In Heart of Gathering, we shine a light on event creators who bring together niche communities and share their passions with the world. Take a look at the story behind each creator, and see how their passions have helped them find and build their unique community. Watch Duck Club’s full story below.
“Boise, Idaho, has had a long, healthy history of music,” says Eric Gilbert, CEO of Duck Club. Boise’s position on Interstate 84 means that lots of touring bands come through, but with a lack of press and exporting of local music, hometown bands would often leave Idaho for bigger markets nearby.
“There was a lot of art for art’s sake,” Gilbert says — but youth retention was historically low. Now, Duck Club is changing that.
The music curation and promotion group’s mission is clear: Build and bolster the Boise music community from the inside. Gilbert, a local musician in his own right, joined forces with CMO Megan Stoll and CFO Lori Shandro, both fans of the Boise music scene who saw, like Gilbert, a lack of support for local acts.
In 2012, the trio of music lovers created the Treefort Music Fest, Duck Club’s flagship event. It’s now a mainstay of the festival circuit. “It’s the first festival of the festival season as we’re coming out of our deep dark winter,” Stoll says. “The crowd is wild because everybody’s ready for that energy to explode and you can feel it in the air.”
Promoting a Thriving Boise Music Scene
After the success of Treefort, Gilbert, Stoll, and Shandro branched out with Duck Club Presents, hosting events at venus across the city, helping local bands and venues market their gigs — from basement shows at punk rock spots like the The Shrine to reserved seating events at historic theaters like The Egyptian. Duck Club even just opened its own brick and mortar, Treefort Music Hall, in Downtown Boise.
The Boise community has responded with enthusiasm. Locals volunteer at Treefort Music Festival, even housing out-of-town bands in their own homes. “The Boise shows have a distinct hometown feel,” Stoll says. No one is too cool to dance. Boisians love to get rowdy — and at the same time, there is a sense of tight-knit community. Says Shandro, “You never feel like you’re in a crowd of strangers.”
They’ve even gotten support from city hall: several years after the first Treefort Festival, Duck Club was officially named a Cultural Ambassador by the city. Shandro says the entrepreneurial and community-based mindset in Boise has been paramount to Duck Club’s success. “This is a place for small business,” she says. “People want to get together and help each other and build things.”
Forming a Band
“The reason why it’s been successful is we’re a diverse team of different skill sets. It’s kinda like having a band,” says Gilbert. (On the night of the interview, his band, Floating Witches Head, is playing The Shrine.) The group’s passion for music — especially the scrappy indie music scene that Duck Club is championing — is palpable.
Gilbert’s knowledge and place in the music scene, Stoll’s marketing expertise, and Shandro’s business background blend together seamlessly, united by a passion for music and a willingness to put in the work. “Form a band,” Gilbert advises. “Form it with the people you want to hang out with and who are going to try hard.”
When it comes to continuing to build their community, the Duck Club team says that Eventbrite has been an essential part of the process. Gilbert says he “likes to think of ticketing as crowdsourcing the finances around an event.”
Running multiple venues of all different sizes can get tricky, but he says that Eventbrite makes things easy. “The ease of working with a platform like Eventbrite helps us just focus on what we really love to do — which is to throw the hottest shows in the coolest city. Or the coolest shows in the hottest city, depending on the time of year,” he says with a laugh that reflects everything about Duck Club’s love for its hometown.
See how Duck Club is bringing the crowds to Boise — and making a name for themselves in the music scene.
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