Creativity can be expressed through various different outlets — music, fashion, photography and even accounting. A new University of Mississippi organization, Kolorhouse, is aiming to help creatives express their unique talents.
Kolorhouse’s mission is to broaden what it means to be creative by establishing a space where students can express themselves and explore both familiar and unique outlets of art without judgment.
Kolorhouse was started at Temple University by Charlie Seith to inspire college students to pursue their creative endeavors within a close-knit community. He then moved to San Diego State University in 2019 where he started a second chapter there. It started as a website; however, since gaining its name and some popularity, Kolorhouse has started to spread its wings.
“Kolorhouse got its name from color because creativity and everyone should be able to express themselves freely,nad then house is because — and I’m quoting Charlie here — it’s like when you go home, you feel like you’re free and you’re comfortable and you can do whatever you want without judgment,” Kolohouse President Tia Mull said. “So it’s kind of like creating that home for creatives where they can express themselves freely without judgment.”
Mull met with Seith where they talked about Kolorhouse and the possibilities of moving forward with a new chapter. With the help of some of her close friends, Mull was able to successfully start a new chapter at the UM. On Sept. 14, the University recognized Kolorhouse as an official registered student organization.
Mull believes that some people can view creatives through a judgmental lens, and thinks that Kolorhouse is the perfect organization to diminish that point of view.
“A lot of people view creativity as like, you’re weird or you’re not like everybody else. And I think that’s just kind of a stigma that I really want to destroy because I think that everyone is creative in their own way,” Mull said. “And everyone should have a place to express that, which is why I wanted to start a chapter here.”
Members of Kolorhouse are able to create their own committees within the club which are smaller groups geared towards more specific creative activities. In order to start a committee, a member only needs to collect four other members and talk to the president for approval.
“There’s no limit to the clubs or the committees that you can start. We have committees like painting, fashion, graphic design, film and videography,” Mull said.
Members can express themselves through writing, dancing, singing, drawing, painting and even accounting if they find a way to make it creative.
“You can be creative in marketing. I had someone ask me when we were tabling if accounting could be creative. And I was like, I really don’t know that much about it, but go ahead if you think it is creative,” Mull said.
The club held their first general body meeting on Oct. 17, and are working towards many more events. There is a yearbook-style photoshoot in the works for the semester. The organization’s goal is to throw Kolor Fest in 2024 which is an event with other chapters to showcase everything they have done throughout the year.
“It’s really about bringing different types of creatives together. We want other creatives to be able to collaborate with each other,” Mull said.
Sharing creativity is a big part of a creator’s life. Kolorhouse is dedicated to creating a judgment free space to create, collaborate and share with other creatives. As of their first tabling in front of the Student Union, Kolorhouse has 40 members and are looking for more.
More information about Kolorhouse can be found @kolorhouse.olemiss on Instagram.
