We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dylan Healy a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Dylan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
Spirit Link is a benefit compilation album I curated and released last December through the label I run, Funnybone Records. It’s a collection of music by many of my favorite artists both in my local community and around the world. All profits from album sales are being raised for an amazing local nonprofit called Hartford Communities That Care. For 25 years, they’ve been keeping Hartford’s most vulnerable residences safe, empowered, and educated, while trying to equalize and level the playing field in a city where so many marginalized communities too often get overlooked.
The album features artwork by designers Gabriela Mims and Brian Neagle; their artwork was actually just submitted for GRAMMYs consideration for best album packaging! The record features original music (most of which is exclusive to the album) by artists such as Hana Stretton, Blue Ranger, Babehoven, Nina Ryser, Mother Juniper, Darling, Ciarra Fragale, Zanders, Greetings…. and more. The songs are unreal– it feels like the perfect sampler of our corner in the music-sphere.
After running the label for 7 years and producing a handful of other benefit compilations over the years, this one has become the most meaningful project to me personally; it feels like the paradigm of what I’ve aspired to create in and with my community.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
It’s been important to me to embrace a bunch of different roles in music, in art, and in education. Call it restlessness or the eternal pursuit of happiness, but my curiosities to create, connect and learn are literally never satiated.
I am a composer, performer, curator, and record producer. I’m also the frontperson of a band called Stadia, which is named after my formative Dungeons & Dragons character (don’t judge). I’m also a member of bands with my best friends, including Figurine, Carey, Changeling, Tinker and more.
Fresh out of undergrad, I started an independent record label called Funnybone Records, which just turned 7 years old. Having lived in Connecticut my entire life, I could see that this state is a special place with so many talented people, but not enough opportunities nor platforms to promote those talents. As a result, a really inspiring do-it-yourself mindset has been continuously fostered around the state, where collaboration clearly prevails over competition. The label’s mission is to participate in the elevation of artists by producing opportunities to create/perform/showcase, creating reasons to gather/commune, and by connecting creatives to the resources they need to flourish.
In response to the new norm of the abhorrent model of streaming royalties, I started booking shows and festivals in college to create more direct sources of revenue for artists. After graduating, I co-operated a venue called Wherehouse, and have since produced well over 100 live events around New England as a curator, concert promoter and tour manager.
These days, I’m currently working on scoring an album of poetry, performing improvisational harp duets, writing the next Stadia album, hosting a series of secret location shows, and planning the third issue of a community arts journal I run, called Import Sky.
Outside of music, I am an educator, rock climber & plant dad.
Drop me a line if you’d ever like to connect or collaborate!
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
On a small scale: If an artist’s work has had any sort of impact on you, let them know! Shout them out, buy their music/art/merch, commission them for projects, attend their shows/openings, advocate for them. I’ll do that right now… please check out the great work done by those who ceaselessly inspire me: Aislin Magazine, Cafeteria Media, Connecticu*t, Blind Moose Studios, Sans Serif Recording, Kicker Pictures, Tiny Box Booking, GoldFlakePaint, School of Song, COURTVISION, The Lot Radio, JOLT, Double Yolk Record House, Ruem, SoundSoup, Eugene Junior, Palm Wine, BL&D, No Fun, Bloody Knuckles, Leaving Records, Citrus City, Julia’s War, BAD, Linnea Fiedler-Hoerle, Meltycats, Teep, [untitled], Perfectly Imperfect…it goes on and on….
I was recently talking to a collaborator, Brett Maddux, about how many vacant storefronts there are in our city. On a larger scale, I’d love to see cities (especially smaller ones like Hartford) create opportunities for artists and small businesses to activate vacant spaces rent-free for their first year of leasing. This could allow them to pilot their footprint in the community and posture them for more sustainable success, especially once rent kicks in after their first year in the space. I’m confident that something like that could lead to longterm economic growth and artistic development.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
To me, there’s nothing more powerful than connecting with others, or more rewarding than creating something meaningful out of thin air.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.funnybonerecords.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dylanhealy
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylan-healy-382075126/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbgXZ7UB4xM6NSasTksXsfA
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-993462633
- Other: https://funnybonerecords.bandcamp.com/music
Image Credits
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