Creating the EDM at VCU Club
For the past couple of years, my friends and I have dived down the rabbit role of electronic dance music (EDM). Upon entering the scene, I didn’t know what to expect. I first came for the music, but was welcomed with the most generous, loving, and caring people in the crowd – something I had never seen going to other concerts. We quickly fell in love with the culture that the community had brought to each show. The EDM scene was not just about the music, but about the people that preach PLUR: Peace, love, unity, and respect. This was unlike anything I had experienced, and I couldn’t put it into words other than “treating others how you want to be treated”. After attending show after show and a few festivals, we discovered there were hundreds of realms within this community that we knew we wanted to share back home.
Meghan Hermes - Advisor (left) + Tess Wadson - President (right) + Madison Evola - Vice President (top)
We have been able to provide experiences, connections, and lessons throughout the Richmond EDM scene for our members since the creation. We have reached out to professionals to guest lead workshops on shuffling lessons, rave braid tutorials, harm reduction, introduction to mixing, and flow sessions! It has been so rewarding to watch our members connect with each other and the community. We wanted to provide a safe place to those wanting to join, but not knowing exactly where to start. We have had current and past students express to us that they had been looking for a club like this to start their rave journey, which was our goal in the first place! We have had opportunities to connect with local DJs, promotion teams, and venues to bring our members to shows, which has been the best part of the job!
My and friends and I had been throwing around the idea of starting an EDM club, being inspired by the success of JMU and Virginia Tech. One day, one of my best friends, Meghan Hermes, called me up asking “What if we just create VCU’s first EDM club?”. Without hesitation, I agreed. I first started by creating and building up our social media, marketing as much as I could to the student body. We went around flyering and spreading the message word of mouth to anyone we could. Our mission was to hold a space for those with like-minded interested in EDM to connect, collaborate, educate and support one another; To create a noticeable impact on the Richmond EDM scene by supporting local DJs, vendors, and venues. Within the first semester, we heard back from hundreds of people, gaining over 70 members in our GroupMe and 350 followers on our instagram. We received an endless amount of support from the community, with individuals reaching out to connect.
Throughout this journey, I have grown and learned so much about creating a start up. There have been many ups and downs, but with determination, we have been able to foster the environment we envisioned. I am so thankful to our amazing executive team, advisors, and members for believing in us from the start. Without the community, we would not be here today; We strive to continue spreading PLUR! With our original executive team graduating, we are sad to leave but excited to pass down the torch to our members — Can’t wait to see where they take the club and how they will continue our message! Click the icon below to catch up on where we are today.
