By Alisha Proffitt
Photos by Kathryn Harrington
The Monarch Music and Arts Community recently celebrated its 2 year anniversary. In June, the VOICE-TRIBUNE staff took a field trip of sorts out to The Monarch to celebrate this milestone, show our support, and enjoy all of the unique and special experiences The Monarch has to offer. I later met up with Founder, Mark Roberts to share more about his journey and future visions for The Monarch and artists in our city since we last checked-in 2023.
The Monarch is a 501(c)(3), member-supported, non-profit organization. “We don’t sell anything here, the goal is to keep our doors open with the help of folks that want to see a place like this exist in Louisville- these are our members.” says Mark, “We are trying to build a space that feels like home to creatives, artists and musicians in our city where they can hang, work, learn, collaborate and grow. I always like to say it’s a spot where we can find each other and find ourselves.”
In 2018 when Mark was searching for a new direction, he came across a documentary that deeply inspired him. “I watched this documentary called Echo in the Canyon(2018), it had a profound impact on me. It’s a Jakob Dylan documentary about Laurel Canyon California in the late 60’s and it talks about all of the artists that came out of there at the same time, and that’s what blew me away. And it was like, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, The Mamas and The Papas, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Crosby, Fleetwood Mac, Linda Ronstadt and Tom Petty and just on and on and on. All of these pioneers and luminaries in that industry in the same place at the same time. And as I listened to all these stories and interviews, I started researching a bit and what I found is that, it happened because they were a community. They all hung out at The Troubadour together, they all cut their teeth on those microphones and worked together and played together and lived together in a handful of houses on the hillside. They supported one another. As a result, a lot of cool shit, man, and the world is a better place for it. That became the inspiration for this as a concept, to try and create a space that can feel like home for artists in our city so that we can better foster that sense of community.”
Mark began hosting living room shows at his home back in 2018, and started a series called Live at Long Run, where he lived on Long Run Road. “There’s also been a series here in Louisville called The Living Room Series that I learned about when I started doing Live at Long Run. Literally at the very beginning of that, I met Dusty Segretto and he and I hit it off.
He does some incredible stuff in downtown Louisville and he’s done it for a long time.” Mark shared “I started doing that house-show concept, and what I saw was, it’s just incredible. It was the same concept, we would invite a local and a touring artist and very intentionally try to pair the two. We always pair local and a touring because we like to try to cultivate those creative connections for artists.”
At Mark’s house it was potluck, BYO, and donation based, and he saw communities grow from that and fell in love with that feeling. “I see communities, relationships and connections coming from this- professional and personal. It has a big impact on people, that’s really what I fell in love with. Music brings people together.”
The Monarch Music & Arts Community is, in many ways, an evolution of Live at Long Run. “Most of the shows that we do are donation based, all of the money raised goes directly to the artist, shows are always BYO. We don’t want to be a bar, we don’t want to be a restaurant, there are already many of those in our city.” Mark told me, “We don’t have a sign out front, we aren’t trying to recruit people to come in off the streets, you know what I’m saying? We’re low key and any advertising or marketing, we just don’t really do it. Most people don’t know we exist, but this is a place for music, art and community. That’s it. And it feels different as a result. And when people come in they notice it.”
The Monarch has hosted over 200 events in the last two years. In those 200 plus shows, they have featured over 600 local and regional artists from Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. “We’ve had nearly 300 touring musicians from across the country, many of which had never been to Kentucky before. We’ve had a couple dozen artists internationally come play, we’ve had like 10 Grammy winners perform here. And we don’t have a sign out front.” says Mark.
Later this year The Monarch will focus most of the programming that they present on bringing in larger, more recognizable artists and giving guests the opportunity for special intimate experiences with them. “There will be artists from huge bands that you know doing solo performances and you get to see them in a different way. We are being contacted by artists and artist representatives, whether its labels or management or booking agencies, from all over the country now because they’re hearing about what we are doing. We are the only listening room in town. We are the only space that does what we do, I have never seen anything like this anywhere before and of all the folks that we’ve had here, they’ve never seen anything quite like this before either. So I am really excited about that.”
Artists need to be comfortable in a place to create to the best of their ability. The Monarch is a safe space where they can come, create, experiment and collaborate with other folks that are there for the same reasons and patrons have a place where they feel included and involved with the artists and music that they love and support. It is a destination in our city that artists and creatives have missed and needed for a long time. And not just musicians, also visual artists and creatives of all sorts. “Folks come here to work, play music, paint, draw, write, practice, listen to records, find inspiration, etc. There are a lot of photoshoots that happen in this space, there are video shoots that happen here. All sorts of magic happens here, even magic shows.”
Artist members have access 7 days a week from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. to writing, rehearsal and performance space, all of the communal tools of the trade, greenroom/content studio, kitchen, even a private backyard equipt with ping-pong and foosball tables, darts, hammocks and outdoor couches, and grill. Soon the garage will be renovated to become the primary soundproof rehearsal room, with a stage and black box theater where performers can exit stage left. This allows for rehearsals and events simultaneously that don’t interfere with each other. “The whole point is that it’s at-will access, it’s key card based so you can let yourself in and out. The place is unstaffed. This is a creative hub and a co-working space and resource center for a community of musicians, artists, music lovers and creatives of all sorts and their patron audiences.” says Mark, “The best way to support The Monarch is by becoming a member, volunteer or supporter. Monthly membership options are available for Artists and Patrons.”
One of the best ways to keep up with everything happening at The Monarch is to view their weekly Newsletter, available on social media and their website. From there you can find dates for concerts, workshops, literary and wellness events as well as ticketed shows.
Many of these events are open to the public, like Wellness Wednesday, a free community discussion that started in December of 2023 and is the first Wednesday of every month. It corresponds with WFPK’s Mental Health Day and is a conversation with mental health experts and special guests, open to the general public and an opportunity to come in, listen and ask questions. “WFPK has been really great to us. They’ve done a lot of really cool events here and brought a lot of incredible artists here.” Mark said.
There is no denying that The Monarch Music and Arts Community is onto something special as it continues to grow and evolve. As far as what’s to come? “I don’t know all the ways artists will use this place yet, or members will use this place yet. It’s really not for me to decide.” says Mark.
To donate to the monarch music and arts community and learn more go to their website https://themonarchmac.org/
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