Ep.5 - Kate Grimm
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They say that the main reason to go to college is not to learn, but to meet people and network. They would also have you believe that college has an imperceptible value. Much of this hidden value can be attributed to the idea that “the best days of our lives” are during college. ‘They’, in this case, is me — but a bit more on this later.
In terms of networking, going to college is the most expensive option you can select, likely the most effective, and most certainly the one that will create the longest-lasting connections.
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Links of references from the show
Production learnings
Story Time
Episode Summary
Episode Transcript
I know countless people who are still friends with people from college. Many of these people are friends with their roommates from college. For me, it’s no different. I am blessed to have attended Indiana University Bloomington. There, I met a wide array of talented and intelligent people. Not least of whom, I count Ethan Gill.
Important links and mentions
Production learnings from the episode
One of my favorite things about recording Third Space Indy is the mobility. No two episodes are recorded in the same place, space, or soundscape. This also provides a unique challenge of maintaining audio quality, video clarity, and a sense of privacy with the guest. I don’t see these necessarily as negatives, again, just challenges to be overcome.
In this episode, for some reason, I decided to angle the camera a bit too upward and toward a window. Also, while aiming the camera, I checked for the guests' lighting much more than my own. This led to two scenarios, (1) a large glare over my half of the video (Kate looks great) and (2) a blinding light in the background and twinkling ceiling lights.
I think photography is and continues to be my greatest weakness. But we’re working it out — and most people only listen anyway.
The local plug
During my final full year at IU, I had the opportunity to rent a house. In that house at the corner of 8th and Clark (everyone can remember their college address), I had two roommates, one of whom was Ethan Gill. I’ve mentioned my roommates before. I consider them great friends, and they’re both massively talented. At the time, they were both involved in student filmmaking.
Ethan has evolved this passion for photography, for the craft of filmmaking, into a career. He now works as a video production manager for the Indianapolis Children’s Museum. He’s already done amazing things at his job.
Beyond this, though, Ethan is well-connected. I think by self-opinion, he would not say so. But it's easy to connect when you are as universally liked as Ethan is, likely due to being such an overwhelmingly kind person. So in the early days of Third Space Indy, I was in need of ideas of people to talk to, and where better to look than with someone who works at a place that is deeply integrated into the community, like the children’s museum.
The Long List
So I reached out to Ethan to explain to him my podcast idea, and he instantly lit up. I loosely alluded to him being a guest, but he didn’t see himself as an Indianapolis native, yet. But he certainly knew of many faces and names that are foundational to the city, and you will hopefully hear from them at some point.
If you didn’t know, I keep a spreadsheet of all potential podcast guests. That list keeps getting longer, but to this day, the largest direct contributor to this list is Ethan, with something around eight suggestions of who to talk to.
Among the list of folks is the guest of the day, Kate Grimm, who, like Ethan, does not think of herself as an integral part of the community. I think you will find by listening that this could not be further from the truth.
So I am once again indebted to Ethan for many things, but most of all to the continued success of this podcast. Thanks to Ethan and Kate for their help building Third Space Indy. And here’s to college connections, may we someday make them cheaper to acquire.
Third Space Indy is supported by Arrows.
Episode Summary
Building Community and Art in Indianapolis: A Conversation with Kate Grimm
In this episode of the Third Space Indy podcast, host Michael Zarick interviews Kate Grimm, an arts administrator and Production Director for Tonic Ball, an event that brings local artists together to raise funds for hunger relief. Kate shares her journey from working in various arts organizations in Indianapolis to her involvement in the local music scene. They discuss the vibrant art and music community in Indianapolis, the need for more all-ages venues, and the potential for growth in local festivals. The episode also touches upon the unique identity of different neighborhoods in the city and the importance of community support for the arts.
00:00 Introduction to Third Space Indy
00:40 Meet Kate Grimm: Arts Administrator
01:02 Tonic Ball: A Community Event
01:46 Kate's Role in the Indy Music Scene
02:42 Challenges and Skills in Music Administration
04:59 Tonic Ball Details and Impact
10:41 Indy's Vibrant Music Scene
18:53 Personal Stories and Community Vibes
23:54 The 16-Acre Field Dilemma
24:45 Exploring Near Northside's Hidden Gems
25:50 Imagining a Third Space
26:59 The Monon Trail Experience
30:05 Fountain Square Adventures
32:18 The Vibrant Art Scene in Indy
37:54 Community Support for the Arts
39:30 Final Thoughts and Future Questions
Episode Transcript
Season 1 Episode 5: Kate Grimm
Kate Grimm: [00:00:00] I think because it's still growing, people feel like they can have their hometown, they can have their feeling, but they can also help build it into becoming something even better down the line.
Mm-hmm. And so I think that there's a lot of. There's a lot of love for realizing, oh gosh, I have an idea and it's not anywhere in this city and I can make this happen. And that's, that's what people want. Like that's what makes them want to build a place here, a home here.
Michael Zarick: Hello, my name is Michael Zarick and this is Third Space Indy.
This podcast is a podcast where we talk about community organizers, community organizing, and bring people together, sort of talk about, making a sense of place. Today I'm joined by Kate Grimm She is , an arts administrator, and she is the [00:01:00] production.
Kate Grimm: Production Director of Tonic Ball.
Michael Zarick: And what Tonic Ball does is it brings local artists together across the city in various event spaces to help, raise funds for hunger relief. that's pretty much all I know so far. But I'm hoping that she can enlighten us, share a bit about, her role in that, as well as just give us some information about the Tonic Ball, which is coming up in the.
Fall, right? It is.
Yeah.
Cool. All right, Kate, so
Tell
a little bit about yourself. Who are you?
Kate Grimm: Yeah,
No,
no, I am, uh, it's great to be here. Thank
you so
much for having me
Yes. We,
on here today. Yes. You've
Michael Zarick: shown me I've passed by this on the bus a lot of times, but I've never come in The Stutz.
