Campaign to Create Music Coworking Space in Indy

INDIANAPOLIS (Inside INdiana Business) — The Indianapolis Music Cooperative is in the final days of a fundraising campaign to raise $50,000 towards the creation of a new co-working space for musicians. The co-op wants to create a 6,000-square-foot coworking space to give Indy musicians a place to rehearse, record and produce music. If the campaign is successful, the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority will match the donations.

In an interview on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick, co-founder founder Kai McGinnis explained why the collaborative music space is needed.

“We noticed that artists around town…were struggling to find a centralized community space and access to these resources of rehearsal and recording,” said McGinnis. “By sharing the space together, it’s an opportunity to share the cost on a different revenue model.”

McGinnis says after leaving school, he found it too expensive to rent rehearsal and recording space for the music he had written.

“We set out around town and asked different demographics and neighborhoods and genres of artists. And that was how we landed on the three main tenants of our membership; connect, rehearse and record, and a 24/7 space to do all that,” said McGinnis.

The coworking space will be on the city’s near east side in the Circle City Industrial Complex. Plans include 12 rehearsal rooms, a recording facility, and a 750-seat performance venue.

McGinnis says they are already running a “sound space beta” with one rehearsal room and one recording studio, with 24/7 access.

“We have seen everything from teenage girls involved with Girls Rock Indianapolis, using the proof-of-concept space and, and recording demos for the first time, all the way to gentlemen that are retired and have an EP that they wrote 30 years ago,” said McGinnis.

Indy Music Co-op must raise $50,000 by November 3 to receive a matching grant from IHCDA.

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