Artists, musicians come together for creative nights at local brewery

Grand Rapids Brewing Company (GRBC) has been hosting a Monday night meetup at Studio Night from 6 p.m. until 11 p.m. to encourage creative types to visit the brewery. At Studio Night, artists can bring projects to work on, talk and collaborate with other creators while enjoying live music and craft beer.

The event sees many people working on knitting, but clay and pottery, illustration, sketches and art school homework also constitute a large part of the audience on a typical night. Some people even bring their children to the event. Andrew Castagne, creator of the event, says that he created Studio Night as a way of bringing the art and music communities together and to create a space for artists to work together in a new way through the event.

“I wanted to create sort of a different perspective of music for artists rather than just a viewing audience,” Castagne says. The event was inspired by Castagne’s own experience of listening to a band and he wanted to be drawing while listening to the music.

The event has generated a very loyal group of around 15 artists that meet up at the brewery every week.

“People who have graduated and are a couple years out of college...want that community feel where they’re working on projects,” Castagne says. 

This is not Castagne’s first time hosting an event like this. He opened Shallows Art Gallery in 2012, and began a similar promotional event there for people to come see live art being done and for artists to work on their art right in the gallery.

When he began working at GRBC in 2012, one of his duties was as the curator of the rotating art displays, which evolved into what Studio Night is now.  

Live music is provided at every Studio Night, usually by M.O.T.H (Matt Finch and company) or another local band. Finch has been working with Castagne and performing at these events since they were held at the gallery.

There have been some nights where figure models have come in for the artists. Other nights there have been technique demonstrations done by the artists themselves. 

It is this mix of activities that Castagne hopes to make routine in the near future. He is working on mixing up the format and rotating events so there is live music, a model, a demonstration and another activity one week per month each. 

The event currently runs from 6-11 p.m., but Castagne is considering starting the event at a later time to get more people in the room at the same time instead of such a spread out attendance.  One of Castagne’s main goals for Studio Night is to foster and grow the community that means so much to him. 

The event is free and open to the public and attendees of the event receive 25 percent off of their tab. Some art supplies are provided for those who may not have their own.