Kate Grimm: Yeah. This is The Stutz. This is a really, really cool place it houses a lot of artists and small businesses, that are, working on getting into bigger spaces. I worked here for a while when I was working for Pattern I, my name's Kate Grimm Director of Production for Tonic Ball. I've worked at a lot of various arts organizations since I moved to Indy three years ago.
Mm-hmm. I've [00:02:00] Worked for Pattern Hi-Fi, Romanus Records, Tonic Ball, and Bloom Box Festival. And I'm currently working at IU Indy in the school of production, or in the school of social work.
Michael Zarick: I, I just wanna
say, I'm gonna say this into the microphone 'cause I just said it to you. You, when I first reached out to you, you said, I am not a community organizer.
And then you just listed off like these, core identity of the music scene of Indianapolis. That's fair. Like you, so I, I think you are, um, underselling yourself heavily. Which is a, a probably a good. Um,
Who Doesn't
Kate Grimm: have imposter syndrome? You know, That's,
Michael Zarick: a, You know, it's a, I think the humbleness is maybe one of your traits that I've learned so far.
So why don't you know what's going on? You don't seem super excited about your, your work, but what about your work outside of your nine to five?
Kate Grimm: Oh, what's going on? Yeah. You . My nine to five pays the bills. So yeah, outside of that I do a lot of things in the Indy music scene.
Mm-hmm. But it's all like admin related. Like I don't know how to play an instrument. Uh, I haven't [00:03:00] been on stage in over 10 years but I know how to run a festival really well. I know how to get bands to do things, you know, for us that sounds very sketchy, but, uh, and I, I know how to like, keep people organized for projects and whatnot, and those are skills that I have found that the Indy music scene really needs.
There's a. Bunch of really wonderful, amazing musicians around here. But there aren't so many people that are an amazing musician and also know how to create formulas on Excel spreadsheets.
Michael Zarick: I, I was actually talking to a music artist, uh, who plays trombone two days ago, and he was like, I was like, oh, how's your band going?
'cause I know he plays at The Jazz Kitchen on the north side. Mm-hmm. And he was like, yeah, I quit recently. And I was like, what? What are you talking about? And he goes. Yeah. Um, I was professionally trained, um, at University of Indy, um, or Indy University, [00:04:00] whichever
whatever the order is.
Indy or
Kate Grimm: Uh, U Indy or IU Indy, whichever one.
Yeah. One
Michael Zarick: of it was U Indy. he was like, but everyone else in the band was not classically trained, and that means they show up late. They're disorganized and you know, they just don't respect my time. And I think what I hear from you is that. You are the glue that is, that is forcing these people who are not, that maybe are a little more informal.
Yeah. But still very talented and like being like, all right, it's go time. Like lock in.
Kate Grimm: Yeah,
for sure. I think it's a, it's a skill to be like, look, I know that we're responding to emails. And maintaining a schedule probably isn't your favorite thing in the world. But that doesn't mean they're not good at it.
It just means I gotta send them a couple extra reminders and make things like really easy for them to read and to get ahold of and whatnot. So yeah, it's a talent.
Michael Zarick: So I
So I have not lived in Indianapolis for very long. I moved here in October. Oh, wow. Um, my wife is from here, but
she's not, she lives from Brownsburg, so not like super native to Indianapolis. [00:05:00] So my experience with the Tonic Ball is reading the website. Mm-hmm. So can you tell me more about the sort of, what is it like from what I know there's hundreds of bands, millions, millions of bands. Um, but they're all local. And then you basically are just hitting various venues across the. Across the city.
Kate Grimm: Yeah. So Tonic Ball, we take over five venues in Fountain Square Hi-Fi, White Rabbit, Radio Radio, Square Cat Vinyl, and then the Fountain Square Theater. And we play one tribute artist out of those the whole night.
So like, it could be Lady Gaga, it could be Rihanna, it could be Hall and Oates, Parliament Funkadelic. And we like Hi-Fi last year had Lady Gaga and so we had. Like 12 to 14 local bands come through and only perform Lady Gaga songs. So every band gets like two or three songs. They get a 20 minute set.
Mm-hmm. and
then they're off stage and the next band comes on on
Michael Zarick: Are they doing it in their own style?
Kate Grimm: Yeah, [00:06:00] they're doing it in their own style. So like, we really encourage artists to like, make it your own. One of my favorites is, uh, is this great band, uh. Fronted by Macy Ann and she is like this incredible metal singer.
Yeah. And she goes up there and like sings Rihanna and does like Rihanna metal. It is phenomenal.
Michael Zarick: Rihanna metal's. Not something I expected to think about today, but that sounds
really
Kate Grimm: fun.
Yeah, it's so cool. It's really cool. It's a great way to see what Indy like has to offer musically. And then also you're hearing songs that you know, you know, you're comfortable with them.
You're not going and listening to like. New music, which can be really intimidating for a lot of people.
Michael Zarick: It's sort of like a, gateway drug to the local Indy scene sort of. Yeah, a
Kate Grimm: hundred percent. Like anybody that was there last year and saw Pat and the Pissers do, Jack White probably had never heard of Pat and the Pissers but I guarantee you after that, that performance like.
They have gone and seen them, perform now. So like I would be
Michael Zarick: hesitant to see [00:07:00] Pat and the Pissers
Kate Grimm: It is one of the best like local bands in Indie at the moment. If I can do one plug, it's go see Pat and the Pissers. That's
same
so funny.
Michael Zarick: So when, when is um, the Tonic ball?
Kate Grimm: Tonic ball is always the Friday before Thanksgiving.
Yeah.
Michael Zarick: That's easy to remember.
Kate Grimm: It is, right? It's super easy and yeah. And it is also a fundraiser for Second Helpings. And Second Helpings is a really cool organization that's been around for about 25 years and they do a lot of work fighting, uh, or dealing with hunger relief in Indy. So they're like working against food deserts.
They're training they're training people to become chefs in, like, to get culinary skills. They are providing meals to the community. And especially like right now, it's really wonderful that they have this thing that's been going on. We're super happy to, to make our fundraiser for them.
