What do you do?
We exist to support, encourage, and promote all forms of art and artists in Columbus, Ohio. We focus on four main tenets: hospitality, community, education, and creativity. We give artists a forum to develop and showcase their art. In short, we hope to become a nexus: we hope we can connect artists with other artists and help them create projects. Some current events we host include a monthly series called Third Thursdays, in which we showcase a work-in-progress from a different artist. So far we’ve had comic book artists, children’s novels, bluegrass music, a poetry slam, and a one-woman play. We also offer a monthly culinary arts series on the first Sunday of every month called Too Many Cooks! where we feature a talented foodie to lead us in a workshop, tasting, or a demonstration. WGC Presents offers an opportunity see a concert with great local bands and musicians at an early-evening time frame; our audiences come from all age groups and are great, appreciative listeners. We also host an annual Wild Goose Creative New Year’s Festival that features live music, workshops, culinary tastings, performances, an art gallery, and more. We go all out at the Festival; here we aim to celebrate the new year and celebrate the best of what Columbus is all about.
Community groups meet regularly in our space to create art, learn from each other, and hang out. Check our list of sponsored groups for an up-to-date list of the groups that we host.
In addition to these regularly scheduled events, our calendar is full of one-time events across a range of mediums, as well as a huge range of community-initiated workshops, performances, concerts, and parties. Check our events page for details about what is coming up, and follow us on Twitter or fan us on Facebook for announcements and specifics.
Are you a non-profit organization?
Yes! We incorporated as a nonprofit organization with the IRS in August of 2008. Your donations of money and stuff alike can be tax-deductible.
How do you make money?
Our main mode of support is through individual donations and contributions. When you toss a few dollars (or more) in for a donation at our events, or give money through PayPal, it makes a big difference! Your contributions keep us going – they keep the lights on, bills paid, and the art experiences coming.
We are always applying for grants to fund programming; the first half of 2009 was funded in part by a generous grant from the Ohio Arts Council.
We also offer our space for rent at a very reasonable rate. Go here for details if you are interested in hosting an event at Wild Goose Creative.
Finally, we also offer performances, classes, and workshops that are fee-based. These feature our skills and the talents of artists all over Columbus.
How did you all meet?
The six founders of Wild Goose Creative (Jessie, Karl, Nick, Beth, Ryan, and Jacqui) met while studying at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. While there, we all participated in the Calvin Theatre Company in different capacities.
Once our early events were underway, a few guests stood out as especially enthusiastic and committed. Then they started helping. Then they made themselves indispensable. Once it was clear that we were sending ‘thank you’ notes to the same people over and over again, it was time to bring them in on the ground level. Andy, Amanda, Abbey, Caitlin, and Andy are integral and invaluable in planning and implementing our vision and programs.
We continue to meet great artists, business owners, and friends both inside and outside our events. We are excited to be a part of your community and to help you become a part of ours.
When did you start?
We are a company with a lot of beginnings!
The seed of the idea for a Wild Goose Creative happened in college. We valued the company model that the Calvin Theatre Company used, wherein every member participated in the theatre process in some way. So the whole group, no matter what they did, had ownership of the production. That way, everyone who graduated with a theatre degree had a wide range of experience, including acting, directing, writing, stage managing, designing, serving on run crews, hanging lights, building or painting scenery, and much more.
If we had to pick a specific date, we would say during the 2002 Super Bowl. A group of us started a conversation about creating an arts company that could embrace the full spectrum of the arts. We even looked at a map, and pinpointed some larger-sized cities in the Midwest, including Grand Rapids, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Madison, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and yes, Columbus.
A thing called “Wild Goose Creative” existed by September of 2006. By May of 2007 we were hosting monthly events out of one of our homes. In August of 2008 we gained our nonprofit status, and by September of 2008 we moved into our space at 2491 Summit Street.
Why Columbus?
A number of reasons... Columbus is close to many of our families and friends, and community is important to us. We also felt that Columbus is the perfect-sized city for an initiative like Wild Goose Creative. It has a vibrant arts community that has a lot of potential, that hasn’t yet received the widespread recognition that cities like New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles have. It’s also large enough to offer diverse resources, while remaining accessible. There seem to be a lot of artists gathering, planning, and creating in Columbus, and we felt we could be an integral part of it.
How do you decide who does what?
Rather than using the traditional jobs such as Artistic Director, CEO, director, stage manager, etc., we developed specific jobs based on our own personal skill sets and interests. We’ve found that the abilities and tendencies amongst the six of us complement each other very well. For info on our specific job titles, visit our profile pages.
What does your name mean?
We found that the wild goose is an image from the ancient Celtic church. They used the wild goose, as opposed to the traditional dove, to represent the Holy Spirit. They felt that a life in pursuit of the Spirit was a messy, noisy, exciting process, sometimes successful, sometimes not. This re-imagining of such a traditional image also reflects our identity and commitment to re imagining what life in the arts looks like. This has a number of different meanings to us, but we believe that it generally indicates a pursuit after something that you’re passionate about. We see so many artists that don’t receive recognition for their work, or aren’t paid adequately, and thus have to treat their art – their true passion – as a hobby. We hope that by using our resources, connections, space, and individual creativity, we can help them find rewarding and profitable ways of pursuing their passion.
“Creative” is a great collective noun. It signifies the together-ness of what we do: we hope to work in community with a lot of different artists, influencing them and being influenced by them. It also points to the artistic focus of the group.
We also found that geese model a number of things we hold dear: they mate for life, they live in community, male and female share responsibilities, and they share leadership, most notably in the shape of the flying V, where a different goose takes the lead after one tires.
When are you open?
Our lights are on and something is happening most every day of the week! See our Events page for plentiful times and dates that you can stop by and get your art on.
We are also open to the public Monday through Thursday between 2 and 5pm. Stop by, have a cup of tea, stay to chat, work on a project, or take a look at our gallery wall.
How do I get involved?
One of the quickest, easiest ways to get involved is to attend one or more of our events. With programs happening just about every day of the week, even the busiest person out there can participate in Wild Goose Creative. Our events feature outstanding artists and their stories, and are great places to get conversations started. Come on over.
Other ways to get involved – volunteer, follow us on Twitter (and we’ll follow you too), intern, have an idea, rent the space, or ask us to partner with you on your own endeavors.
How do I contact you?
Visit our Contact page, or call us at 614.859.WILD.
