More Than A Name

A reflection from Col on how The Erratics Indie Arts Club came to be,

We wanted the name for our new home to be both an aspiration and an invitation, with each word carefully considered to reflect who we are and what we value.

The ERRATICS

Named for erratic rock formations, those massive glacial boulders dropped on the prairies eons ago. They are strange and remarkable and out of place amongst the typical rocks. They’re also not going anywhere.

The Erratics will be a home for indie artists who, like us, stubbornly refuse to move on to supposed greener pastures.

We’re grounded here and in doing so we’re changing the cultural landscape together.

INDIE ARTS

Since moving into our space we’ve been asking ourselves and our community a question; what does indie even mean? What makes an artist or a company “indie”?

Initially the answers all went something like this; well we’re smaller, we don’t have as much money as the big guys, we don’t have subscribers, we don’t have the same production budgets or supports, etc.

Truth be told this was our standard answer too.

Until we realized what a trap we’d fallen into.

We’ve accepted a definition for ourselves based on what we don’t have. If it’s ultimately about money well then of course more money is always better and we’ll always be on the losing side of that equation.

So what happens if we ask that question again, and this time ban any mention of money or size. Without those, what else defines us?

When we started asking this new question the answers got allot more interesting.

We talked about indie arts being a home to great experimentation and collaboration across disciplines.

We saw how meaningful it is that in our indie leadership marries both the artistic and administrative responsibilities, and how on the ground and accountable those leaders are to their communities.

We celebrated our vital role as a common entry point for emerging and under-represented artists.

We want The Erratics Indie Arts Club to be a place where we can have these conversations together and move towards a shared identity that embraces our unique strengths and collective power.

CLUB

Calling the venue a theatre felt limited.
Calling it an arts centre felt stiff.
Calling it a club felt just right.

Because you don’t just go to a club, you join it. You don’t use it, you become a member.

A good club is defined by it’s members, shaped by them.

Some c’mon y’all, join the club.