Young Creators Project spotlight: August MacDonald

Each day this week, we’re spotlighting the homegrown budding talent sourced via KCRW’s Young Creators Project, a community arts mentorship platform celebrating the creative work of SoCal residents under 21. 

LA-native August MacDonald is currently a freshman at a small liberal arts school on the East Coast and has been experiencing seasons for the first time. 

“I have never been happier for it to be spring,” she says. 

MacDonald is interested in filmmaking and performance art. 

On writing she says, “I have always loved writing poetry and writing personal essays. It has remained a constant outlet for me, especially over these last couple of years. I find that through writing I can digest things much easier–I say that figuratively and literally as someone with IBS. I like any activity that allows me to study people–the way their minds function or the way they walk through the park near my house. I like dancing but I can’t remember routines, so I do circus instead. My poetry tends to focus on habits and brains and chameleon bodies–the ones that change, the ones that feel claustrophobic in boxes–and acceptance alongside contradiction.”

Although she was a performer at LACHSA, MacDonald performed her own poetry for the first time last summer for her college freshman orientation.

She’ll never forget “jumping in headfirst in front of an unknown crowd.”