The Union places a high value on art.  Therefore, The Union places a high value on the artist.  We strive to create an environment where respect, attention, and appreciation for the music, film, or art is paramount.  Unlike other venues where the music is merely a marketing tool to sell more products (drinks, food, merchandise), the primary product at The Union is experiencing the artist’s work.  It is a true “listening room” or “viewing room” that attracts people who want to interact with the art, the artist him/herself, and fellow viewers.  While the atmosphere is certainly vibrant and interactive, when the art speaks, people listen.  Many musicians long for such audiences, and would describe the level of payment for a gig to be secondary to an audience who truly wants to engage with their work.

While professional staff members are needed to handle ultimate responsibilities for booking and operations, well-trained and motivated students can run most aspects of The Union.  This is not just a ploy for inexpensive labor, it is core to The Union’s continued relevance and grassroots momentum.  If there is a firm sense of ownership by the generations that have a pulse on the issues of the age, they will help book the right artists, attract the right crowd, and create the right change.  This keeps the atmosphere from turning “corporate.” While it may mean some bumps and hiccups along the road, it keeps it raw and real.

The Union is anchored in a particular community, and therefore supports, reflects and influences that particular community.  A small local venue can only survive if it is supported by local musicians and local music fans, and concerns itself with the needs and issues particular to the local culture.   While The Union also hosts and supports national and international artists and causes, the force that drives ongoing success is strong local partnerships.   For The Union, this is done through connections with local musician and artist communities, and with social service agencies and non-profit organizations.

Because of The Union’s close connection to educational institutions and students, it becomes an ideal experiential learning environment in formal and informal ways.  Without a pre-conceived plan, The Union has been a real-world classroom for students studying entrepreneurship, accounting, business, marketing, interactive media, music, art, journalism, broadcasting, sociology, leadership, and other disciplines.

 Only thing worse than a rock star is a rock star with a conscious, a celebrity with a cause.
– U2’s Bono, in a commencement speech to Harvard graduates

Music and social change have been partners for a long time (women’s movement, worker’s movement, civil rights, etc). The generic definition of social change is “the alteration of mechanisms within the social structure, characterized by changes in cultural symbols, rules of behavior, social organizations, or value systems.” The Union holds a view of social change that is informed by a biblical understanding of justice.  It is this ethic that drives The Union to be an incubator for action.

‘”I was 17 when I first saw The Clash, and it just sounded like revolution. I was the kid in the crowd who took it at face value. Later I learned that a lot of the rebels were in it for the T-shirt. They’d wear the boots but they wouldn’t march. They’d smash bottles on their heads but they wouldn’t go to something more painful like a town hall meeting.  I didn’t expect change to come so slow, so agonizingly slow. I didn’t realize that the biggest obstacle to political and social progress wasn’t the Free Masons, or the Establishment, or the boot heal of whatever you consider ‘the Man’ to be, it was something much more subtle. [It was] a combination of our own indifference and the Kafkaesque labyrinth of ‘no’s you encounter as people vanish down the corridors of bureaucracy.”
– Bono

Art is a reflection of God’s creativity, evidence that we are made in theimage of God.
–  Francis Schaeffer

The Union was born out of a biblically-rooted, gospel-motivated Christian understanding of the world.  It’s through this lens that we understand our role in God’s larger creation-fall-redemption story. That being said, we are not a Christian music venue.

“Music falls into one of those mysterious in-between places—the kind the ancients believed was prone to magic. Like the mythological space between night and day, darkness and light, or the present and the future, music inhabits a place somewhere between our mind, emotions, and soul—and it colors all of them. Across cultures and through all ages, music has moved mountains. Its power is beyond language and laws. It can motivate a nation to war, move a soul to repentance, or sell a Slinky. It was created by God with special power and usefulness. It is a strong tool that, like a sharp blade or large hammer, can be used for good or ill.”
– John Thompson, creative director at EMI Music

The operation of The Union should be structured in a way that is self-sustaining.  Whether or not that includes an allocated budget from the host organization, the social entrepreneurship model necessitates financial competency.  Because small music venues are not traditionally revenue machines, this requires keeping overhead low, using inexpensive but effective promotion, and budgeting each event with the potential to break even.  Ideally, artists are also paid a respectable rate, and ticket prices are kept to a reasonable fee.  These competing goals are often difficult to achieve, but with creativity and hard work, it is possible.

The Union hopes to cultivate an atmosphere that feels more like an extended family gathering than like the crowd in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles.  This means welcoming both artists and fans with true care and concern.  For artists, this includes paying attention to contract and rider details, providing appropriate meals and lodging, and going the extra mile (or 3 miles to Guitar Center) when needed.  Hospitality starts from the first email or phone interaction through the final settlement or post-show meal.  It also means personally responding to each request to perform at The Union, even when very few requests can be granted.  For fans and attendees, the same level of hospitality applies.  Meeting special needs (like saving comfortable chairs for pregnant women) and making special memories (birthday wishes, engagements from stage) should be commonplace.  In the words of St. Benedict, “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ.”