We recently connected with Tanner Sutton Ciemntha Kosechata and have shared our conversation below.
We look forward to hearing all of your stories today about The Garden DIY. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?
If you make it out to a concert, you can find proudly displayed front and center on our refrigerator, the first dollar we earned at The Garden. Last September, we hosted our first concert, and a friend thoughtfully grabbed a purple Sharpie and wrote the date to commemorate the night. It’s a wonderful daily reminder of all the great memories and new friends we have earned along the way. We appreciate the community we have and continue to build, and it all started with that dollar!
We love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce The Garden DIY to our readers?
The Garden DIY is an underground concert space in the urban core of Kansas City that hosts monthly themed concerts which feature both local and out-of-town artists and bands. Co-founders Tanner Sutton and Ciemantha Kosechata used their mutual love of music and providing a unique space for artists to perform to create The Garden in September 2022. Each bringing many different talents to the table, the concept of taking an extra-large backyard and building a stage to host concerts took less than a month to come to life. In August 2022, Tanner brought up the idea of building a stage to have concerts while sitting on the back deck, and our friends joked around about how many plants Ciemantha has in the backyard, so The Garden was an obvious choice as a name. Ciemantha created a logo and began building a social media presence while Tanner worked on finding artists to perform. Trees taller than our 3-story house were cut down, and a 20×20 foot stage was built so that by the following month, The Garden could start rocking. Each monthly concert has a fun theme to keep things exciting. We also do our best to provide a variety of different types of musicians to grace our stage, so that everyone can feel The Garden can be a place for them. The Garden provides a fun and laid-back opportunity for new artists to have the chance to perform, sometimes for the first time publicly, but also provides a chance for more established artists to continue to grow their fan and audience base. Since its inception, The Garden has continued to grow by partnering with local organizations with the same goals in mind to host weekly Open Mics with featured performers at different locations in the Kansas City metropolitan area. We’ve partnered with The Combine (A Local Restaurant) on Tuesday’s and Art Garden KC (A weekly Arts Festival) at Berkley Riverfront Park on Sunday’s, and we continue to look for opportunities to help businesses and creatives showcase the best versions of themselves. Additionally, The Garden has also begun hosting events for traveling musicians making a stop in KC and for album release concerts. If there is a way we can help bring a creative idea to life through music in KCMO, let us know!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
We find pure joy in watching artists that have performed at The Garden collaborate to strengthen the amazing community we’re lucky to be a part of. We’ve seen local and out-of-town artists in “The Garden Family” book events from connections they have made and even form new bands with each other! Hearing our new friends release music or reach new achievements creates a swelling sense of pride, like “Hey, I know them! That’s awesome!” Listening to someone describe to a friend that The Garden is their favorite place to hear live music or perform because it’s such a great vibe, like no place they’ve been before, makes all the hard work worthwhile.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
Our mission is to provide good vibes and a safe, comfortable space for artists where they can make connections, and share their incredible talents with our community, in an atmosphere that feels like home.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegarden_kc_diy/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegardendiy
- Other: https://linktr.ee/thegardenkcdiy?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=fb4b7f30-fd05-49e0-9e87-78f4eda0a1aa