We provide like 300,000 meals approximately every year. Yeah.
Michael Zarick: That's
Kate Grimm: great. With them or what's
the name of that organization? I'm sorry? Second Helpings.
Michael Zarick: Second Helpings.
Yeah.
So how long has the [00:08:00] Tonic ball been going?
Kate Grimm: Uh, this is our 24th year.
Michael Zarick: 24th?
Kate Grimm: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: How many have you been involved in?
Kate Grimm: I've
only been involved in three.
Michael Zarick: Okay. Oh
Kate Grimm: yeah. 'cause I also, but you take a,
Michael Zarick: like a big role for only being your third.
Kate Grimm: Yeah.
I
I like walked in and I said, Hey, let me do this. I know how to do it.
Michael Zarick: You know, sometimes I, I think, and I'm unemployed right now. Mm-hmm. Sometimes like in there, just like shoving your way into a space, which is kind of what I'm doing with everyone I interview, is like, really effective.
You just say like, I am here. I have the skillset like. Let's, let's do it.
Kate Grimm: Yeah. That's kind of how I got started in, in Tonic ball actually. I was, uh, when I first, I only moved to Indy three years ago. Mm-hmm. And when I first moved here, I was like taking a bunch of like odd jobs and whatnot, trying to land on my feet.
And Tonic ball came through and I was like, well, I had heard about it, you know, networking through a friend of a friend, and I thought, oh, this sounds really cool. This sounds like something I'd like to do. And so I did it for a year, and then the day after it was all done, I messaged the [00:09:00] director and I was like.
Hey, I know how to do this. I can, I can definitely help you. Like here's where I think we can, we can work on things and like build this up to be something even bigger than what it already is. And it's been that ever since. Yeah. You know that, that's awesome. So you kind of do just like worm your way into it and just own your skills.
Michael Zarick: So how, um, involved with the music scene outside of the Tonic Ball are you? are you going to house shows every week? Are you, or like, maybe not even house shows, like legit venues. I'm not cool enough
Kate Grimm: for house shows. I, I'm not cool And you're not getting those invites and I'm too old for house shows. That's probably, but if somebody wants to invite me to a house show, I will gladly go.
That's what I did throughout most of my twenties. But no, I'm pretty involved outside of that. I go to a lot of local shows. Uh, I worked for Hi-Fi and still work for, for Hi-Fi in a part-time capacity. Those aren't so many local bands. It's more like regional, national touring bands. And then on a more local scale, I work for Romanis [00:10:00] Records.
Mm-hmm. Which is a local record press that's actually based here in the Stutz with us, um, up on the third floor. And, uh, he's got. He like has a label, and he signs local bands to it. And then he is also a record press, and his thing that he's known for is like filling records with things.
So like so like sand filled records or, yeah, like various objects.
Liquid. He does a lot with bugs. For some reason everybody wants a bug filled record. So yeah, it's, it's kind of cool.
Michael Zarick: I come from like software. Okay. And
And things with bugs is not ideal.
Kate Grimm: No. They highly, they highly look down on that. And if you bring a computer in and it's filled with bugs, they're, they're gonna say, just throw it away.
Michael Zarick: I have heard that like the Indianapolis music scene is strong. Mm-hmm. Um, I heard that from
a
Khaled from the Kan-Kan, the theater.
So what is your sort of gauge on, like, on the Indianapolis music scene? Like why, why do you think it's so. , You know, unique
or or like strong?
Kate Grimm: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Any [00:11:00] of those types of things.
Kate Grimm: Yeah. Truthfully, the punk kids want to mosh and there are spaces here to let them mosh. And I think that's one of the most beautiful things about the Indianapolis music scene is there's a lot of spaces that are open to all ages. Um, I think of like Healer. Have you, have you heard of Healer?
Michael Zarick: I don't. Oh, man, I'm out of it.
Kate Grimm: Dude. Healer is the weirdest place in one of the weirdest places in Indy. Where is this? It is the, it's on the south side somewhere in, in a strip mall where there's nothing else except for like a lone McDonald's out there. And it is a, an art space and stage, but like they have all these like, weird little exhibits and tiny rooms that you can go into and like one room is filled with TVs and another one is, has like a, you know.
An animatronic doll like waving at you or something. Like it's really creepy and strange and you can find the coolest like little bands and whatnot. So there's a lot of really cool DIY art [00:12:00] spaces in Indy and those spaces are prioritizing having all ages as opposed to having people just like drink. 'Cause there's a lot of regulations when it's, when it's all ages.
And so I think that the reason that it's thriving so well is because. There's, there's these all ages spaces, and , there's a need for places where somebody can make music. Uh, hold on. My bad.
Sorry. We're in a place where I know everybody and I'm saying hi to them. We
did, we did
Michael Zarick: come right to the front door of the place. You know everybody. That's okay.
Kate Grimm: Um,
but yeah. Okay. Little kids wanna mosh. There's all ages, spaces. And then I think there's also like concert tickets have gotten so expensive.
So expensive.
So expensive. It's insane. I, I saw someone
Michael Zarick: say they got, like, they're going to their fifth Beyonce concert and someone replied and they were like, what job do you have?
have? Right? Can I, can I have that
Kate Grimm: job? How are
you doing this? I, I have seen Jack White on every tour that he's been on since 2014. This is the first time I can't go because the ticket is like [00:13:00] 500 bucks.
And like, I love Jack White. That's my favorite artist. I can't afford $500. I saw Britney Spears in Vegas on the ground floor for 250. Oh my God. Like, that's as much as I'm willing to do. Maybe I'm old, maybe I'm a curmudgeon when it comes to this, but I think people still, people still want to see music.
They want to go and be a part of it and whatnot. And like ticket prices have just gotten so abnormally high that I think a lot of people are turning to more local places for it.
Michael Zarick: That's incredible.
Some of my favorite memories from I in college, I hung out with a lot of music students. Mm-hmm. Uh, my, my freshman year I lived in Forest, um, in Bloomington.
