Russell RockwellSince 1995, Under the Couch (UtC) has served as a link between Georgia Tech and Atlanta, allowing students to interact with other musicians in the city while serving as a pivotal venue in the university’s arts and music ecosphere. Thanks to the eternally shifting nature of our city’s music scene, the role of UtC has changed over its history. Although the space most often serves as a home to DIY projects from Tech students, its status as an incubator is critical for the greater local music community. Fond memories of UtC’s bigger shows, from Underoath to Titus Andronicus, are easy to focus on, but the real magic of the venue lies in its holistic mission of combining live music with a place for musicians to record, practice, and collaborate.
Earlier this year, plans began to materialize for a new campus center on Tech’s campus. As things now stand, construction will begin in 2020 on the Wenn Student Center, a multi-purpose building which will more than double the size of the current center. Everything appeared well and good, that is until the Student Center administration decided that UtC as currently organized occupies too much space. In the eyes of Lindsay Bryant, director of the Student Center, there are only benefits to splitting UtC into disparate parts, allowing more students to utilize practice spaces and recording booths, while coincidentally giving the administration more power over the usage of the new Student Center.
As a result, the relationship between the administration and the Musician’s Network, the student-led organization which operates UtC, has been somewhat strained over the past year as the former has worked to assert more control over event booking at UtC. Members of the Musician’s Network believe that the proposed changes to UtC will handcuff their ability to host DIY shows, particularly events for bands that aren’t comprised of Tech students.
Photo courtesy of the Musician’s Network
Still, the biggest issue facing the venue is the administration’s desire to split the various facets of the organization into separate parts throughout the new Student Center. While the Musician’s Network would still have access to practice spaces, recording rooms, and a stage for events, each area would occupy a different space within the building, diluting the Musician’s Network’s holistic ideal, and diminishing their ability to work as a sanctuary and hub for musicians. It’s evidence that the administration doesn’t understand some of the basic tenets of DIY music, the result of which is that even their most ambitious designs for the new center miss the mark in regards to actually helping the Musician’s Network fulfill their mission.
I spoke with the president of the Musician’s Network, Heath Murphy, earlier this year, and he was reluctant to discuss the ongoing negotiations because he believed progress was being made behind closed doors. But in late September, Murphy and the rest of the organization’s leadership met with Bryant in an effort to reach a compromise that would allow UtC to continue in a form similar to its current one. Although the meeting was enlightening, it didn’t engender any further headway. Instead, it demonstrated how the administration views the Musician’s Network simply as another extracurricular club.
A condensed version of the meeting’s minutes is still available on UtC’s website, and it serves as further proof of the discrepancy between the Musician’s Network and the administration regarding the actual function of UtC, specifically in regards to how the space is used for shows. One of Murphy’s prime concerns is that even the small theater, which was designed with dance performances and stage productions in mind, won’t be the best fit for indie shows. But Bryant seems to believe that the very existence of multiple performance spaces should satisfy the needs of the Musician’s Network. When asked why aspects of UtC are being generalized while comparable organizations Paper and Clay and the student-run radio station WREK aren’t facing changes, Bryant replies, “The niche traits of these organizations as well as UtC are being maintained; these are aspects that cannot be replicated in a generic space.”
The implication is that UtC isn’t being changed in any noticeable manner, at least according to the administration. This dissonance has been the biggest factor preventing the Musician’s Network and the administration from reaching a coherent agreement. Until this gap is bridged, the administration will continue to believe that they’re doing everything in their power to help the Musician’s Network who will, in turn, continue to feel ignored and exploited. Claire Lacomb, the Musician’s Network vice president, claims that the disagreement goes beyond a matter of control, and will have measurable effects on the their ability to organize and coordinate shows.
Photo courtesy of the Musician’s Network
Like other venues, UtC is constantly set up for performances or practice, but if the Musician’s Network is required to reserve a space, most likely the small theater, it would be impossible to remain set up continually, not to mention the issues with transport of gear and storage. Lacomb believes that the current plans would reduce the Musician’s Network’s ability to host shows from 7-10 times a semester to as little as once a semester. Furthermore, she argues these logistical hurdles will affect more than the booking of performances.
