About us
A values-led, independent creative business, Joyful Creators Club is an up-and-coming online community for hobby and professional artists in all niches.
While we're building the Clubhouse (more on that later), we're sharing free daily creativity prompts, resources, and other goodies to nurture your creative practice and help you rekindle the joy of making.
Our core values
- Accessibility Making art accessible for people with disabilities should be top priority for all creative spaces.
- Affordability Everyone, regardless of income level or financial status, should be able to enjoy and experience art.
- Diversity In a world erasing queer, Black, and Indigenous voices, amplifying marginalized creatives is more important than ever.
A new art community for multi-hyphenates
Writers, musicians, designers, needleworkers, sculptors — whatever creative titles you hold, you're welcome here.
Founded in 2023 by artist, freelance writer, and communications specialist, Mel Lee-Smith, Joyful Creators Club aims to offer an alternative to "Big Tech" spaces where creatives of all kinds can connect, collaborate, and infuse their art with play and whimsy.
Why try and appeal to all creators? Because we believe we all have something valuable to learn from one another. Regardless of how often you create, or how "good" you are at it, you have unique techniques and perspectives worth sharing.
Most art communities cater to one kind of creator. This setup is great for skills development and "going deep" on one artform. But it can also be limiting for hobbyists and those wanting to explore as many mediums as they can.
Very few communities are actually designed for artists working in more than one niche. That's precisely why Joyful Creators Club exists.
Let's address the elephant in the room...
And that is generative AI's impact on art, creativity, and the human race as a whole.
You can read more in our generative AI statement, but to sum up our stance: We believe generative AI is harmful to artists and creativity overall.
While we encourage open, honest conversations about how these tools are impacting the craft, we also maintain this firm boundary:
Generative AI tools and art are not allowed at Joyful Creators Club.
Digital art in all other formats is welcome. And if we ever unknowingly share something that's AI-generated (hey, it's getting a lot harder to tell!), please let us know!
- Name: Mel
- Member since: 2023
Behind the curtain: Meet the founder
Hey! Thanks for stopping by the club. I'm Mel, the human behind the scenes of Joyful.
I fell in love with storytelling at the tender age of 3, with my first tall tales of green monsters living in the woods behind our house.
Although writing was my first creative love, it's far from my only. For more than 2 decades, I've dabbled in scrapbooking, embroidery, music, clay art, and everything else in between.
Art always works better together. That's been my main takeaway from my creative education, both personal and professional — from art and journalism classes in school right through to my master's degree in writing and 10-year career as a freelance writer, designer, and communications specialist.
In work and life, we're taught to specialize, "niche down" as far as we possibly can. And sure, there's plenty of merit in being in expert.
But who has time for that, in a world with infinite artforms and creative possibilities to try? Certainly not me. Call me a sponge, because I'm here to soak up every bit of creative goodness I can with the limited time I have on this earth.
If you feel the same way? You'll fit right in here at the club.
Support the club
We share as many free resources as we can reasonably produce, and all our workbooks are within the price of a coffee. Everything we make is based on real stuff we use daily in our business and creative practice.
