New Collective on the Block

Collectives, whether they identify as such or not, are the lifeblood of a vibrant scene. While local music has reshuffled in preparation for another boom, local art has grown steadily to include more and more opportunities for young artists to showcase their work and build a following.

The next four months are packed with more community-produced shows than the the last few years combined. The ambitious Transcendence Project is on its way, there is the Young Spokanites Art Extravaganza, the Shrinking Violets are exhibiting at the end of February, Earth Day is becoming more arty this year, and interesting things involving boxing gyms and live theater are brewing out on East Sprague.

All of this energy will come to a head on February 5-6th, when an arts party celebrating a whole new level of sophistication will take place at the Empyrean. Get ready for the RiverSpeak Launch.

What is RiverSpeak, you ask? It is a dedicated group of young people who are determined to create a comprehensive online arts forum for Spokane. This will include a feature rich website that will allow local artists from all different genres to showcase their work to the world in customizable online portfolios.

There are several advantages to this effort. Many local creatives do not have the technical savvy or financial means to build their own personal websites. With RiverSpeak, people will have a simple way to put their work in front of a large viewing audience without the hassle of set-up, tear down and scheduling.

Social networking websites like MySpace and Facebook have fulfilled this role to some extent, but their emphasis is on the person, not the work, and they are chronically cluttered with all kinds of other irrelevant content. In terms of the end user experience, trying to use those platforms is not unlike trying to exhibit a Lorinda Knight show in a cluttered pawn shop.

Why not rely on DeviantArt or Etsy, you ask? The answer is simple. Not only do those two websites have highly defined aesthetics that don’t match up with the diverse work that is being produced here, they are both designed primarily for visual art and have no connection to a real geographic place.

The advantage of a Spokane-based network is that local businesses and buyers can browse through this comprehensive directory of work and find just the thing for their lobby, living room, wedding or holiday party without the $3,000 shipping fee, or travel and lodging expenses. People in Spokane may not lead very well integrated lives online, but they do adopt technology if it is reinforced in the brick and mortar world. The existence of LaunchPad in Spokane is a good example of this. In any other large city professionals are satisfied with LinkedIn or other specialized trade networks. In Spokane we need a little extra social push and then are willing to jump in on one big community-wide bandwagon.

For RiverSpeak, this interactive reinforcement will come in two forms. First, the un-tapped energy of local arts enthusiasts will be harnessed in an editorial board of volunteer reviewers that will highlight and comment on work they choose to feature in their genre or medium of specialty. Second, an events page will provide one stop shopping for all of the interesting local events that various organizations and grassroots groups are looking to advertise.

As an organizer I can see how this will be valuable to a large number of people putting on events and viewing the site. With Terrain we thought a website would help lend us legitimacy, but after the fact we realized there was a lot of start-up inertia with driving web traffic to a brand new destination. I can’t tell you how painful it is to receive a flier to a neat art event, like an open house, and know that I don’t have the time to forward it on to the people who would like to know about it.  Without a centralized forum like RiverSpeak, events are overly dependent on word of mouth for their success as opposed to their own creative merit.

Doughnut Parade by Seth Ramirez, RiverSpeak member.

What will make RiverSpeak stick? For one it is a non-profit non-print publication, and therefore won’t be dependent on ad sales to bring in revenue for production. Secondly, the group driving the effort is full of bright energetic creative folks who are determined to make it a success. Ringleader Brook Matson has enough gumption to move mountains AND teach at M.E.A.D. alternative high school. (That is a lot of gumption, I know because I graduated from there!)

If you’d like to meet these awesome organizers and lend your support in advance of the official launch, come on down to the Community Building (35 W. Main Ave.) next Sunday at 3pm for a Stomp and Craft party. People will be helping to assemble zines and compilation CDs for the big event.