Kate Grimm: Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: Which is. Basically where all of the music students like lived their freshman year because it was the closest adjacent dorm, or one of them. And because of that, I had friends in the music school all throughout college, and because of that I was invited to a lot of house shows. One of my close friends, John had a, annual party called Pickle Fest.
Oh.
Oh. Um, he was a music student, [00:14:00] but he knew like pickle things. Love that. That.
and like we would eat the pickles at a party. Get drunk and then you would have all his music student friends like over and play it in their bands. And like, that was like peak, college community moments, like core memory stuff.
And I think those sorts of spaces, are really hard to find now in a lot of ways. And I really like hearing that. Uh, it's pretty common here.
Kate Grimm: Yeah. Yeah. I think so. I think that there's like a certain amount of like fun playfulness. That comes with local, uh, music and like when you're going to those pickle parties and whatnot in college, like you're all just hanging out and then suddenly somebody breaks out a guitar and then the next thing you know, you're all singing Sweet Caroline or something like that, unfortunately, and unfortunately for the hundredth time.
And so I think that, I think there's a similar energy around here, like the stages are small. That band is talking to their audience, like 100%. And so I think that [00:15:00] people get really excited and they get, they love the, the feel
Michael Zarick: of
it. Yeah. One of my favorite videos of all time, I do not remember the band name or the song specifically, but there was a woman playing guitar on a stage and she just started singing the chorus.
And everyone, it was a small venue. Everyone in the venue just started singing along with her. They knew her song. Mm-hmm. And she just like broke down crying. Yeah. And I think that's like really powerful. Just like. It's like, oh, I've made it. Yeah. Um, this sort of like wonderful come together moment.
Kate Grimm: Yeah. Well if you go to a Pat and the Pissers show,
Michael Zarick: Oh,
Pat the Pissers. I gotta go. You gotta
Kate Grimm: go. There, there's like, there's entire songs where every one of the audience knows all of the call and responses. They know everything. Like the entire song, what you're supposed to say. It's like Rocky Horror Picture Show.
That's really what I was gonna say. Exactly. It's exactly like that. But like. It is just like this weird punk band that's so fun. So like there's, they've truly built like a ton of community around that and it's so cool to be a part
Michael Zarick: of it.
So what role do you feel [00:16:00] like, music plays in, in Indianapolis community outside of what we've already talked about?
Is there anything specific you wanted to bring up or,
Kate Grimm: I want to see more festivals come through to Indy. Like Indy is really well known for being a convention city, right? Like if you go to a Visit Indy event, their state of the art of tourism or whatnot that they have every year, it is like we are amazing at conventions.
People love us for our conventions. We have all of the, like the hotels and the food and the downtown built for this, and I think that's amazing. Um, with Taylor Swift having been here last year, I think it shows that like we can, we are a good central place to have these big shows. Mm-hmm. And so I want, I want more, I want more artists to come and do three nights here.
Yeah. Um, I want more local festivals to pop up. Like not just Tonic, but like, I think of like Chreece, Chreece is really, um, is a local hip hop festival. And they have just like exploded onto the scene in the last [00:17:00] like five years or so. And so I wanna see more of those kind of things coming up through Indy. Yeah,
Michael Zarick: it's kind of surprising 'cause Chicago is pretty close. Mm-hmm. And they obviously have a lot of music scene and then Louisville in my opinion, has a decent number of great music scene. Yeah. Yeah. Like Louder than Life Bourbon and Beyond. I could list like six of them. Yeah. It seems odd that with those two, groups of people like so close. You would think that there would be a clear path to have. Yeah.
Kate Grimm: I
I think. And I think places like Hi-Fi in the Vogue and even, I mean, in even Live Nation.
Um, are making a lot more of those connections. I'm gonna, I'm not gonna, I'm gonna talk Hi-Fi and Vogue. I think that those two companies are doing, uh, so Hi-Fi is owned by MOKB. Mm-hmm. Vogue is owned by 45. Or , those are the booking agencies. Yeah, I guess for those. , And I think the people in both of those are doing really great at like building more connections, uh, in the music world that have [00:18:00] maybe.
We just haven't really had a ton of that until now.
And
I'm really excited to see like, the Vogue just had Fontaine's DC um, which is like a really popular Irish band, uh, that has, has gotten a lot of attention and whatnot. And they, that that ticket has been sold out since October and they just played last week.
And it is currently, it's currently the beginning of May. So like that is what. Like six, seven months that it's been sold out. And it's crazy that they did that at the Vogue. Um, so like they got that connection through an agent or whatever, and were able to like, make that happen. So I think like we'll slowly start to see more and more of these, like bigger artists come through as these two companies like continue building and continue growing.
Michael Zarick: Yeah,
that's really interesting. Yeah. Amazing.
So why. Um, this is a total pivot. That's fine.
Why did you move to Indianapolis? You said you only lived here for three years?
Kate Grimm: Yeah, yeah. So before I was living in Indy, [00:19:00] I was living in Greencastle. Mm-hmm. Um, and that is like an hour west on 70 in a cornfield.
I went to school at DePauw and then I continued working there. So I spent like 11 years working and living and existing in Greencastle. And, um, shout out to that city. I love Greencastle. Like it is a town of 9,000 people. And, uh, it is, everyone knows each other. Like I've had dinner with the mayor multiple times, like, cool, cool little place, right?
You really feel small town vibes there. Uh, but it also means I spent my twenties living in a cornfield. Which was perhaps not my wisest decision, but definitely what I, it's what I did. It's who I am. And I, like, literally, I turned 30 and I woke up that morning and I thought, I, I can't keep living in a small town throughout the rest of my thirties.
Like I did that in my twenties. I gotta go try something new. I gotta try something different. And, um, [00:20:00] Indy was, seemed like the closest, most accessible place for me to go to. So, I left my job at DePauw and like started to make a life. up here. And I never thought that everyone, everyone when I moved up here, they were like, oh, you're gonna love Indy.
