The Arts Collaboratory
Times of crisis can act as a stimulus for the creative spirit. COVID-19 is no exception.
Spending more time in his home office, Mile Two VP of Engineering and Code for Dayton co-Captain Dave Best really began to notice his bare walls. Our #DaytonStrong resilience has been demonstrated by our giving to the COVID-19 fund at The Dayton Foundation to our support for our essential workers, from healthcare to those working in grocery and drug stores to those delivering our mail and packages. Many Daytonians have made an extra effort to support our local restaurants by ordering carry-out or delivery, or purchasing growlers of
locally-brewed craft beer. Musicians, on their own or through venues like The Old Yellow Cab, have set up virtual concerts where the audience can donate online.
After staring at the walls, the obvious question was “What about our visual artists”? Aren’t they essential to helping bring beauty and meaning to our lives? How can the community help support them at a time when the studios, galleries, coffee shops and restaurants where they typically show and sell their work are closed?
Knowing of The Collaboratory’s reputation for incubating projects from ideas to action and our connections in the local arts community, Dave’s first call was to The Collaboratory. He wanted to know if it was feasible. We said hell yes and jumped right in. That was Friday, April 10.
The idea behind Essential Artists Dayton is to offer a FREE (at least through May 30) platform for Dayton visual artists to set up an online storefront. And by FREE, we mean 100% of sales, less any processing charges, goes to the artists. In addition to putting this out to our artists friends and the major artist organization, we specifically reached out to artist Megan Fiely. Megan, who took the lead on raising Tornado Relief funds from the local community of artists, was instrumental in the co-creation process, beta testing the storefront set-up and getting the word out.
Essential Artists Dayton launched on Friday, April 17, one week after it was conceived.
The Arts Collaboratory
The Collaboratory operates The Arts Collaboratory in the former NBD Bank location at the corner West Second and Ludlow. The space serves as an alternative and experimental gallery for both emerging and professional artists from the region, with an emphasis on multi-disciplinary collaboration between artists.
Visiting Artists:
Going back to The Collaboratory’s Blue Sky Project, which was founded in 2005 in Chicago and was the impetus for the move to Dayton in 2009, the organization has been actively engaged in the local art scene, operating pop-up gallery spaces in multiple locations and hosting visiting artists from around the world.
Find out who's in town: