Moorestown Music Collective (MMC), a nonprofit whose goal is to host live musical performances on Main Street and showcase local artists’ work, will hold its second Music on Main show at the end of the month.
Member Mark Hines explained that MMC came to fruition after he discovered an article last November about a neighborhood near Akron, Ohio, that used a vacant building as a nonprofit music venue to bring life to the town. It inspired him to bring the idea to Moorestown, and after receiving feedback on social media, he connected with Mark Morgan, co-founder and producing artistic director of Moorestown Theater Company, who offered the theater’s rehearsal studio as the venue for Music on Main.
“It’s kind of Moorestown in a nutshell,” Morgan said. “People helping each other. Someone has a great idea and someone else says, ‘Okay, I can be a part of that and help fix it and make it work.’”
MMC aims to host two shows monthly that will bring solo musicians, duos and trios to the community. Members Dave Khanlian and Jen Hilinski have years of experience hosting house concerts, as do Hines and his wife Elizabeth. That made putting the group together a success.
“How I created ‘collective’ is really just a lot of my friends that I know (who) are very interested in music and have similar tastes,” Hines explained. “As a result, we have eight to 10 people, maybe even 12, that are part of this collective, and we’re all helping (to make) it work.”
As an additional bonus, he added, artists in the community will also display their work in the same MMC space.
“What we’re intending to do with the performances (are) not only have music, but to feature a local artist every time,” Hines noted. “They would actually set up some of their artwork in the back room and display it, and maybe talk about it and maybe sell some as well.”
Local artist Lisa Matera will be featuring her work at Music on Main’s June 25 show.
“Every single time I’ve had the chance to be with other people, from people who do art or musicians or people who are just appreciating it, I’ve really enjoyed coming together with people in the community,” she said.
“I’m really excited just to hear music and just to see faces, some faces familiar, some brand new, and be able to connect to people.”
Music on Main will feature The Angela Everwood Band at the MMC’s first show on June 11. Information for tickets can be found on MMC’s official Facebook page, where updates are posted regularly. Tickets for additional concerts, including the MMC’s June 25 show, can be purchased through moorestowntheatercompany.org.
Hines described what he most looks forward to about Music on Main and MMC.
“ … The audience participation is great,” Hines said about Music on Main and the MMC. “And probably the most is people are excited that they had a great performance and they go home happy and (are) talking about it.”