“The Student Center constantly claims that the current Under the Couch isn’t ‘multi-use’ friendly,” Macomb elaborates. “Under the Couch during the day is a true multi-use space that accommodates casual conversation, studying, napping, and eating lunch. Nowhere else on campus sees that range of use in one area.”
Maria Sotnikova, a Tech alum who DJ’d at WREK and co-founded the popular UtC event JORTSFEST, goes even further, claiming that by making these changes Tech will undermine the institution’s own motto. “The way Musician’s Network managed the Under the Couch space allowed me and many other students to serve the music and arts community at Georgia Tech,” she says. “Placing further restrictions on the space and how Musician’s Network can operate it, in my opinion, would halt all the 23 years of progress made by the space so far, flying in the face of the Institute’s motto of ‘Progress and Service.’”
Though there’s still time for discussion, it seems that the administration has made their decision. When I reached out to Bryant’s office, the responses were considerate, but had a whiff of finality. Kate Curnow, the department’s communications director, continues to believe that all of the Musician’s Network’s needs will be met in the new space, despite continued complaints from Murphy and the rest of UtC leadership. “The design team is working hard to provide meaningful and flexible services and spaces to as many student groups and programs as possible,” Curnow explains. It’s a sensible strategy, but one that doesn’t explain why in a building that will occupy twice the space of the current Student Center, there won’t be room for the elements that make UtC unique.
To be fair to the administration, many of the plans for the new Student Center are structural improvements that will be advantageous to the Tech student body as a whole. Curnow claims the new recording booths will be “one of the most expensive spaces per square foot in the new building.” The 600 square foot spaces will feature state of the art soundproofing and recording gear, a marked improvement from the current recording spaces at UtC.
Even if one can fault them for not understanding the specific benefits of UtC, it’s still easy to understand their decision in regards to the university as a whole. In the grand scheme of Tech student life, the Musician’s Network is a niche organization that serves a small segment of the student population. The lynchpin of this perspective is that the Student Center administration believe their responsibility is to the Tech student body, but they divorce this responsibility from a responsibility to the Atlanta community as a whole, ignoring the symbiosis inherent to DIY arts and music. According to Curnow, “Georgia Tech’s primary responsibility is to our students and to the larger campus community. The proposed changes will better serve both musicians on campus and the greater community.” Although the administration’s focus on the student body is rational, it seems naïve to believe that by diluting the work of the Musician’s Network they will better serve the greater community of Atlanta.
Still, the fight for the identity of UtC isn’t over. A petition to save the current status of UtC garnered over 1800 signatures and the Musician’s Network recently worked with student government to pass a continuing resolution that reinforces the key tenets of UtC. The resolution, which aims to demonstrate a united front to the administration, also received support from the alumni association. This is further evidence that the Musician’s Network will continue to push for their own existence as the administration moves towards their own goals.
Still, despite the slow gains, Lacomb remains hopeful. “A vote of confidence from the Student Government Association goes a long way in proving the student body support we believe we have for the inclusion of Under the Couch in the new Campus Center,” she says. “Often it seems that the Campus Center administration is valuing the needs of administrative programs over the needs of students, so the resolution means that we are giving students more of a clear and concise position in what they want in the building they are paying for.” In the long run, however, support from the student government will only go so far if the administration continues to believe that their current designs will adequately serve the needs of the Musician’s Network.
Despite the optimistic rhetoric from both sides, the reality is more stark. While planning won’t be finalized until sometime in 2019, if no satisfactory agreement can be reached, UtC might have to eke out a new form of existence in the Student Center. Or perhaps, as Murphy believes, they’ll be able to find another space on campus. Whatever the outcome, however, Lacomb says UtC’s commitment to serve as a bridge between Georgia Tech and the local music community remains as steadfast as ever. “Any mention of our value as an Atlanta institution is interpreted as our desire to separate ourselves from Georgia Tech. This is so not the case. We are all Georgia Tech students who would have a much lesser connection to the Atlanta scene if it weren’t for Under the Couch.”
As of now, the Musician’s Network and the administration continue to face a sizable disconnect. As long as the divide remains, Tech students and Atlanta musicians will both suffer.