Alright, so I shared this idea with some folx in the community over IG and was asked by Lee to put it here so more people can see it so here's what I'm thinking in terms of ideas to grow our group:.

The first being “Co.Lab Artist Workshops.” I got the idea from my brother Isaiah. He co-founded and runs a comedy sketch group in DC called Bad Medicine. They do shows but as a way of growing their community/audience, they also hold workshops on sketch comedy writing & acting. It’s a nice/fun way to give back AND fundraise at the same time.

Personally, I don’t play any instruments but I do feel confident in my ability as a lyricist/songwriter so I could run a workshop on either “Songwriting/Song Structure 101” where I go over how to construct a song OR “Song Tailoring” where people can bring in songs they’ve already written and get feedback/support around ways they can improve the song.

In that same vein, the other idea I think could be really good is a Co.Lab Open Mic specifically for artists to perform original works and then receive 5 minutes of constructive feedback by other musicians/artists in our collective as a way to nurture each other’s growth. As an "iron sharpens iron" kinda thing.

As an incentive/reward for hosting/putting on a workshop or open mic, we could take the pot of money for participation (tickets) and split it between whoever hosts/teaches AND Co.Lab itself. This way the organizer gets compensated for their time AND the collective itself grows its bucket of money to put on more showcases and what not.

That being said, I don’t want all the thinking/planning around this to fall solely on so it would be dope to get a group together to talk through some ideas and how to roll this out.

If you're interested in being involved in the conversation of establishing a Co.Lab Open Mic or running a workshop, drop a comment and I’ll follow up with folx to set a meeting up