Andrew C. Coles is a human being on planet earth. He is currently alive and is immeasurably grateful to be so.

He loves art!!

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GET TO KNOW ANDREW C. COLES

Answer to a thought prompt from a DAH group working session on July 25, 2024 - "Where are you coming from creatively?"

"I am coming from a place of creative gratitude. I feel so fortunate to have the means, opportunity and privileges to live creatively. I am excited about cultivating a new fearlessness in my creativity. I am a recovering perfectionist and I have been mired in self-doubt and uncertainty. Every time I hear that quote (I think it was Picasso) about art is never finished, just abandoned and released...it resonates very deeply within me. I am excited to create with purpose in mind, that I am creative as an act of spiritual devotion, but that I am not the end user - the goal is to make my creations available to the world, so that whoever is meant to benefit from it, may do so. I am meditating and reflecting on the fact that I would deem one person changed/moved/affected by my ART a success story...it has done what it was supposed to do. I was already changed by the creative act...now it is time to relinquish control and let that creative force loose into the world. I must disconnect myself from outcomes, and revel in the process, trusting that what is supposed to be, will be and that I don't have to be afraid of not being enough. I am abandoning a scarcity mindset and approaching an abundance mindset...I trust that my creativity will lead me where I need to go, and that is all I need to worry about. Creativity for the sake of creativity. It feels like a radical idea...and that is exactly what I want. I am tired of playing it safe. I want to live freely and create radically. I am excited to see where this road takes me!"

Answer to a thought prompt from a DAH group working session on August 1, 2024 - "What art has inspired you to create?"

"A LOVE SUPREME is one of the pieces of art that has most inspired me to create. With it, John Coltrane found a way to marry the act of creativity with a spiritual dedication that resonated with some of the deepest parts of my inner being. The idea that an artist could dedicate their artistry, craft and creations to the CREATOR of the UNIVERSE, and ask that the CREATOR blesses them to that end…it felt the answer to a question I had been asking for the years since I realized I loved art and wanted to pursue a life of curating and creating intentional ART. The type of ART that inspires others to want to make ART…thus contuining a great virtuous cycle in which we are all reminded that there is more to our mortal condition that that which we can sense with our 5 senses. A reminder of our connection to the plane beyond the material."

Here is a more official/traditional biography with tells the tale of Andrew's educational + professional exploits...

 Andrew C. Coles is an Emmy-nominated producer, manager, activist, consultant, curator + DJ - he currently serves as the Founder & CEO of The Mission Entertainment. He graduated from Harvard University with an honors degree in African-American studies + Film Theory.

 Before founding The Mission Entertainment, he worked in the Motion Picture Literary Department at CAA and at Overbrook Entertainment (founded by Will Smith, James Lassiter + Jada Pinkett Smith) where he worked under Franklin Leonard (founder of The Black List). From Overbrook he relocated to New York to run development for Scott Rudin Productions, working across film, TV and theatre.

 In 2013, Andrew created The Mission Entertainment – a production + management company whose purpose and philosophical foundation lies in serving as an advocate for storytellers that have been traditionally overlooked, undervalued and underrepresented. With a childhood dream of becoming a civil rights criminal defense attorney, Andrew has married his passions for storytelling + social justice advocacy through working in the entertainment industry – helping to create images that are truly representative of the world we live in. He represents writers, directors, producers and showrunners who tell intentionally intersectional stories that bridge cultures and communities and give a voice to those who have been omitted from traditional narratives.

On the production side, Andrew served as Producer of HBO’s feature documentary, BEING MARY TYLER MOORE, which was nominated for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special for the 2023 Emmy Awards.  Additionally, he was a Producer of Universal’s Queen & Slim, Melina Matsoukas’ debut feature, as well as Executive Producer of the BET series Twenties. He is currently developing a documentary feature, It Only Takes One, about the devastating lack of Black and mixed-race donors in the National Bone Marrow Registry. He is also the co-host of “Film Filosophy” – a podcast that breaks down the philosophies, concepts, and structures of filmmaking in the American film industry. 

In addition to his production work, Andrew is currently incubating the mission radio, a non-profit art collective committed to personal transformation + world change through spirituality + creativity. In 2021, under the mission radio, he ran The Mission on Kaua’i, a spiritual retreat and creative campus on the island of Kaua’i that served as a collaborative laboratory for writers, musicians, filmmakers, photographers and executives alongside his creative partner, Fimi Fafowora.