Meet Nadia Hagen

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nadia Hagen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Nadia , first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
I didn’t. I read through all the questions and they all assume a certain finality of accomplishment that I don’t think I have in any of these areas.
I think I aspire to be resilient and generous and confident- and the other qualities you mention,
but I think it’s a lifetime struggle to feel like I’ve reached a pinnacle of any sort.

I know the view others have of us is always so different than our own understanding of ourselves…and I think that’s ok.-
If I’m given a project – I can assess if I can succeed at it’s completion. I know my skillsets –
but there is always someone else who I can admire//envy- always another level to aspire to… Always a trick I don’t know …
I don’t think it ever ends.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
My name is Alev Nadia Hagen- Onuktav. I was born in New York City in the 60s and lived with my grandmother. I spent a lot of time at MOMA and the Museum of Natural History. I came to Tucson in the late 90s and there was something about the psychedelic, DIY spirit that really inspired me.
In my early career, I studied scene painting and theater tech and I helped renovate warehouses around Downtown and throw underground raves.
In 1998-1999 I toured with Crash Workshop and then moved back to Tucson and helped produce shows at the Downtown Performance Center. This was when the Indie band scene was strong and we hosted touring bands, like Green Day and L7. It was a vibrant scene in a dark time, full of danger and adventure. Everything was new and pretty edgy. We never had enough money and we had to evade the State and City to carve out places where music and art could happen.
The culture at large was antagonistic and the scene was a struggle. Lots of my friends died.
Creativity was a way to make Beauty out of the Pain. My next project, Then Tingari was a musical/ art experiment that delved into ritual and theatrics. We toured a little and I met other artists all over the country who were innovating musical genres like phase-shifting electronica, and performance modes from Classical Circus and Japanese Butoh.
A friend of mine from Seattle exposed me to fire spinning, which she had seen on the beaches of Bali-
I fell in love with the art form and formed Flam Chen in 1996. We used fire performance as a tool to weave narratives about Culture and Nature.
I met my partner, Paul Weir in 2000 and he became the Technical Director for the troupe and we toured nationally for over 15 years.
In 2006, we formed MMOS, the non-profit organization whose signature event is the Annual All Souls Procession. When we took over the Procession from founder Susan Johnson, it was an artist-driven gathering of about 200 people.
I took the tools I learned from experiential ritual performance, invited the talented artists I have known in my career, and expanded the event. The Procession now welcomes over 150K people into the streets of Tucson every November to Honor and Celebrate their Dead. It is a massive undertaking with over 20 Directors and hundreds of Volunteers.
The rest of the year, Flam Chen heads up the event production team at the MSA Annex Festival grounds on Tucson’s westside. We host local artisan markets, concerts, a monthly Flow Jam and Roller Disco.
I am dedicated to growing a community that is flourishing and creative.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I was always drawn to the inner world,
When I was young, I was inspired by Musical theater and musicians and artists who could share their worlds through stagecraft.
Later, I was blessed to be in the company of talented people who had dedicated their lives to their art forms. Now I get to offer a beautiful and welcoming venue for artists to share their work.

I had limited opportunities because of my economic class and the assumptions that others held about what was “possible” for me, but I looked for other paths- hidden paths and opportunities in places that were overlooked and undervalued.

Follow your curiosity and Dig In. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty.
My animal nature led me to root around, sniff out and explore how things worked. Peeling back the curtains and poking around will reveal the inner workings of things and systems.
Trust what you find and trust yourself.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
I work with my life partner. Paul Weir, Our relationship has been the most challenging, skill-building adventure of my life. He holds many qualities that I lack. He is awesomely attentive to detail, He has a work ethic and ability to persevere that seems almost super-human sometimes.
He is also pretty convinced I can read his mind- which I cannot.

We have spent years learning to honor and respect each other and how to give each other space to be human and make mistakes. Our mistakes directly affect our livelihood-so it’s easy to panic-
We have to make a lot of decisions on the fly with no prior track record and in time-critical situations.

I am proud of the communication skills we have developed over time and I can tell how helpful those skills are when we bring new crew members into the mix. We have navigated the depths and heights together.
Art is a difficult mistress.
She takes everything you have and what she gives back will not be very tangible or immediate.
We have been in situations where we had almost nothing left and when our bank accounts are down to zero and we have been on the brink. It’s easy to turn on each other- or oneself and feel defeated and really question one’s life choices. We once produced The All Souls Procession and a major Flam Chen show while we were living in our van… and we still wonder if we should quit at least once or twice a year because the Procession is still just beyond our financial means and it’s psychically and financially stressful.

But every year, more and more people come on board to help run the non-profit and the venue and we get a bit stronger and a bit smarter.
To misquote Hemingway, “Success is a moveable feast.” We have little successes and failures all the time. I think I have a few every day.
But in the big picture, what I get to do, as an artist and producer is really quite incredible.
My art and my effort help thousands of people process their love and grief and draws my community together in a culture of creativity and connection.
So that’s a Good Life’s Work.

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Image Credits
Foto Smith- Jeff Smith Foto Kathleen Dreier Photography Karel Moonen

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