Meet Adam Budd

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Budd.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My name is Adam Budd, and I grew up in Rockford, Illinois, attending catholic school from kindergarten through my senior year of high school. My upbringing from the outside was pretty standard, coming from a high-middle class, supportive and loving family.

Though these things look superficial, a few other situations are those that have made up the bulk of who I’ve become.

Firstly, my younger cousin, Sophie, was diagnosed with a rare form of children’s cancer, called Rhabdomyosarcoma at age 7. Through her diagnosis and treatment over the next three years, Sophie and I, together with my siblings and hers, spent the majority of our time together. I spent many days out of school with her going to her treatments, playing Minecraft, jumping on the trampoline, and continuing to be kids together.

Sadly, Sophie passed in April of 2013, and that period together and growing up alongside grief has been quite the formative experience. I’ve always said you have two decisions when it comes to tragedy – you can let it break you, or let it make you. I’ve chosen it to make me.

Secondly, I was simultaneously discovering my sexuality. Growing up gay in a catholic school can be confusing (to say the least!) Luckily, I’ve made major strides in loving myself for who I am and letting those around me love and see me too.

I pour my grief and struggle (along with my gratitude and passion) into my creativity; it calls me home. I’ve always been visually creative, making anything from paintings, drawings, graphic design, and video editing, to things like art directing music videos, filming, and even creating my coloring book.

Being multifaceted in art with the combination of my business degree has helped me gain exposure in Nashville.

Since my move to Nashville in 2018 to attend Belmont University, I’ve accomplished many goals and dreams of working in the music industry. Having interned at Big Yellow Dog Music and working as a Production Assistant at CMT post-grad, I’ve seen many areas of the business. I’ve recently begun tour managing artist Georgia Webster on Kelsea Ballerini’s Heartfirst tour, been able to create some visual backdrops and capture some photos for her shows, and have just hosted year two of Bright Shade Music & Arts Festival where I work as Vendor Manager and Social Media Coordinator with my good friend and brains of the operation, Ben Palmer, along with our team of friends.

My most important goal in this industry, and this life, is to have fun. To love, to be open, to create, listen to great music, and make great art; to help others feel things and see the light inside themselves. With those intentions in mind, I’ve been able to create a life that brings me not only joy in my professional life but my one as well.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s most definitely not been a smooth road given the challenges of my childhood. But don’t we all have childhood trauma these days? The only way to not let it get hold of you is to make it into something good. You can’t change the past, but you can create a better future.

I feel very privileged to have had the stable and secure, both emotionally and financially, upbringing that I had. I am also nothing but grateful for having the ability to attend Belmont and follow my dreams. Of course, there have been academic, relational, and financial struggles along the way, but nothing that hasn’t made me a better person because of it.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Visual creativity added with musical elements is where I thrive. Whether that be filming, editing, graphic design, or a combination of the three, this is what sets me on fire.

Additions of some of my physical, or handmade, work are something that I believe sets me apart. I see the vision in my head and it comes to me in parts, like water trickling or flowing in a little bit at a time.

What was your favorite childhood memory?
My favorite childhood memory has to be my summers spent on the coast of Lake Michigan in Michigan’s upper peninsula, where both of my maternal grandparents are from. My family’s favorite week of the year, the Fourth of July was always spent on Gros Cap Road in St. Ignace, Michigan overlooking the Straits of Mackinac and taking the ferry to Mackinac Island for ghost tours, biking around the island, and of course Mackinac island fudge.

These weeks were always spent with my cousins on the chilly waters of the lake, buying trinkets in downtown St. Ignace, exploring the forest, late nights and s’mores by the bonfire, and cramming all six of us cousins into the loft of the cottage. Waking up to blueberry pancakes and toast made by Mimi and Papa every morning is a memory I hold closely.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.adambuddcreative.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsadambudd/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-budd-4400/