It's the best. Like, you know, you'll build your community and you'll have a great time. And I was like, I was like, okay, but like, I think I wanna move somewhere else. Like I, I don't know. I didn't know where I was like, but I don't know if I wanna stay in Indiana forever. And now here I am three years later and I'm like, God, Indy rocks.
Like I love this place.
Michael Zarick: There's
a weird, I haven't been able to find why. Um, but there was a weird infectious sense when I moved here. I'm from Louis. Infectious
Kate Grimm: is the high, is like the highlighted word of that. Yes. It's something about it as infectious. I'm
from Louisville,
Michael Zarick: Kentucky.
Kate Grimm: Oh,
cool. So
Michael Zarick: I have preconceived notions about Indiana.
Yeah.
Most of them are negative.
Kate Grimm: Well, duh. I'm
from Evansville, so I got a lot of
thoughts about Kentucky. Yes, absolutely.
Michael Zarick: So I was really hesitant. You know, [00:21:00] in turn, like my wife is from here, as I said, and it just sort of like. Why do I wanna move to Indianapolis? but we, as soon as we moved, I was just in the greatest mood.
I don't know what it is. I think a lot of it comes down to this sort of,
Deep identity that you get, in each of the neighborhoods, even though, you know, Indianapolis is, has deep sprawl and it's so big. Like land mass wise. Mm-hmm. I think where you live is sort of like a little fishbowl. Up in Broad Ripple has its own unique feel.
Fletcher Place has its own unique feel. Downtown is even right here. I feel like this, this, the Stutz itself is its own like little neighborhood in a way. Yeah. And with the,
you can you can kind of see it in the background maybe, is the, the hospital building up that's gonna be like a big sort of cultural hub in a way?
Yeah. I think that sort of. of
Uniqueness of the individual pieces of Indianapolis, keeps it feeling connected.
Kate Grimm: Yeah. There's a lot of flavor. There's a lot of like hometown flavor [00:22:00] around here. I have a lot of pride for being a near North sider and like, do I know what that means? No, but like I know that like I love near North Side.
I'm gonna stay there for as long as I can. This is a great little place. I think. I think that Indy has a lot of like. Small town feels for being a larger city. Mm-hmm. And I think a lot of that like is it's still growing into its large city ness. Yeah. If that's a word. Uh, and I think because it's still growing, people feel like they can have their hometown, they can have their feeling, but they can also help build it into becoming something even better down the line.
Mm-hmm. And so I think that there's a lot of. There's a lot of love for realizing, oh gosh, I have an idea and it's not anywhere in this city and I can make this happen. And that's, that's what people want. Like that's what makes them want to build a place here, a home here. Yeah.
Michael Zarick: And I think you've sort of taken that to heart in a lot of ways and what you're doing, you're like, oh, I see this thing.
I'm [00:23:00] gonna take hold of it and like make it my own. Yeah. Um, you know, you're not taking a necessarily active role in that. Mm-hmm. You're not playing the music as you said, but you are helping. Guiding it.
Kate Grimm: Yeah. You know,
Michael Zarick: in a lot of ways. And that's, that, that's powerful.
Kate Grimm: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: So you said you live on the near North side?
Mm-hmm. What, what, is there a more specific neighborhood or No, I don't know every neighborhood. I don't
think so. I
Kate Grimm: think it's, I'm trying near, like when I drive up there is like a little plaque
Michael Zarick: and I, it's like near North Side. Yeah.
Kate Grimm: Uh, I think like it's like near Northside slash Fall Creek. It's like right around there.
Yeah.
So
Michael Zarick: if you were to take me to anywhere in that area, where would you take me? What's the, what's the identity of near North Side?
Kate Grimm: Well, actually tonight
Cracked
Knuckles.
Michael Zarick: Let's go.
Kate Grimm: So there's this, uh, I am, I'm missing a, a city event tonight. 'cause I was like, oh, we've got our, we've got our podcast thing, but, uh, there's this.
There's this field at 25th in the Monan Uhhuh, and it's like 16 acres and they don't [00:24:00] know what to do with it. And so there's like this council meeting that is happening tonight where they're asking the people of near Northside, Fall Creek, the near Northside council, like, what should we do with this?
And I, like, somebody sent it to me, I was like, oh, I gotta go. And then I saw the date and I was like, oh, I can't make it. So if I was gonna take somebody to a place in near Northside currently, I think it would be this weird little. 16 acre patch of field, uh, right off the monon island. I dunno how
safe
Michael Zarick: that would make someone feel.
Kate Grimm: They sh Yeah, no, it's definitely not. There's bugs all over that. There's probably weird people rolling around. There're mid up here,
now
That's right up my alley, but
not for everybody.
So I guess like knowing that one weird field that makes it feel very home, very home.
Are
Michael Zarick: there restaurants or a coffee shop?
Bookstores, your side, anything?
Kate Grimm: No, it's still definitely developing. Um, I guess I'm kind of, I'm kind of close to like 16th and there's like Festiva, there's Atch, there's Provider [00:25:00] Coffee. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Right there. Provider is wonderful. So
Michael Zarick: I think Provider literally provides to a lot of places locally, right? I think
Kate Grimm: so.
I think there were one of them. I, I don't know if there's like multiple ones. I've only ever been to that one. But yeah, I guess like there's like. If it wasn't this random field
and
on the Monan, it would probably be like, yeah, going right there to 16th in the Monan where you've got these cool little coffee shops and there's a cool little wine place called Solely that just opened up.
There seems to be a lot of like neat little things happening right there.
Michael Zarick: I'm gonna ask you, I'm gonna skip ahead mm-hmm. In my questions. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Because I normally ask at the end, but I'm gonna ask you now because I feel like you have a good answer for this because you mentioned the 16 AC acre ac.
Acre field. So I like to ask a question from the previous guest, so keep that in mind till towards the end.
Kate Grimm: Oh gosh.
Michael Zarick: Um, so the question from the previous guest, her name is Jenna, she said, if you could build a third space, what would you build?
Kate Grimm: Oh,
Michael Zarick: Oh, huge. And now [00:26:00] you've
Jesus. And you got a beautiful 16 acre field to go. I know I
got
Kate Grimm: a great 16 acre field.
