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Marissa Raglin 0:10
Hello and welcome to the rally podcast. My name is Marissa Raglin.
Josh Vaughn 0:14
And I’m Josh Vaughn. Together we are Rally. Welcome to my living room.
Marissa Raglin 0:18
Rally is passionate about cultivating community through creativity. In this podcast series, we explore creative communities and the communal landscapes they foster.
Josh Vaughn 0:28
Today in this mini-episode, we just want to introduce ourselves, share a bit about our story and invite you to come along with us on this journey. What is our origin story? This is a question we ask many of our guests. We think it gives a fun insight into others and helps us find connections with those around us. For me, I’m a photographer designer and curator. I love helping other people realize their art dreams. It brings me just as much joy to help somebody else realize their art and their creativity as it does for me to realize and exhibit my own.
Marissa Raglin 1:02
And I’m a visual artist working in collage and mixed media. And I have a curating background with time within museum setting as well as nonprofit events and planning. And I really love cheering on the Oklahoma City art scene because I think that too, oftentimes artists feel like they have to approach things singularly and alone. And this is my way my path. And I love the idea that through this podcast and through Rally, we are always talking about we. We want to see others succeed, we want to shine a light on the great work and the comprehensive work and the intensive work that artists are doing in the community to showcase their vision and to bring others in and to convey an experience. And so I’m just really excited to hear from other artists, and creatives who are just making the Oklahoma City art scene what it is.
Josh Vaughn 2:10
Yeah, definitely, I think that also flows out of where we met, and how we met. Because we met at a artists workshop, they had a breakout session, that for eight weeks, we did all different sorts of things and met with other groups, doing different activities and learning about things. But there was always you had your one breakout group, we were the red group. And so every week for eight weeks, we met together, there was four artists and a facilitator. Those five people we really bonded and meshed and we never stopped meeting we missed maybe a month or two since 2015.
Marissa Raglin 2:45
It’s like going on seven years, right? Yep, it is. Right? And the idea that we had several people come up to us and say like, How can I have something like that? How can I have an artist community that’s not only about supporting me as an artist, but about supporting me as an individual who’s trying to live who’s trying to survive, who’s just trying to make it day to day. And while we don’t have the formula for the exact group of individuals that we’ve had the pleasure of working with, we do feel like there’s a common formula, there is a way to bring in people and chat with them and hear about their origin story and learn more about them as creatives and shine a light again on what they’re doing.
Josh Vaughn 3:35
Something that I think was really key in our group that I think maybe translated through other groups is they made sure that none of the artists in each group had the same discipline. So we were all different. We’re all from different backgrounds. But then we also the way that we approached art we thought would be different. But it was the finding out more about each other, we realized, oh, this person is just like me, that person is going through the same thing that I am, they’ve already done this, they know how to write grants, they know you know, all these different overlaps. And that’s where I think a lot of that relationship really solidified is because as we discovered each other and found out where we’re from, who were we are what we’re about, we realize that were more common than not. And also we became invested in each other and really cared and, and wanted to make a difference in each other’s art and life. So over the years, me and Marissa have been looking for an opportunity to work together to collaborate. We always felt like we were drawn to do something together, but we never could quite find it.
Marissa Raglin 4:34
And it was like a magazine or a website or, you know, we had all these different ideas.
Josh Vaughn 4:41
And none of them really ever panned out. It was just something that either happened. Or I remember one thing that we were going to apply, they were wanting two artists to do to do one thing and do this big proposal thing. And the program disappeared. It’s it just mysteriously disappeared. And so it was just I just I had already kind of just assumed that oh, well, we just we’re not gonna do something like that kind of like whatever happens, it happens. And so I think that opportunity happened whenever we did The Lively Show last fall. Lively Beeworks approached me, I was curating their art and their taproom. And they were like, we want to do this show. We want to do this big production in our warehouse. And I was like, yeah, sure, let’s, let’s do it. But I was like, I’m gonna help. And so the first person I turned to was of course was Marissa, she came alongside and we started working together and found out that we really had a great synergy, we really enjoyed working together, we both got a lot of stuff done, we attack things like at the same, I think, a lot of the same ferocity. Even though we have different skill sets, so it worked, worked very well together. And through that, we started thinking maybe there’s a little bit more.
Marissa Raglin 5:51
Yeah, and I would say that our skill sets definitely complement each other. And whereas I can see myself being more comfortable in a forward setting, and dealing with the public and addressing people, you know, and Josh, I know has my back and is making sure that all the details are secure. And from the back of house side of things, it’s all covered. And I think that to that those skill sets brought together a very unique proposition from Lively, they ultimately needed a way to process art sales. And we swooped in and said, Yeah, we want artists to have an opportunity to sell their work, rather than, you know, just a tag on the wall that says, hey, contact the artist to sell the work. People love to see people buying art!
Josh Vaughn 6:37
Marissa had a great idea that we could be able to give more award money through sponsorships. And different ideas started coming out like that. And we realized that yeah, you know, even though this was super hard, and we felt like we were putting the tracks in front of the train, we decided that, hey, it’s not hard enough, let’s start an organization. That’s right. And so while we were trying to do our first juried art show, in the back of a production area of a brewery, we also decided to start an LLC that we didn’t really know what it was gonna do. But we wanted to keep things going. We enjoyed doing this, we enjoyed the camaraderie with the artists we loved working with Lively, and we love working with the sponsors, and we just kind of wanted to keep this going. And so a result of that is actually what we’re doing right now, as we wanted to find another way that we could engage the community and help cultivate community through creativity. It’s something that was very dear to our heart. And this is alongside of all the other things we will be doing this year. This is just one other touchpoint that we can connect with others, and we can connect with them with creativity and community.
Marissa Raglin 7:47
Right, and who doesn’t like you know, having a glass of wine hanging out in your living room and just chatting? You know?
Josh Vaughn 7:53
Yeah, definitely. And that’s, I think that’s one thing that does make us different. I mean, well, there, I think there’s several things. But I think that one of the main reasons we exist we joke about is so that we can have more art parties. And so definitely that and it’s always great to be able to brainstorm and to be able to create new ideas, but we needed a vehicle for that.
Marissa Raglin 8:13
Rally is artist-led and artist-driven, we have the artists in mind in our decisions, and I can’t wait to use this podcast to shine a light on artists that are making waves in the community, are doing fun and unusual things with their work, are captivating audiences or doing things behind the scenes. You know, I think the Rally podcast is excited to showcase the heartbeat of Oklahoma City. One of my biggest dreams for this podcast is that we would have someone on this show that would talk about their creative process, would talk about their origin story. And someone listening would say I want to collaborate with that person. Yeah, definitely. I cannot wait to reach out and see this person would be great for my next project. I’m a business owner. And I really want to bring these artists in to fill and, you know, showcase on the walls or create this vision I have into a mural. So I would just love that this podcast could be a conduit for conversation. And I think, you know, a rising tide raises all ships. And so the idea that Rally could rally behind artists here in the community and support them and share their stories. I think that’s both again, what we’re very excited to see with this podcast. We want to thank you for tuning in to Episode One of the Rally podcast. It is so exciting to have you join us on this journey. This looks to be an exciting year for Rally in our creative community here in Oklahoma City. It’ll be awesome to explore it together.
Josh Vaughn 9:48
Be sure to like, subscribe and share our podcast. Check us out on instagram at @rally.up.OKC or our website at www.rallyOKC.com. Thanks again for listening to this episode. We’ll talk to you soon and on behalf of Marissa and I, Cheers!