New Year, New Ideas: One Year Later - Coalescence
Four months ago, the only thing in the dark windows of 300 East Main Street was a sagging blue sign that read, “For Lease, 3 Floors.” Now, anyone driving through the intersection or walking out of ComeUnity Café can see a bright array of photos.
Last year, Aaron Hardin, photography professor at Union University, pitched the idea for “The Coalescence,” a nontraditional downtown gallery space. Hardin proposed placing artwork in the windows of vacant buildings around town. There would be no fancy opening with silver trays of hors d’oeuvres, just placing art an unassuming place anyone could access.
CO.STARTERS Spotlight: Nebulosity Music & Arts Festival
What is Nebfest?
Kari Howard: It’s a 3D music festival. You’ve got three stages, vendors, a fire-breathers workshop you can attend. It’s basically like one big, happy summer music festival right here in Atwood, Tennessee.
Heath McKissick: Nebfest is three days, [. . .] 30+ artists. Rock, reggae, indie rock. [. . .] Everything’s a show. [. . .] We have workshops the whole weekend. You can come and learn how to juggle, you can learn how to eat fire, you can do belly dancing, you can do yoga. [. . .] You pay one ticket, and you just come for the whole weekend.
Kari: You know, we’re in the Bible Belt, and so we’re Southern. So we’re trying to mix this summer fun crowd with the—what should we call it?—“music artsy festival” crowd. [. . .] So we’re trying to just combine the two into one like transformational weekend, you know? They get exposed to the culture that they’re involved with, and they kind of get exposed to the culture of Jackson and the surrounding cities. Yeah, it’s super cultural, and it’s something very unique to Jackson that nobody else is doing.