The Ark’s farewell was supposed to be memorable.

The underground music venue, run by Syracuse University students, is shutting its doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When SU announced it would move classes online for the rest of the semester, organizers planned to meet with houses on Lancaster Avenue to organize a multi-house festival with bands performing all day long.

That meeting couldn’t happen. But to preserve the memories of good times at The Ark, the student staff has focused their efforts on developing an online archival platform: The Ark Collections. The free website, which will feature track recordings of concerts, photographs and profiles on influential artists, is the brainchild of founding member and senior Noah Steinberg.

“The Ark has become the perfect opportunity to develop a multimedia storytelling platform,” Steinberg said. “One that draws influence from the vast number of archived underground media that exists, but adapting it to a modern platform, something that’s more interactive and more accessible to people.”

Steinberg became obsessed with archived underground media and received a source grant from the university to study it all over the world. For him, this is a way to give back to the community that defined his own college experience.

“It’s a community that we’ve unintentionally become a part of that has really become the cornerstones of our lives,” Steinberg said. “There are so many relationships that people have made through The Ark, so many connections with artists, collaborations, friends, loved ones.”

Joe Morgan energizes the crowd while he performs at The Ark on December 7, 2019. Courtesy of Erik Liu

The Ark Collections will also serve as a tool for new music venues to see the inner workings of The Ark, said founding member and senior Ryan McKeown. He hopes the concerts become intertwined with student organizations to expand “this little micro scene at Syracuse.”

Throughout the recent history of SUs underground music scene, most music venues have not lasted longer than two years, McKeown said. In-fighting and external stressors ultimately break down the bonds of friendship between roommates who struggle to throw concerts weekend after weekend, he added.

“They have their shine and then they fall apart,” McKeown said.

The Ark was on the path to closure when it first shut down last August, Steinberg said. That is, until the Syracuse music community responded.

“We quickly discovered that The Ark wasn’t our operation, but it was the community that developed from our events,” Steinberg said. “When the Ark dissolved, the community reacted pretty strongly and came to our support. And so, from there, we really couldn’t deprive people of the experience that they had developed and earned, so we reopened The Ark.”

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But after a resurgent year for The Ark — one defined by large audience turnout, more press, more art and a dedication to improving concert production — the COVID-19 pandemic forced an end to its existence. The founding members announced April 10 that they would halt operations on May 10.

During its two years of operation, The Ark hosted 41 events at its 917 Lancaster Ave. house, according to a press release. On average, shows and events would garner crowds of 150 to 200 patrons, depending on the night, Steinberg said.

Former strategic coordinator Benji Wittman, a music industry master’s student, was one of more than a dozen individuals who were central to the operations of The Ark. Above all, professionalism was a priority, McKeown said. That meant detailed written plans in case of an emergency, professional recordings of each show and a professional artist booking system.

Rory Stanley, a rising senior and booking agent for the venue, never anticipated the Syracuse music scene to have such a wide variety. Stanley was tasked with finding talent among local and touring bands including Settle for Sadler, NONEWFRIENDS., Joe Morgan and The Brazen Youth.

“All of our music was very diverse,” Stanley said. “We didn’t just stick to one genre all the time, and I think that’s what kind of made The Ark.”

The Boneshaker Trio featuring Timothée Quost plays for a crowd during a jazz night event at The Ark on April 5, 2019. Courtesy of Katie Reahl

The Ark was in the process of hosting more university-sponsored shows, which included a performance from Stanley’s band The Whether Channel, Wittman said.

Stanley is determined to preserve underground music in the community. During the spring semester, she helped launch The Deli, a music house known for leaving a trail of sliced bread on sidewalks to guide people to the shows. Even so, she remains doubtful.

“Now with The Ark gone, and especially with all the stuff going on with (the COVID-19 pandemic), the DIY scene is completely dead at the moment,” Stanley said. “There are no house shows going on at all.”

Meanwhile, McKeown remains confident that the underground music scene will continue to expand. He trusts the cyclical process of music houses making their mark and then dissolving. Before The Ark, there was Space Camp and The End, McKeown said.

Looking back on his time with The Ark, Steinberg said this is the first of many projects both him and McKeown as they “dissolve The Ark back into the community in which it arose from.”

“We’re far from done in this work,” Steinberg said. “The Ark was always ever considered the first step in this journey and for me archival work, both as a study and a practice, is a way to reconvene what has happened and adapt it to the modern time.”

Published on April 26, 2020 at 1:09 pm