Today we’d like to introduce you to Kailey Bray.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
As a Canadian, Half-Chinese kid growing up in the rural South, I was destined to be the weird one. Thankfully, my mother knew where the weird kids lived and signed me up for the theatre camp. This led to years of dressing up, writing stories, and playing pretend.
When I decided I wanted to do that for a living my dad said, “Fine, but you have to go to Juilliard.” So I auditioned for the local performing arts school to get the training to get me there. And it did! But more importantly, it introduced me to my friend Indigo, and they introduced me to Dungeons and Dragons.
D&D followed me throughout my Juilliard career, and it helped me establish a beautiful community when I moved across the country to LA. When I realized that my friend group consisted mostly of professional D&D players and professional princesses, I saw the opportunity for a collaboration that I couldn’t resist. Two episodes into Damsels, Dice, and Everything Nice, I am now addicted to creating content that breaks stereotypes and showcases the nerd community as it truly is.
Please tell us about your art.
I am the creator of the web series Damsels, Dice, and Everything Nice, a parody show about princesses playing a tabletop roleplaying game. This time, it’s the damsels who go on an adventure to rescue the prince. Full of tongue-in-cheek references to popular culture, princess, and nerd stereotypes, the series seeks to give these characters agency in their own stories while also showcasing the diversity of nerd culture. There’s no right way to be a nerd.
In the age of GamerGate and MeToo, it’s incredibly important to me to represent the community that I love in it’s truest form. Nerd culture is diverse, there are people of all genders, races, cultures, sexualities, and backgrounds.
What do you think about the conditions for artists today? Has life become easier or harder for artists in recent years? What can cities like ours do to encourage and help art and artists thrive?
Things today have definitely evolved for artists. It’s more expensive to live in places that are the centers of our industry, but the internet has made it cheaper and easier to share our work. That helps, but it can make it harder to make sure our work is valued the way it should be. It also can distance us from our fellow artists. Places like LA are wonderful hubs for creativity, and the best way to help artists thrive, in my opinion, is to give them places that encourage collaboration.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
People can check out the series on YouTube at youtube.com/damselsdiceeverythingnice and follow us on social media for fun updates and BTS content! We’re still fundraising for the rest of the series, the best way to support us would be to like, share, subscribe, view our show, and, if you can, donate to our Indiegogo here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/damsels-dice-and-everything-nice-episode-2#/updates/all
Contact Info:
- Website: www.diceandeverythingnice.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/diceandnice
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DiceAndNice
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DiceAndNice
- Other: https://youtube.com/damselsdiceeverythingnice
Image Credit:
Bruce Monach, Tyler Curtis, Kevin McIntyre, Andrew Joseph Perez
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