What would I build there? Well see, I kinda love that it's a field, um.
Michael Zarick: Oh, that's funny.
Kate Grimm: I do love that it's a field, but at the same time, a field can be a
third
Michael Zarick: space.
Kate Grimm: A field can be a third space, but like, it's not like maintained and there's a lot of parks around there. So Oh, part of me, part of me says like,
Michael Zarick: would you want that?
I don't mean to guide your answer. Let's hear. So avoid, you know, don't let me sway you in any way. Would you want that sort of large music venue? Like this is the spot where those large, uh, festivals are taking
place?
Kate Grimm: No, it's way, way too small for that. And it would Oh, really? So annoying. That's like
Michael Zarick: 16 acres or so. They said
Kate Grimm: 16, but like I, you could see the other
side.
Yeah. Yeah. You can see all maybe an acres
Michael Zarick: smaller than we both think it is. I,
Kate Grimm: that's honestly what I'm thinking. Um, or maybe it was six AC acres. Let's see. I think I would wanna put right there. I [00:27:00] do think like a nice little bar on the Monan Trail would be wonderful.
Uh, that's not necessarily accessible for everybody though the Monan is
Michael Zarick: lacking that type of thing.
Kate Grimm: Right. In general, like you can't, you can be walking on the Monan and then oh, I'm tired. I wanna sit for a little bit and hang out. There's not a ton of places to like sit and hang out there. Pots and pies and pans.
I think. Just opened up like a weird little shack on the Monan. I think it's up more broad's like a great idea. And yeah, and like they can get ice cream, you can get like a little like coffee there, something like that. And they have like picnic tables I think out there. So like, I think something like that in this little 16 acre space would be really cool.
That in like a free library. I'm, I, I would never leave that field. Field. Arguably
Michael Zarick: all libraries are free.
Kate Grimm: That's, that's true. But I guess like the little ones are Yeah, I know what you're
it.
Michael Zarick: I would the up towards me on the board. Even a
Kate Grimm: library would be cool.
Yeah. Full library. Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Okay. Who needs a little library?
Kate Grimm: Yeah. It can be a full one.
Michael Zarick: A library with
[00:28:00] a bar in it.
Kate Grimm: Oh, don't get me excited. That's what the people want. Is
that legal? that I think they, there used to be something like that called the Thirsty Scholar that was around here.
Michael Zarick: Um, up near me on the Monan is, um, Half-Liter barbecue. Yeah, it's right on the Monan. Well, obviously it runs directly through Broad Ripple, so there's a couple coffee shops and things. Mm-hmm. But I feel like one the further south you go, 'cause it ends on the end of Mass Ave. Between Mass Avenue and where I live, I feel like it's pretty sparse.
Kate Grimm: Bet. Yeah. I would say I feel like there's a
Michael Zarick: lot of potential there.
Kate Grimm: Yeah, there's probably, and I haven't walked the full Monon that's one of my goals. For the next year is to walk the full Monon. Yeah. I wanna see. But I, I don't think that there's a ton between Mass Ave and right about 16th, um, or not Mass Ave and 16th Ma, uh, Mass Ave up to Broad Ripple. Mm-hmm. Like, I just don't think there's a lot of beautiful nature.
Um, but I think a little, a little watering hole would be great. Yeah. You know.
Michael Zarick: That's what I was thinking. Soda
shop. Soda pop shop.
Kate Grimm: No,
that would be fun.
Michael Zarick: The
[00:29:00] The uh, did you know that you mentioned walking the full Monon, did you know that you can, if you live in Marion County, which is the county we're in mm-hmm. You can get, free access to the Rideshare, the Bike. Rideshare
Kate Grimm: Wait, the Pacers? Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: Really
Kate Grimm: is,
Michael Zarick: this is, I'm not registered for it yet, but I will be because that's like, that's a deal.
Kate Grimm: That's incredible. Yeah. I just paid like. Six bucks. I been, don't do that. I hadn't been on a bike in 20 years. And then last Tuesday I was like, let's try riding a bike.
And so Were you wobbling? Yeah. I can't turn,
I can't turn
I can't turn yet. That's so funny. But it was really fun. And so now I'm sitting here like, maybe I need to buy a trike. I feel like I could be the girl riding up and down the moan on on a trike.
Michael Zarick: That's
funny. Like
Kate Grimm: that's what the people want.
Michael Zarick: Um, yeah. I feel like there's, there's a lot of potential there, but it is free. I'm have to Look into Yeah, I think it's either this is either new or not new and I'm stupid, so like.
Kate Grimm: Either way. We're both new to this city. That's true. It's new to us. Um,
Michael Zarick: so if, let's move outside
the,
the 16 acre field. Mm-hmm. Where in the city are you taking [00:30:00] me? I am here from October.
Kate Grimm: Yeah. And you've never been?
I've never been. You've never been. anywhere?
Michael Zarick: Anywhere?
Kate Grimm: Well, uh, I would probably take you to found Square 'cause there's always something to do in Fountain Square. Mm-hmm. There's always a show going on. Um,
Michael Zarick: I
have been to the white cab. White Rabbit. White Rabbit.
Kate Grimm: Love White rabbit. That was an experience.
Yeah.
What did you do? What did you see? Was it, was it crazy? It was, we went
Michael Zarick: to
see a show titled Bitch
Kate Grimm: Nice.
Michael Zarick: And I, well, so my wife invited me mm-hmm. And her friend invited her and they're like, oh, we're going to see a what's the word?
A burlesque
Burlesque show. Absolutely. And I think they thought it was a drag show.
Oh.
Kate Grimm: And
Michael Zarick: I, I was like, I knew. Yeah. So I was like, okay, I'm gonna go see the burlesque show or whatever. So I walk in and then they start like. Take their taking their titties out. They start. Yeah,
Kate Grimm: they
Michael Zarick: do. And they were like, what? And I was laughing so hard the entire time I was laughing, you know? I was just like, here we are.
