Daily Inspiration: Meet Fjolla Hoxha

Today we’d like to introduce you to Fjolla Hoxha.

Hi Fjolla, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Yugoslavia, a country that doesn’t exist anymore and now I’m a citizen of Kosova, the youngest country in Europe. I grew up under the oppression of the Serbian regime and wasn’t allowed to attend school in my native language, Albanian. Over a decade, the oppression turned into war. I was 15 when the war ended, and the world of opportunities opened. Not only was I now able to attend school in my native language, I also became a youth leader in my high school and have been an active member within the communities wherever life has taken me ever since.

Despite the political turmoil, I grew up in a very culturally rich environment, exposed to multiple languages, and in the presence of my grandparents who were educators, linguists, travelers. I most commonly expressed my creative self through writing poetry and prose but also often made-up stories, both while playing with my siblings and other children, as well as when playing with toys. I guess I was fascinated with the potentialities of live storytelling and interaction which is why I ended up studying Dramaturgy, Playwrighting and Screenwriting at University of Prishtina’s Academy of Arts in the capital of my home country, Kosova.

I then continued my graduate studies in Theater Critique and Dramaturgy at Istanbul University in Turkey, later worked at the overseas office in Prishtina of the U.S. based high school exchange program called Youth Exchange and Study, administered by American Councils for International Education, while in parallel working on youth enhancement and advocacy through theater and performance with various local and international theaters and non-governmental organizations. I traveled vastly, through Europe, Asia, Africa and the U.S.

I moved again, this time to Helsinki, Finland to attend another graduate program in Live Art and Performance Studies at the Theater Academy of University of Arts. In the meantime, I had met my partner who’s the reason why I’ve landed in Nashville and was traveling back and forth while also curating, staging, and doing artistic research in both Finland and Kosova. Becoming more aware of the ecological unsustainability of this lifestyle, I decided to move to Nashville, and I’ve been here since 2023.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My journey has always been and still is filled with difficulties. Moving to a new place, let alone a new continent, feels like pressing the reset button and starting life anew. It is really hard to be an established artist and have to re-introduce yourself to a completely new scene that has no idea about who you are or what work you’ve done because merits aside, being given space and resources to do what you want to do relies on social networks that are built on the basis of trust, and that takes time.

Choosing to be a professional artist is a tough choice, especially when the work doesn’t fit within the pre-existing normative understandings of how, for example in my case, theater and performance is made and what it is all about. All that said, I believe challenges are what helps us grow and get to know ourselves and the world around us better, so honestly, I don’t think I would have preferred a smooth path, but maybe one that is slightly less rocky.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am an internationally published and staged writer, theater & performance maker, art critic and educator from Kosova. I moved to Nashville from Helsinki, Finland, where my latest artistic research (that led to a sound-specific performance) was based on the stories of the technical workers of the city theaters across Helsinki.

My artistic practice in the past decade or so has been focused on socially engaged participatory performance art that delves into the archival research and oral history of underrepresented narratives, where the audience becomes the co-creator of the performance. I am most proud of having worked with youth from underserved communities in Kosova and firmly believe that theater is a crucial language that can help address sensitive issues through roleplay and empower unheard voices. I recently published my first book of six youth plays that were developed during theater and performance workshops and summer camps with diverse youth from Kosova. The book will be promoted in Kosova this summer and it will be distributed to the libraries of the high-schools accross the country. My dream would be to have them restaged by younger generations and to hopefully inspire them to develop and write their own plays.

I have collaborated with various artists, collectives and institutions based in Kosova, Europe and the U.S. My work has been staged and stage-read across Kosova, in Helsinki, Finland, Lucerne, Switzerland, Berlin and Bad Waldsee, Germany, London, UK, and the U.S., more specifically Nashville’s precious gems Kindling Arts Festival, Defy Film Festival, Coop Gallery. My plays, op-eds, reviews and critique have been published in Kosova’s Koha Ditore, Kosovo 2.0., Prishtina Insight, (БАЛКАНСКИ КЊИЖЕВНИ ГЛАСНИК- The Balkan Literary Herald) in Athens, Greece, NO NIIN Magazine in Helsinki, Finland, The Theater Times in New York and Nashville based Music City Review.

Some of the matters that I have been exploring and am further interested in delving into are non-theatrical sites and the incorporation of human geography concepts in performance making, artistic agency, horizontal leadership, and more broadly, art as a playful ground for community building.

I currently serve as a board of directors’ member for Pedagogy and Theater of the Oppressed Inc. In January 2024, together with Nashville-based writer and filmmaker Chelsea Hall, we started Art Friends, a collective dedicated to making space for sharing artistic processes, inspiration, and co-creation. I’m also a member of the Nashville based transgressive art collective TRANCE//FURNACE.

While looking into furthering my academic pursuits and continuing my artistic research, I’m also scheming private classes on teaching interactive writing for stage and performance as well as am interested to serve as a coach, mentor and consultant for creatives that work on the intersection of writing and performing. If someone reading this interview is curious to know more, you’re welcome to reach out!

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Inviting someone to advice you on your creative journey is a tough undertaking. It often happens spontaneously so I’d say, pay attention to whose comments about your work get you in a constructive conversation with your creative ideas and don’t take seriously the advice that makes you doubt in them or worse, hate them. A good mentor is able to see the best version of your creative work within the expression that makes your work unique and helps you get there, but you are the one who needs to do the heavy lifting.

I have had some wonderful and some horrible mentors along my path, which is great, because I can now make a distinction between them. Humble and modest suggestions have helped me best, because they have allowed for a gradual growth of my artistic work, without letting the end result be an overwhelming barrier. I’d say, share your incomplete, half dreamy-half real ideas with your friends and those around you who respect you for who you are and aren’t judgmental if you end up sounding unsure or a little silly at times.

Regarding networking, especially if you’ve moved to a new city, state, or country, I’d say find the starting point event related to what interests you, show up and be your true self. Tell people what you do, ask them what they do and maybe you’ll find a common ground. Ask about other events, then show up in those events, if you find them interesting.

My path into the theater scene in Nashville started with overhearing my now friend Emmalee Manes talk to Josh Inocalla, also my friend now, about a writer’s group. We were at The Barbershop Theater during Kindling Arts Festival in 2023. I turned towards them and asked what writer’s group they were talking about. That same evening, Emmalee added me to the mailing list for Shut Up and Write, an initiative they started with Josh to gather playwrights in the city to share space and write together, and the rest is history.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fjollahoxha.com