We are incredibly honored to announce that our very own Jay B. Kalagayan is a recipient of the 2026 @artswave Inspire Art Grant! With this support, we're diving deep into a story that is rarely told in classrooms: the Manilamen of St. Malo. This historical fiction comic series will bring the first Asian settlement in North America to life, blending heritage with the power of visual storytelling. "Comics have a unique power to bridge the gap between dusty archives and living h

Some big news to share! Creative Mussel is on the move this May thanks to a Professional Development and Project Support grant from the Ohio Arts Council ! We're crisscrossing the state to celebrate AANHPI Heritage Month by sharing our stories -- St. Malo and Filipino Assassin -- to these incredible festivals across Ohio. The team and I will be on the ground next month sharing these amazing underrepresented narratives and connecting with audiences new and old. "Receiving

"There is a profound, heavy beauty in the Catacombs that demands a specific kind of silence. It’s one thing to read about the 18th-century evacuations of the Saints-Innocents, but to stand amidst that history is to feel the scale of Paris itself. Even as the graffiti caught my eye, I felt a deep sense of reverence for the sheer magnitude of the lives resting there. It’s a breathtaking reminder that beneath the streets we walk, there is a labyrinth of stories waiting to be tol