Kate Grimm: People get it. Very confused. But it is. It is very different. It's very different. They're both [00:31:00] really cool forms of art. Mm-hmm. But I think that's why Fountain Square is great. Like that can be happening at the same time like a. a.
Like a weird little country band can be playing in Hi-Fi at the same time.
Like a DJ set is taking over the hot chicken place down there. Mm-hmm. Like, there's all kinds of weird music and like little community things that you can do. So I would definitely say I would take somebody that's never been to Indy before. I would take 'em to some show in Fountain Square, and then I would also make them get, uh, the flaming drink at Inferno Room because it's really obnoxious and it would embarrass them.
And I think that's, that's what you do to your friend. Always felt annoying.
Michael Zarick: There was a sushi place in Arkansas we used to love going and one of our favorite rolls was one of the ones they lit on fire. Yeah. It just tasted so good. But it was like they bring this thing to your table, they light it on fire.
You look like an idiot.
Kate Grimm: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: But you're like, I'm loving this. Yeah. Right. Right.
Kate Grimm: It's like, oh. It's like, it's like the person that orders fajitas at the Mexican restaurant and it's like loud and
Michael Zarick: sizzling. Yeah. And everybody's like,
Kate Grimm: we get it. [00:32:00]
Michael Zarick: No shame. No shame. No shame here.
Kate Grimm: No shame.
Michael Zarick: No shame.
Um, all right. So you've kind of answered so many things.
Is there anything you want to talk about?
Kate Grimm: I just think the arts are really great and they're thriving in Indy, and I am really excited to see like where they continue to grow.
Michael Zarick: I feel like your involvement with art goes even further beyond music. Um, and I'd love to hear more about that because you worked at Pattern.
Yeah. And Pattern is a local fashion magazine?
Kate Grimm: Well, so it was
question
mark. It Yeah. It Pattern is now. They work on the creative economy. They like do a lot of
work. work. They trying to promote it now, so there's still a magazine, but they work really hard to like, try and make Indy a great place for artists to like live and work.
Mm-hmm. Here. And, uh, I like love the work that they're doing. I think it's amazing. I, my entire arts journey started off in theater and then I realized I cannot be an actor. That is not a lifestyle I wanna lead. And I [00:33:00] then like, went through magazine and books and everything. I've kind of dabbled in just about everything.
Um. And found that like, admin is really the place for me. Mm-hmm. But yeah, I, I think that Indianapolis is a really great place for an artist to start something up and to start something new. Thinking about Chris upstairs with Romanis Records, like he, this guy is like getting record construction deals with like, Slipknot or, um, that's awesome.
Any of like, like other. Outkast, like Eminem, like things cool people. Right. Um, wanna work with him names, capital names, names that we know. Capital N names. Exactly. And like that all started here in Indy. Yeah. It's kind of crazy that there's something that cool here.
Michael Zarick: I feel like there's a really large so I was looking for intro music for my podcast.
And I just typed in like cool Indianapolis local musicians. This is like the lamest thing you can do. Oh yeah. I came across some interesting people. But I felt like there was a ton of like hip hop artists
Kate Grimm: [00:34:00] Yeah.
Michael Zarick: That are local, which I'm really interested to investigate that a little more. But there's, it's, there's all sorts of people Oh, yeah.
Um, that are doing crazy unique things. The person who I ended up contacting, her name is Jennasen She, oh,
Kate Grimm: that name's familiar. Probably have run into her at some point. Yeah.
Michael Zarick: And she was very kind to give me her. Or, um, music, but I feel like I was so impressed by the variety and the uniqueness as well as the talent.
Mm-hmm. I think when you think local artists, you think like low skill? Potentially. Yeah. Especially when you're outside the scene like me, when you don't know, you don't know. Yeah. But these people are like, really?
They've got it going on.
Kate Grimm: Yeah. Like
our musicians are great at crafting music. Like they've dedicated their lives to doing that.
Um, regardless of whether they went to college for it or not, like they have spent a lot of time crafting that we're sitting in the Stutz by some really wild pieces of art right now. And like, it's kind of crazy to think that like this cool thing is [00:35:00] made by somebody that probably, you know, has a studio here.
I also noticed we're
sitting
Michael Zarick: next to a sign that says Podcast Studio, but we're sitting in the middle of a
a
giant room. We really, we, uh, should have maybe investigated that for, we should have
Kate Grimm: figured that one out. Yeah. Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Kate Grimm: No. I think there's a lot of quality art being produced in Indy and it's, it's up to the, to the lay person to go and find it.
'cause it's, it's here and once you people, once you find your little way into it, it's like this huge space that you can, that you can explore.
Michael Zarick: Yeah. That's wonderful. One of the main guiding sort of reasons I made this podcast. Just because Anna, my wife, and I would go on walks around our neighborhood, and I've told this story before on here, but, um, I'd started to notice these murals everywhere on people's garages.
Kate Grimm: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Um, and I was like, I want to know who did that, that was, it's just such a simple question.
Kate Grimm: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Um, and I was very, the very first podcast guest I had was [00:36:00] the artist who did that. Her name is Megan Jefferson. Oh.
Kate Grimm: Oh, cool.
Michael Zarick: Um, she's pretty commonly known up here, but no one I mentioned. No, I was gonna say,
Kate Grimm: I know that it's starts with an m
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
And
Kate Grimm: And
then once you said that, she's, that one, I was like, oh, yeah. Yeah. I've seen her work.
Michael Zarick: So just sort of like the discovery of art that you enjoy. Yeah. And then, you know, seeking it out further is really something I, I, I'm really interested to actually, there's um, a couple murals that are clearly done by the same artist on Mass Ave. that. I have a name associated with it. I don't have it written down anywhere, but I know that I can seek that person out. Yeah. That's really exciting.
Kate Grimm: Yeah. Art In is a wonderful third space for, it is a super accessible third space for a lot of people. Like an art gallery, an art opening doesn't have to be for, you know, only people that drink.
