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Columbus is home to many talented and bright people. Often members of the “creative class” work independently, but it is becoming common for them to combine forces as a collective group. This way they are able to advance as individuals, but also raise the profile of the collective group to open more opportunities for each other. There are several groups that have formed to bring their members’ energy together in a variety fields. Very broadly, many of these people can be classified as artists, but they focus on different areas.
The Couchfire Collective is coming up on its third anniversary. The group officially began in July 2006 to share studio space at Junctionview Studios. Today, their mission has developed into a way “to provide artists and art patrons with diverse opportunities to make connections and become active participants in the local arts scene.” With the success of the Agora events and other events happening year-round at Junctionview Studios, they are doing very well to raise the profiles of local artists and artists in Columbus as a whole. Adam Brouillette is one of the founding members and has found that being a part of Couchfire has really shaped his life, “much like I imagine other people use church as a way to communicate with people like themselves, be a part of something bigger than themselves, and find purpose in their lives.”
PANEL is a writers and artists collective that started in 2002. Member Dara Naraghi tells us a bit about their purpose: “Our goal was to get like-minded comic book creators together as a sort of writers/artists group, offering support, critiques, and motivation to each other. We were tired of working in a vacuum, and thought it would be both motivational and fun to get together every other week and look over everyone’s projects and works in progress, share tips and tricks, etc. Over the years, the group grew to include self-publishing our own anthology twice a year.” You can find out more by visiting their website.
A newer group is Collective Independence Design. Cody Holland started the group last summer “as a way to offer more services than I can provide on my own, and as a way to get business for and from other designers I have worked with in the past.” He, as well as many of the members are graduates of CCAD. They have skill sets ranging from advertising, illustration, photography, web design and industrial design. They are able to work with any kind of budget because they have little to no overhead and a wide range of skill sets and experience. The group is “working to change the client-designer relationship and make it a more casual, friendly and enjoyable collaboration.”
Daniel Sadd has been building the Salon Lofts brand since he bought the concept in 2003. It seemed like the “purest business model” he has ever seen - ”everyone working for themselves, in a collective environment, but mainly relying on their own performance.” The concept has been popping up all over Columbus and has recently expanded into Cincinnati and Tampa, Florida. Working in this kind of environment where everyone is talented and dedicated to providing the best beauty experience to the client, while being able to do it your own way is very rewarding.
If you are thinking about starting your own business, but are unsure of all of the uncertainties, you may look into becoming part of a collective. Being with like-minded individuals will help bring out the best in your own work.
Collectives can also create the type of energy that will tear the best of friends apart for life with the wrong structure. It can be a fine line between team effort and slave labor.
Great idea for a post, Anne. There’s defiantly a lot to say about the ability of people to get things done (externally, internally, financially) through a collective (action).
Anne, thanks for including the PANEL collective in this feature.
Coreroc makes a good point about the double-edged sword of joining a collective. I supposed there could be a lot of strife and discord, depending on the nature of the group. As for us, we adopted a very informal, loose structure for our group. We didn’t even have a “mission statement” until one of our members, Tony Goins, put together a mostly tongue-in-cheek “PANELfesto”. Here are a couple of my favorite bites from it:
“Panel is a self-governing collective of aspiring comix creators in Central Ohio. Panel has no bylaws and no dues.
Panel is about sucking it up when your fellow members say your shiny new script reads like the lost episode of the A-Team. Panel knows pain makes you better.
Some members are professional creators, some aren’t. That’s OK.”
For me, being around like-minded individuals who share my passion for comics has made all the difference.
Yeah, the four groups listed above seem to be doing alright. Are there any other collectives or similar types of groups in town?
SoHud is a collective of musicians living in the SoHud area (South of Hudson) The SoHud Music Collective’s goal is to become a resource center for local bands. If you need promotion, help with merchandise at shows, flyering, booking, anything, SoHud Music Collective will help. Learn more at SoHudMusic.org and come May 29th to Skully’s for the SoHud Super Show that showcases the three founding bands. Andy Shaw Band, Floorwalkers, and Max Power Trio!
There is always the Cowtown Lowbrow collective. Our group is used to promote the talent Columbus holds within the Lowbrow genre of artwork. Our group strives to have both senior and junior members that work in harmony to elevate our knowledge, experiences, and artistic abilities. The group is currently focused on establishing a solid presence of local lowbrow talent as well as to take the energy that we create here in Columbus and take that energy on the road and show other cities just how we do it here in Bustown.
There’s also a few crafty collectives to check out:
Columbus Crafty Cotillion http://cbuscraftycotillion.blogspot.com
Etsy Team Columbus http://etsyteamcolumbus.blogspot.com
We’re also an active collective here at Wild Goose Creative! http://www.wildgoosecreative.com! Check out some of our events or contact us to learn how to get involved!
ComFest could be called a collective (sort of), it is a collaborative, consensus based group with one central purpose (duh), but it has been giving grants to local community groups, so it’s not all about the fest.
Jelly Columbus, casual coworking group