Connect the Dots is a Gainesville music, media and art collaboration that highlights artists who give voice to marginalized communities through their creations.
On Wednesday, Jan. 16, the Civic Media Center will host Connect the Dots’ show with several artists from these marginalized communities. These artists will perform live music and speak for those in the Gainesville community who have not been given a voice. The show features the band Rent Strike, She/Her/Hers and a local solo artist called “Sometimes I’m Very Loud, And Sometimes I’m Very Quiet.” Doors will open at 8 p.m. and the show will start at 9 p.m.
Connect the Dots was established in March 2018.
“This impacts the Gainesville arts community because it builds a bridge between the arts and local activism,” Manuela Osorio, Connect the Dots founder, said. “I am most excited to meet the traveling musicians and hear their tales from their hometown and being on the road.”
All artists performing at this event are members of marginalized communities, said Osorio. The artists aim to express the passions and ideas of those who are ignored in society, such as minorities and the LGBTQ community. The Civic Media Center acts as a sanctuary for these artists to shed light on social and political issues.
Both Rent Strike and She/Her/Hers play music that is political in nature. Osorio says their lyrics range on topics from gender abolition to mental-health issues.
Robin Best, a 22-year-old UF international studies senior, will be performing under the name “Sometimes I’m Very Loud, And Sometimes I’m Very Quiet.”
Her sound is inspired by an orchestra concept of dynamic contrast, which she says is really expressive by drastically changing her volume.
A solo acoustic artist, her sound is inspired by her diverse musical background. She began piano, guitar and the bassoon in her middle school years, and started singing in high school, where she learned about African choir and the sounds from South African music.
Best defines her specific sound today as acoustic punk rock. She draws much of her inspiration from other punk bands such as Mitski and Girlpool.
“As a woman, I feel like I’m supposed to be quiet and I’m not supposed to say what’s on my mind because it might be offensive or emotional,” she said. “Listening to those bands showed me that my voice is valuable and doesn’t have to be pretty like girls are supposed to be.”
The main marginalized communities she hopes to reach at Wednesday's event are those struggling with mental health and people who are bisexual.
Best said she identifies as part of the bisexual community, which is often ignored in popular culture because most people think of sexuality in terms of gay or straight.
Best’s music also reaches out to those who deal with anxiety and depression, hoping to communicate the importance of mental health. Best herself has struggled with these diseases and hopes to impact the lives of others with mental health difficulties.
“I just want to promote some healing. To heal, you have to feel the pain,” Best said. “A lot of my lyrics talk about how to be sad and be okay at the same time. You can still be sad and be okay.”
