On a Thursday evening in October, about 40 people are gathered in a small building in downtown Columbia. They’re celebrating the opening of Nightjar Arts Collective, a space dedicated to local artists, writers and activists.
Nightjar began as an idea in May. Its building formerly housed stop-gap projects, an artist-run gallery and project space. When that organization’s three-and-a-half-year tenure ended in June, director Anna Wehrwein sought creatives in the area to take over the lease.
She introduced poet Cass Donish, writer Ruth Joffre and organizer Cristina Mislán in hopes they would keep the spirit of the space alive.
Each had their own ideas of filling the gaps in Columbia’s art community: Donish and Joffre wanted to teach creative writing classes, and Mislán wanted a community space that highlighted the intersection of art and activism.
The ideas felt too distinct to exist in the same space. But Mislán said the trio found common ground in their values.
“Part of it was conceptualizing this, not to necessarily as a capitalist endeavor, but as a hyperlocal space for artists and writers and organizers in Columbia, which is something that I think is missing,” Mislán said.
Donish said all three founders wanted to harness the literary and arts energy that comes from events such as the Unbound Book Festival—which only happens once a year.
“There are not a lot of places that offer actual creative writing classes that are independent, not connected to a college or university,” Donish said.
From those conversations, Nightjar emerged as a communal third place that aims to help local artists, writers, and activists develop their skills and build community.
Joffre said their conversations about what was missing from Columbia’s art scene required them to include who was missing, choosing to center transgender, queer and people of color in their work.
“We're really thinking about who would not necessarily have access to the kinds of education that we've had,” Joffre said.
Opening night
Five months after meeting, people file into the back room of Nightjar. They listen intently as writers’ voices fill the space with selected readings of their personal collections.
Donish and Joffre share prose and poetry from their collections. Nightjar also invited poets Safa Khatib and Melissa Ferrer Civil, who focus on the intersection of art and activism in their work.
Khatib said she draws inspiration from how incarcerated writers and artists have shaped arts and political movements.
“A lot of what we call culture in this country we imagine as divorced from the prison,” Khatib said. “But it actually begins int he prison, and that's internationally too. I think about how many Palestinian political prisoners have been at the center of so much of Palestinian literature.”
Civil is Kansas City’s first poet laureate. She read from a variety of works, focusing on poems about liberation and global solidarity.
Civil said the narrative power art holds makes it inherently political for marginalized communities.
“By saying that it has no power and it's a nice to have, rather than a have to have, is also to denounce the reality that art has played for the entire history of humanity,” Civil said.
That’s a principle the founders of Nightjar hold dear. They believe the root of art and activism is community.
Aspirations for the future
The collective is committed to making NightJar a space for all, regardless of income. The collective offers creative writing classes on a tiered sliding scale with three pricing options.
The organizers believe alleviating costs reduces one of the many barriers that prevents people from engaging with the arts.
Nightjar is registered as a limited liability corporation (LLC) instead of a nonprofit, allowing it to host a variety of fundraisers.
Joffre said they chose this to be able to support as many causes that resonate with their mission as possible.
“We did not want to limit our speech, because we were trying to cultivate a big donor,” Joffre said. “We didn't want to limit what we could achieve with the space because we were worried that[donors]would be afraid.”
Proceeds from opening night went to CoMo Mobile Aid Collective, an organization dedicated to serving Columbia’s unhoused community.
Nightjar plans to host more fundraisers, including for the group Missourians for Justice in Palestine.
Joffre said turning profit isn’t the most important thing for this collective.
“I think for now, it's really about [figuring out] what can we do with this space?” Joffre said. “What can we do for the community?”
While Nightjar explores this question and others, the space created by three strangers aspires to turn more strangers into artists, activists, and friends.
