Meet Kate Phillips | Filmmaker, Performer, Storyteller & Professor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kate Phillips and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kate, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?

I have been an artist and creative person my whole life. I was lucky to have parents and teachers who encouraged me to think about myself as an artist. I believe we are all creative and capable of expression. Pursuing a life and career as an artist is meaningful for me because, not only does it give me the tools to understand and express my truth, it has the capacity to inspire others to be courageous enough to do the same. A life as an artist is always unfolding into something new and unexplored. I love knowing that as long as I live, there will always be something to discover.

I have been a writer since I was very young. Telling stories is a part of who I am. Expressing myself through performance is another. I come from a family of colorful storytellers. Being from Texas has always shaped me too. The larger-than-life stories and tumultuous history of this place have always given me plenty to think about. I am fascinated by the complexities of life and explore them through storytelling.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

I have been doing this for more than half my life at this point. I moved to Austin and then LA when I was pretty young to work in the film industry. I worked for a major director and studio, worked on lots of film sets, went to film school, and now have been working for over a decade writing, developing, directing and performing in my own projects. I have experienced everything possible under the sun that the film industry can throw at young women. I have experienced personal successes, the achievements of long-held dreams, and failures and losses too.

I have learned a few things from this. First of all: humility. You don’t live and work as an artist for very long without realizing that financial success as an artist comes mostly down to luck and being in the right place at the right time. All we can do is show up as our best selves and do our best work. Judging others’ efforts, success, or lack of success, is a recipe for personal failure. I have learned to have a thicker skin and not be so affected by others’ opinions of me.

The second thing is faith. Life as an artist comes with ups and downs. There is no success that isn’t eventually followed by failure and humiliation, and vice versa. To ride these waves, I have developed a true faith that I am living my dharma. That no matter what’s happening or how much success I find, I’m where I am supposed to be, and that there is someone or something I can have a positive impact on, even if I don’t know it.

Finally, the importance of community. Nourishing artistic community benefits us all. When we are harming people, it’s time to stop. Creative practice should only exist to serve artists, no matter if they’re the top of the call sheet or the bottom. In everything I do I strive to build on and connect more authentic and positive community. My community supports me. On most of my film sets, my sister caters and helps out, she’s basically a producer at this point. My mom has designed and sewn costumes for several short films. My closest friends and family have always been a part of my creative projects.

I believe that my commitment to these principles, to creative living in all parts of my life, and to using art to serve truth, is what sets me apart.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

I grew up in Houston and if someone visited for a month I couldn’t take them to all my favorite spots. But I’ll give this a try.

I love the Eastern Glades in Memorial Park. This is one of my favorite places in Houston and a wonderful place to go to imagine what the natural environment of Houston once looked like. Also great is the Buffalo Bayou Park, with its wonderful trees and paths along the water.

Late at night, you can’t miss a trip to Agora. This has been a standby since my teenage days and Agora’s still got it. It’s one of the best spots in Houston for good vibes, long talks, late night wanderings, reading, meeting others, and sometimes late-night belly-dancing performances.

To explore the arts and have an excellent dinner, I would take anyone to the East End and EaDo. On the East side we have wonderful creative spaces like Canal Street Studios and The Storyhive. There’s also my favorite restaurant in Houston, Nancy’s Hustle. If we can’t get a table there, we’ll walk a few blocks to their other spot, Tiny Champions. I have actually eaten at both restaurants in one night before.

Another great spot nearby is Gypsy Poet. The pizza here is exceptional and the vibes are always on point. Axelrad Beer Garden is another great spot for artist exhibition and good vibes.

For entertainment, I would invite my friend to experience the amazing community at a Write About Now poetry night. Or I would take them to a play at my favorite theater in Houston, Rec Room.

Farther north, one could spend a great afternoon at the Houston Farmer’s Market and El Bolillo Bakery for some Tejas culture. Shoutout to Granel Spice Market nearby for its excellent witchy goods.

I also have to shout out Trash Panda Drinking Club, a weirdly excellent spot Northside. Stop by before or after a show at White Oak Music Hall. If you’re in the area for longer, Kaboom Books is an exceptional used books store that smells and looks like heaven itself.

Having been a Heights resident for a few years now, I always end up back at Better Luck Tomorrow. The drinks, food, and vibes (dogs allowed!) are always chill, a perfect local spot.

I know I’m going on a bit long here but Houston really does have some dynamic, dope spots. The more I list the more I think of. The food here can’t be beat – having lived in both New York and LA, I say this with some authority – and those really in the know know the best food, especially international cuisine, is out in the suburbs. You can find almost any cuisine in the world here in Houston and some lovely people to share it with you.

There is genuinely so much more and I can’t even get into deep cuts. It’s a big city with a lot to offer! Visitors always want to go to NASA, but with nice weather I’d swing them by the new Houston Botanic Garden first!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

My first shoutout is to my mom, a writer and artist herself who wrote original stories she would read to my siblings and I at night when we were young, teaching me to love stories and writing as a way of expression. She encouraged me to take writing and creating seriously from a young age, even starting an after-school writing club at my elementary school called Scribbles. We published our own literary journal!

No artistic career is possible without mentorship and support from others. It is not easy to be a professional artist, but in addition to supportive parents I’ve also been very lucky to have really good artist friends. Over the years I’ve lived in Houston, Austin, LA and New York and in each place I have found true lifelong friends whose work I also love. They are my well of nourishment: early draft readers, note-givers, emotional support lifelines, and compatriots in the struggle for truth. Thank you!

There are too many books, films, great artists and thinkers, and organizations to name that have helped me along this path. But I want to also give a shoutout to nonprofit arts organizations, like Houston’s Southwest Alternate Media Project, that exist for no other purpose than to cultivate and support artists and their work. It requires community to foster confident, productive artists and it’s necessary to develop it locally if we want free-thinking, original, curious and truthful art to continue being made.

Website: www.krphillips.com

Instagram: @krpstories

Image Credits
Wiliam Escobar, Alex Saenz, Vanessa Provencio, Simeon Hendrix, Walls Trimble