school to college.) By 2016 (23 years old), I hosted my first Art Trap House July 17, 2016 at The Sacchi Enterprise in Charlotte, NC. It was thrown with a group of friends that I told my vision to and we all invested in creating opportunities for the artists in surrounding cities. The venue was actually a fashion Wearhouse, all white, a beautiful place for hosting events like mine. We had huge success from our first event. We appreciated the love that Charlotte, NC showed us! There was Art, live music performances, food, Jell-O shots, Art from 15 different artists, live painting, live body painting, and good vibes!
Many artists asked me not to quit hosting the art shows because it was good for them. I felt like I should continue creating opportunities for creatives and expanding my knowledge throughout show business, arts & entertainment; there was so much to learn and at the age of 23, I thought it was a better opportunity to get educated! From that point, I began to plan and host my events solo and tour the East Coast with my traveling arts and music festival.
What is The Art Trap (Taking Real Art Places) House exactly?
The Art Trap House is a traveling music and arts festival that was designed house and foster new and seasoned artists/creatives. The Art Trap House truly fosters creatives. We offer a package for creatives to be a part of our program which results in our festival. We work with the creatives to ensure their best success as we prepare for the event. We are growing our company every day. Our mission is to boost the confidence of creatives while providing opportunities.
Here are a few things we provide:
Artist Promotion/ Marketing
Personal Promotional Flyer
Live Interviews
Opportunity to sell art at events
Tips for success and so much more!
We have hosted in:
2016 Charlotte, NC at The Sacchi Enterprise
2016 Atlanta, GA at City Of Ink
2016 Ashevillle, NC at The Block Off Biltmore
2017 Philadelphia, PA at Open Space
2017 Baltimore, MD at The Gallery About Nothing
2017 Washington, DC at The MUSEUM
2018 Atlanta, GA at Gallery 992
2018 Philadelphia, PA at W.O.W Philly
2019 Austin, TX (SXSW Unofficial) at Kenny Dorham’s Backyard
2019 Staten Island, NY at NYC Arts and Cypher
2022 Landsdowne, PA at NEV (Never Ending Vibes) Studio (90’s Party)
Thank You’s:
It has been an honor to work with each of you creatives. I have loved watching your confidence thrive, you adding your contributions to our legacy and for allowing us to see what your soul has to say outwardly!
Thank you to all of the amazing souls who support The Art Trap House! Thank you for your trust, thank you for your donations, thank you for your encouragement, thank you for believing, thank you for taking this journey with us. Thank you to my community!
Thank you to the interns and teams that have helped pushed The Art Trap House to where it is today! Your contributions, whether big or small have propelled us forward. You will never be forgotten! Thank you for giving us your time during times you didn’t have to! Thank you for setting up and sending us off for success!
Thank you to all of the venues who have worked diligently with us to make sure the events went well! Thank you for your space, time and proper business.
Thank you to my Family!!!! Thank you for your sacrifices, support and believing in me! I love you and will never take your grace and greatness for granted. Thank you so much!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Being a black woman in a male-dominated field. People don’t take you seriously. Know that it is ok to walk away from an opportunity if you feel uncomfortable. There are more opportunities.
I want to have a big budget for an event/ festival. I have planned some pretty large events but never had enough funding to implement the vision. One day I hope to have a really big festival with the proper team and all the work. That vision is always exciting to see it in my mind. It motivates me to keep going. I want to be there on that day!
Another obstacle is just being a human. Like you have good days and bad days and depending on your life you may not be equipped with the proper tools to get through a situation so you get stuck or confused. Sometimes you have to learn new coping skills to deal with what life hands you. You have to learn to look at different perspectives like you would look at a piece of art. You never want to look at it from one viewpoint. Life is an obstacle, but we can do it! We can achieve it! We are not perfect but stay true!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Overall I feel like I’m so many things engulfed into one. I grew up entertaining just from a silly nature and being involved in school plays and musicals. I am a designer, painter, hairstylist, actress, writer, businesswoman, so much. I create art with acrylic on canvas, which is what you’ll see on social media. I love to decorate my work with sequins, gold chains, jewelry and more. I also curate events and festivals and manage artists from music to art, I am the host of The Art Trap Houses – The Good Dealer Podcast. I am an all-over creative and entrepreneur and I love it here!
I love being a visionary, I like to daydream and envision where I want to go next and how I can get there. I like to make it happen! It’s thrilling to see how far you can go!
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
The lessons I have learned are to do all things with love! Embrace yourself and love yourself. I have enjoyed nothing more in this life than the opportunity to simply be myself. I learned that it’s ok to be different. My confidence has grown the more I embrace myself as I grow and change.
Don’t give up, know you have a purpose, know that you have a story that will inspire someone!
Contact Info:
- Website: TheArtTrapHouse.com
- Instagram: Ajacobbs
- Youtube: The Art Trap House Tour