It doesn't have to be for people, , that don't have kids. Like it can be a community for, for everyone. art galleries. Books like local [00:37:00] poetry slams, like things like that. It's, it's a wonderful, wonderful third space that also engages your brain. And I think in a really healthy and like, exciting way, um, a lot of people just ingest a lot of media.
Uh, I do it like I'm, I'm 10 seasons into Hell's Kitchen right now. Like I am, I'm doing it. But am I sitting there thinking about Gordon Ramsey and what he's saying? No. I'm just like taking it in. But I am sitting here, I've actually been sitting here looking at this painting over here thinking like, what?
What in the guppy? Snap a photo of it. Yeah. Right. We'll show it on there where like there's like a guppy and a rat hanging out or something and like I've been sitting here thinking about that the whole time. So I think it Art is a wonderful third space, can be a wonderful third space and a great way to engage your mind and your brain into thinking of something new.
Hmm.
Michael Zarick: Do you feel like Indianapolis has like a city or a government? I think I know what your answer is gonna [00:38:00] be. I'm a very positive
Kate Grimm: person. You never know. Yeah. Do you
Michael Zarick: feel
like there's a lot of support?
Kate Grimm: Oh, I'm not that positive.
Michael Zarick: I, it's funny that you say that 'cause I, Megan actually felt differently.
She felt like there, and or even beyond that, like ignoring the government. Um, you know, is there a community support for it? City Support? City and the like, the people?
Kate Grimm: Yeah, I think that the people, yeah. I think of first Fridays, those are really big days for artists. Um, like more traditional forms of artists, right.
Painters and sculptors. And so you've got the Stutz, you've got the Murphy building, you've got, it's the Factory Arts District. Is that. I keep calling it farts and it's not farts, it's F-A-R-D-S. So
that's
Michael Zarick: their fault though.
That's
Kate Grimm: on them. Like what am I supposed to do?
FARDS is FARDS is basically there FARDS
basically there you've got the Harrison Center, so like there's four right there that are these big places that you can just like go and roam and walk. And if you go to any of them on a Friday, on a First Friday, they're packed [00:39:00] with people. So I think that, yeah, the Indy. Community loves and respects art. Um, I'm not well versed on it enough to know if the government does, but I do think that the people of Indianapolis love art, and we could really see that.
When, uh, what was that basketball thing that came around? You were not here for it. I was not here. You were not here for it. They installed a bunch of really cool basketball installations.
Oh, I think Oh, I think
I did hear about it. Allstar All
Allstar game came through. Oh, that's what
Michael Zarick: it was. That's
cool.
Kate Grimm: Yeah, and people loved
it.
Michael Zarick: So that's wonderful. Great. So that's, that's pretty much all I have. Is there anything else you wanna speak on?
Kate Grimm: No, No, I, I talk entirely too much sometimes, so, no, I think I've said everything that I can think of about
Michael Zarick: Indiana third spaces.
I hinted this at this earlier though. Mm-hmm. I have one last question. Uhhuh. What question would you like to ask the next person? It can be anything. It does not have to be related to art or third spaces.
Kate Grimm: Okay.
Okay.
It doesn't, but should it be have up other people been doing that?
Michael Zarick: A couple people got kind of like,
would've been existential
with it.
Kate Grimm: Oh. [00:40:00] So I would've been, the other questions
I don't
Michael Zarick: wanna share. No, I don't wanna guide you in any way.
Oh,
Kate Grimm: I Oh,
I wanna know what the people
are doing. The,
Michael Zarick: My, I
I don't wanna say favorite. I don't like saying favorites, but the question that I found most. Unique was from my second guest, um, Mark. He said, if you were not afraid, what would you do?
Which is like, really?
That is gold.
It's like, ooh,
you're
Kate Grimm: if you were not afraid, what would
you do? But don't take that one.
No, I can't. I can't do that one. All right. My question to the next person is, who would win in a fight? The skeleton guy that's in a Hundred Acres at Newfields or the big statue in the square.
What's her name? Like Lady Liberty or something? Those who, who would win in a fight?
Michael Zarick: That's really funny. I don't even know who that, I probably have to download a picture of the skeleton guy at Newfields. Yeah,
Kate Grimm: if you, obviously not a John Green reader or else Yeah, he's, he's featured in The Fault in Our Stars.
Oh,
Michael Zarick: okay.
Kate Grimm: He's,
Michael Zarick: I have Read
Fault in Our [00:41:00] Stars and I've seen the movie Oh, but that was.
A
A decade ago.
Kate Grimm: No, then yeah, no, you can't be expected to remember a book from a decade ago. I, I stand by that. Yeah, no, he's like this big bones, big,
Michael Zarick: big bones, big
Kate Grimm: bones looking guy. And then is it
like the,
Michael Zarick: the Home Depot skeleton?
Kate Grimm: No, it's on the ground and it's kind of like, it's like a rock formation, like painted should
formation. It's
Michael Zarick: super cool. Alright, John Green, if you're out there, let's go. The goal of the podcast is to get you on, so please listen.
Kate Grimm: Keep my fingers crossed for you. I don't have connections. Your agent. Have your agent.
Call
Michael Zarick: my agent and my agent is just me. So, um thank you Kate for joining me on.
Third Space Indy
Yeah, thank you. Sod hit me with a high five bang Okay.
Michael here. Thank you so much to Kate Grim for joining me on this episode of Third Space Indy You can find more about Indianapolis' Tonic Ball at tonicball.org
Third Space Indy is produced, edited, and [00:42:00] created right here in Indianapolis, Indiana, by myself, Michael Zarick
To get updates on Third Space Indy you can follow along at Third Space Indy on Instagram. You can also visit our webwebsite at thirdspaceindy.com, where you can also sign up for the weekly email newsletter I send out in regard to each episode and
I also do some writing on the side for other random community-based topics that come to mind.
Thank you so much to the local artist Jennasen for offering me the ability to use her song Scared Rabbit as the theme music for Third Space Indy.
And as always, thank you so much for listening. I hope to share the next episode of Third Space Indy with you.