INK Magazine Cover
EXTRA EXTRA!
thePhantom* (pictured on left) was featured on
the cover of INK Magazine. Read the article below.
ScionLab offers artists an outlet
While providing a free space, Scion hopes its Lab will attract trendsetters to the brand
by Sarah Benson
The ScionLab would be near impossible to find if not for the recently installed neon sign above the door.
In past lives, the 1,000-square-foot space at 19th and Oak streets was a brake pad factory and a storage shed for Stretch, the tattooed metalsmith who owns the Crossroads KC stage, Grinders restaurant and Grinders West. Crumbly brick walls and charred rafters inside reveal the spaces blue-collar past. Aside from a coat of graffiti, the buildings exterior does little to distinguish itself from other buildings in the Crossroads Arts District.
This space became home in May to the ScionLab, a cultural incubator that local artists, musicians and fashion designers can rent for free. As the name suggests, the Lab is sponsored by Toyota, the Japanese carmaker behind Scion, a line of compact, boxy cars introduced in 2003.
Toyota is attempting to attract local trendsetters to the brand. Those same trendsetters artists, musicians, designers, poets are taking advantage of the free space, creating a symbiotic relationship between the business and art worlds in the Crossroads. Kansas Citys ScionLab is the only one of its kind in the country. It has no advertising budget, but word of the venue has spread through the local art community. Aaron Thacker, who books talent for ScionLab, said events are scheduled there every Wednesday through Saturday night through September.
Inside the Lab
Elizabeth Allen-Canon, 21, held her first solo art show at the ScionLab on a recent Thursday night.
The Lab that night was dim and ambient. The light fixtures once car headlights cast a glow over Allen-Canons paintings of rainbow-colored female figures and wild landscapes splashed on old textbook covers. The space bustled with people staring into the canvases while sipping free wine and munching crudites, which Allen-Cannon provided.
Two flat-screen TVs on the walls looped video of Scions zooming and swerving along a glossy street. If you look closely, Scion elements are laced throughout the decor. Stretch welded all the furniture and fixtures here out of car parts. The bars footrest, for example, is a muffler. One of the benches is a firetruck bumper. The swirling light overhead once topped an ambulance. And Scion logos dot the bathroom mirror and adorn support brackets under the bar countertop.
In a corner near the bar, London native Benji Stanley, 26, chatted with a group of Allen-Canons friends.
Its a tiny bit hot in here, he said. But this is very cool.
Stanleys friend, Claire Jordan of Kansas City, chimed in.
I think its nice that all the proceeds go to the artist, she said.
When an artist organizes an event at the ScionLab, he or she gets to set the cover charge and keep all the proceeds from sales or tips.
Allen-Canon, a KC native who attends the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, R.I., sold 11 paintings for a total of $1,100. She says shell put the money toward a digital camera shell use to document her work.
But that payoff didnt come easy. Allen-Canon made and distributed flyers, rigged her own art-hanging system, figured out the food and alcohol situation and networked like crazy before her show.
Ive never had a chance to do this myself, she said of organizing her first solo show. This is really what I needed.
The business end
You might be wondering how a cultural art incubator sells cars.
First, a little background.
Toyota created Scion to attract generations X and Y to the brand, said John Stolz, field manager for Toyotas Kansas City regional office. Figuring out how to market to people in that age group, he said, is an ever-changing game.
People in their 20s and 30s arent interested in having something sold to them, Stolz said. Stolz works with Crossroads marketing agency Department Zero to organize all sorts of Scion-sponsored events in the region, from wakeboarding competitions in Paola, Kan., to snowboarding exhibitions in the Power & Light District. This type of experiential marketing aims to establish an emotional connection between consumers and a brand. In this case, that brand is Scion.
Department Zero and Toyota wanted to create a cultural incubator that would bring together trendsetters in art, music and fashion in KC. Thus, the ScionLab was born.
The ScionLab is the centerpiece of the Midwest marketing plan created by Toyota and Department Zero. Its also the first space of its kind. Stolz said Toyota had opened event spaces in Florida and California but that those shuttered after a month or less. Kansas Citys ScionLab is slated to run at least until May.
If this experiment proves successful, Stolz said, Toyota might try the concept in other U.S. cities.
But it wouldnt be the same, said Fritz Heffinger of Department Zero.
Everyone expects something like this to be in Chicago, New York or L.A., Heffinger said.
But what makes this work is that itd dedicated to Kansas City. Theres a huge arts scene here.
Department Zero has been working on ScionLab for 18 months, said Paul Soseman, the marketing companys founder and CEO. Soseman said the flagging economy hasnt hurt the project.
We hope the ScionLab actually spurs artist involvement in a slow economy, Soseman said. We offer the ScionLab free of charge to our exhibitors, who in turn provide free shows or charge a very small door fee to cover their hard costs. This makes it a win-win for everyone the artists, the event-goers and Scion.
Creative control
It may seem unlikely that local artists would consider attaching their names and work to a place designed to advertise a car.
Miles Bonny started a regular Wednesday hip hop night at the Lab called Future Funk. But the Kansas City jazz and hip-hop musician admitted he had reservations.
From the very beginning, I was cautious of overbranding, Bonny said. He said he didnt like the policy of one corporate-sponsored party house that required guests give away personal information in exchange for admission.
I was like, What? You are tripping, Bonny said.
When Bonny began talks with Department Zero, he said, They assured me it was first and foremost a place where creative people in Kansas City could get together, he said.
Local fashion designer Cali Roberta runs a monthly fashion show at the Lab.
I love the space. I love the space, Roberta said. The energy is phenomenal, and its a very intimate venue. You can get really close to your people.
She said the creative control keeps her coming back.
Its me that does it all, she said. I get nervous doing fashion shows with other people.
Advancing the scene
Bonny and Roberta are established artists. Both have plenty of experience orchestrating shows. But that kind of experience and creative freedom is harder to come by for up-and-coming artists like Allen-Canon or 22-year-old Kemet Coleman, aka thePhantom*.
Coleman hosts a Monday-night show called Stress Free Mondays with DJ G Train at the Lab.
We wanted to put together an event that was focused on the audience rather than the artist, Coleman said.
Stress Free Mondays combines spoken-word poetry with hip hop and games. Imagine piñata busting and Michael Jackson dance parties.
Coleman encourages the crowd to mingle while DJ G Train spins.
When they first come in, I set the tone by having them throw on a name tag, Coleman said.
Its automatic that you have to be social.
The idea, Coleman said, is to encourage communication maybe even collaboration in the local arts community.
As far as the local scene goes, all we have are bars, Coleman said. God bless the bars that open up to hip hop, but we felt like in order to progress the scene, we needed to get into a more art-orientated setting.
Heres the problem with hosting a show at a bar, Coleman said: You have to make money, either through a cover charge or drink sales.
Having a space like the Lab helps us because we dont have that pressure, Coleman said.
Were not really about the alcohol. Were about the social aspect the music and the art. At bars, its business first, and at ScionLab its art first.
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