I founded Channels to help studios and artists on the internet. I believe in a future where the gap between audiences and artists shrinks dramatically. Channels provides beautiful, lightweight ways for studios and artists to share directly with their own audiences.

My wife and I co-ran a photography business traveling the world. We spent 10+ years learning the art of "Make Art Make Money". That is the title of a book about Jim Henson generating revenue from his art, so that he could continue making the art. Art-making is a core part of my being, including my personal viral drawings, which can be seen here: www.curtiswiklundphoto.com/sketches

I received a full-ride to get my masters in Media Arts, based on my research and a proposal that storytellers would soon need to able to tell their stories LIVE, and to create a demo of it. "Live Streaming" wasn't yet in our vocabulary, but I called it an "impending wave of technology".A year after I submitted my thesis and demo, Twitch launched, soon-to-be acquired by Amazon. Then Periscope launched, which was bought by Twitter for its live-streaming tech. Then every social media platform followed suit. Today live streaming is ubiquitous. At the time of my research, it was difficult to explain to my panel what "live video on the internet" would be and why it should exist! Today, it's just "live streaming"! This was an exciting time and topic for research.While getting my masters, I held the position of GSRA, assisting professors with media arts research.