Purpose

Club:Club exists to nurture creative expression, foster learning, and provide a third space for new artists - especially  women, Queers, and People Of Color - to forge long lasting relationships with their peers in the Rhode Island music scene.

Vision

Club:Club strives to help create a Rhode Island where people of all walks of life feel empowered to use music to call people together in sharing, learning, movement, and moments of catharsis.

Mission

Club:Club is an organization that offers access to professional DJ and music production equipment at accessible rates for people to practice on. We also offer classes to absolute beginners and host our own events where we book our own program graduates in an effort to remove as many barriers as we can between the absolute novice and their first public appearance as a fully capable performer. Furthermore, while CLUB:CLUB is for everyone this project specifically centers the experiences of women-identified folk, Queer people, and People of Color. (You can read more about this point by following this link.)

Club:Club seeks to bridge gaps in genre, background, and skill level to find and cultivate a community of people that are supportive, confident, and fun.

Model

The current model is threefold:

1. We host regular social gatherings called CLUB:MEETs where anyone and everyone is welcome to swing by and practice on the gear. Entry to the socials is free to sliding scale, providing instruments, turntables, and communal expertise for beginners and seasoned performers alike. This social space is crucial as it is often the first step towards a person’s lifelong love of making and performing music. It also functions as a third space, a Great Good Space, a community hub. Sadly third spaces are a steadily depleting resource in our country that otherwise demands money from those seeking human connection, and CLUB:CLUB desires to alleviate some of that discontent here in Providence.

2. We offer courses where people can register for direct training in either DJing or digital music production. We currently offer two beginner courses and plan to add more advanced classes as we grow. This is mainly what financially sustains the project, and it has the nice side effect of sending new energy and diversity into the local music scene with each new musician and DJ now brave and skilled enough to hit center stage.

3. We curate and promote our own community music events where we book our students and pair them with local artists and touring talent to get them both money and real world experience in front of audiences. We are currently working to co-develop this aspect of our operations with frequenters of the space through our CLUB:HUDDLES - community wide meetings where students and regulars weigh in on what kinds of events they would like to see happen.

These regular community meetings are also a space to discuss other things specific to CLUB:CLUB’s culture such as desired workshops, equipment, and the general direction of this project.

Ethos

Club:Club is on a never-ending journey to provide an anti-oppressive space, and as a result will always be pushing to gain more perspectives and improve. Crucial to this goal is our stance against racism, misogyny, classism, xenophobia, and predatory behavior. Such practices are completely incompatible with cultivating a healthy environment of interconnectedness and learning.

Furthermore, as a place of education it follows that we too must always continue learning, growing and changing for the better.

At Club:Club we challenge all of us - instructors and staff included - to be open to criticism, to remain open-minded, and to actively try and learn from everyone and everything around us. It is only through humility and genuine curiosity that we all improve.

Legal Structure

CLUB:CLUB is currently organized as an LLC and not as a 501c3. Therefore donations to this community project are not tax-deductible. 

Furthermore, we are actively seeking L3C status. While similarly not a tax-exempt status we believe that the L3C designation more concretely aligns with our mission and goals.

To learn more about L3Cs consider reading this Wikipedia article on the subject. Another world is possible! :)