The DAAC to take over Kendall Fed Galleries

The Division Avenue Arts Collective (DAAC) will hold "DAAC@TheFed," an exhibition exploring the history and culture of the DAAC, at the Fed Galleries June 17 through July 25. The opening reception will be held June 19.

The opening reception on Friday June 19 from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m. will be free and open to the public. Music performances from Radiator Hospital, Jes Kramer, Jimmy Pop and J Fernandez will begin at 8 p.m. During the opening reception, names will be drawn for the DAAC Band Lottery Showcase.

Mike Wolf, DAAC board member and exhibitions assistant at Kendall College of Art and Design’s Fed Galleries, says there will be a wide range of work on display throughout DAAC@TheFed.

The exhibition portion of the project will feature old flyers, artwork from DAAC artists, board members and volunteers, a recording studio in collaboration with Lamp Light Music Festival and a Free Store/Gallery and a Zine Library/Reading Room in collaboration with Bandit Zine and Grand Rapids Zine Fest.

The DAAC does not currently have a permanent space of its own. Wolf says the project provides the opportunity to explore their ideas for a future space that invites audience and community participation.

“The DAAC has always been a place that welcomes creative expression, experimentation, failure and uncertainty,” Wolf says. “Similarly to how an audience can finish an artwork, we are interested and excited to hear what questions the community brings to the space, and how people interact with the various projects and events we have planned.”

After the opening reception and the event SASS Fest in June, DAAC@TheFed will host several all ages music shows and events.

SASS Fest is an annual event featuring workshops and an artists market. It’s presented in conjunction with Have Company and The DAAC. SASS Fest will run from noon until 6 p.m. on June 20.

"SASS Fest brings a radical energy and awareness to the handmade landscape in Grand Rapids,” says Marlee Grace, board member of DAAC and creator of SASS Fest, "and allows folks to have a shopping experience that isn't necessarily focused on buying and consuming, but on meeting new people, taking a workshop or making a connection.”

Grace says the event is an opportunity for those participating to be at an event that celebrates not only the product they are bringing to sell, but the community they are selling within.

“SASS Fest does its best to bridge the gap between a DIY/DIT (do it yourself/doing it together) community and encourage people to not only buy locally, but to go home and make things themselves,” she says.

The concept of DIT is important to both the DAAC and SASS Fest; it works communicate the idea that not everything has to be done “yourself,” and to encourage working together to reach a common goal.

Wolf says there are multiple things DAAC@TheFed aims to communicate to the public as well as things they hope attendees of the event walk away with.

“...a new idea that sparks a creative project of their own,” he says, “new understanding of what an arts or creative practice could be, renewed interest to attend more live music shows and art shows, a better understanding of the DAAC and motivation to get involved in spaces, organizations and initiatives they believe in.”