Industry Makers
Industry Makers – LOUNGE, MUSIC, ART, COMMUNITY
Industry began as a flea market in 2018. Somehow, that was four years ago, but our understanding of time is stilted and rigid and it’s been longer than that in Human years (we just don’t know it yet). To say that it was an “upscale flea market” is akin to calling a skydiver “cautious”, but attempts at “curation” were made.
Curation attracted artists and the flea market took on an art guild. Music and musicians followed course and we’d all been drinking and making merry the whole time to boot, we just weren’t charging ourselves for the privilege.
Once we got our bar in place, the funds generated from our gatherings (art shows, music concerts, whiskey tastings, live sketch nights, dance nights) helped fund a place where artists could congregate, display and grow.
Many people signed up as “patrons” and their monthly dues go towards supporting the arts (and there are a bunch of perks). So, Industry is still full of antiques you can buy, artwork you can hoard and memories who’s shinny veneer will fade to a nostalgic pale.
It’s been a beautiful group effort and the people who run it and own it all started as members. They kept it open, against some pretty tall odds, through the pandemic and beyond with imagination and care and diligence – three qualities, that when applied to any challenge in equal parts, are unstoppable.
I’ve wanted to murder almost everyone I’ve worked with, curated for or interacted with in the place, but when I step back and see what it became, I’m very glad I didn’t. It would not be without you all and you need a little bit of everything to make a world.
All things change, everything fades – I just hope that Industry takes its sweet time doing so.
A Bit More About the Guild
Til this day we don’t charge ourselves commission; we don’t take money from each other other than dues – and now we’ve done away with those as well. Industry’s art guild is supported by Humans socializing.
Want to support the arts? Become a patron and have a drink. I don’t believe in the artist as “victim”, I don’t believe in the artist as “rich” – we are messengers and as such, our ideas, our creations, our message should spread far and wide.
Industry is the only art collective I know of that steadfastly refuses to monetize its membership and as such offers a direct channel between the artist and the admirer. And more Humans would be admirers if the art world made it conducive to do so; if art were not kept at arms length in lofty museums, or out of most people’s economic means with ridiculous price tags.
I promise to continue this rant elsewhere, but for now this will need to do. If you’d like to show me your work please so. I can’t promise I’ll get back to you, but keep in mind that the rarest of art forms is decency and it’s an attribute I cherish when I see it in a Human being. Curation is balance and no ecosystem survives when its parts don’t interact well. In putting together a puzzle with pieces you don’t have, crafted by people you’ve yet to meet is where the magic happens.
