To promote and prepare for its upcoming 10th anniversary in April, The Trunk Space has launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to help sustain and expand the Grand Avenue music and art venue.
The funds will go toward installing a heating and air conditioning unit — something that the Trunk Space has lacked for its near-decade of existence — and the Indie 500, a 10-day music festival scheduled to run from March 30 to April 8, which will feature multiple bands performing a total of 500 songs.
The goal is to raise $15,000 by Feb. 24. The campaign started Jan. 25 and so far raised more than $4,800. The Trunk Space — known as a DIY, all-ages venue — has served the independent music scene in Phoenix for nearly 10 years.
Stephanie Carrico and JRC, the owners of The Trunk Space, have said additional funding will allow them to reduce ticket prices for the Indie 500. The idea for the event, originally dreamed up by Carrico five years ago as a joke name for a festival, is something that she hopes will become an enduring cultural event for downtown Phoenix.
“My hope is that the Indie 500 will go over really well and we can turn it into an annual festival where we invite other venues to be part of it,” Carrico said. “I think Phoenix would benefit from a music festival. This could become more of a music hub and destination city.”
Lack of air conditioning has been an issue during the sweltering summers, making the small venue uncomfortable during crowded events. Carrico recalled a summer concert when the musician Quintron had to step outside the building twice to vomit due to heat exhaustion.
But even putting the inconvenience and health risks posed by the heat aside, Carrico has said that air conditioning will more importantly lift restrictions on the timing and types of events the venue can hold.
“We’re not able to book bands with fancy electronic devices in the summer because their equipment won’t work,” Carrico said. “We’re not able to book film screenings. Heating and AC would open up our ability to book anything that we find interesting. We wouldn’t have to limit ourselves during the summer.”
“We’ve had a lot of really good musicians around town, we just haven’t had enough venues to properly listen to their product,” said Tim Sprague, co-chair of the Grand Avenue Members’ Association. “The fact that they have continued to be in business as long as they have is a real testament to how this community supports music and supports a younger age group.”
Kevin Patterson, a poet, performer and filmmaker who first appeared on stage at the Trunk Space, helped set up the Indiegogo campaign page.
“There’s a long list of artists who had the first time they ever performed, or had a piece of art up or sold something they made, at Trunk Space,” Patterson said. “The fact that it’s an all-ages venue is incredibly great. I’ve seen like three rotations of young people come through.”
Patterson said the venue fills a niche in the community and has persevered.
“There’s a lot of venues that have closed down that didn’t make it 10 years,” Patterson said. “It’s not easy to run a performance space in this town because we’re so horizontal and spread-out. They’ve done so much good work that we should do whatever we can as a community to keep them going another 10.”
Carrico expressed gratitude to those who have already contributed.
“Money doesn’t grow on trees, so the fact that people have come forward and donated means a ton to JRC and me,” Carrico said.
The Indiegogo campaign has not just raised funds for The Trunk Space, but has also raised awareness among community members who have offered other resources or services. Carrico said that after starting the fundraiser, she was contacted by people who could offer cheaper air conditioning installation.
“It’s been an opportunity to get a hold of people who we may not have known existed,” Carrico said.
When the venue opened on April 2004’s First Friday, neither owner expected the project would last for as long or host as many artists and musicians as it has. According to the Indiegogo campaign page, The Trunk Space has shown the work of more than 400 artists and hosted more than 9,000 performers in the last nearly 10 years.
“I didn’t anticipate that The Trunk Space would make it to six months,” Carrico said. “I figured that would be an accomplishment. Then there was another six months, then another.”
“We couldn’t imagine that we’d be working with people across the country and across the world the way we have,” JRC said. “I owe just about all the best things in my life these days to the time I’ve spent there over the past decade.”
Six month blocks kept adding up, until one day The Trunk Space turned eight years old. Only then did Carrico and JRC decide to commit to at least making it to 10 years.
“My favorite thing is that we get to meet some of the most amazing, creative people in the country on a nightly basis,” Carrico said. “That has been the reason to continue doing it day in and day out.”
In addition to air conditioning and the Indie 500, funding will go toward a surprise that will be announced and launched on the first day of this year’s Art Detour. Carrico hinted that the surprise will be an expansion she expects will be key to the venue’s endurance.
Both Carrico and JRC said they hope that with the changes enabled by the fundraiser, The Trunk Space will be able to last for at least another 10 years.
“I hope when I’m dead in the ground, someone is still managing Trunk Space,” JRC said.
Contact the reporter at bkutzler@asu.edu
