How and when did you get involved with ZUMIX and Walk for Music?
Aaron Myers: My relationship with ZUMIX goes back to the late ‘90s, when I used to teach dance classes there in the summers. I came back to Boston after grad school, and Ed and I launched A Trike Called Funk in 2021. We’re always looking for opportunities and asking, How can we use our music and movement? We launched in July 2021, and our first gig was that year’s Walk for Music. We’ve really enjoyed being able to come back every year. ZUMIX helped give us our start.
Ed Word Galan: I didn’t know anything about ZUMIX until we did the Walk. I was very impressed and honored to be a part of supporting the organization. I’ve done a lot of youth work here in Boston, and also in Oakland. I love the blend of teaching youth skills in the music industry – things like how to use a soundboard – with the intergenerational relationships and connections.
Aaron: I love being surrounded by other creatives who specialize in a medium in a way that we don’t, necessarily. I don’t play an instrument, for example. But we derive a lot of inspiration from creatives who express themselves in different mediums.
ZUMIX brings together a diverse community of talented people. The variety we add is the dance components. People tap into that dimension of their creativity.
How does the Trike fit into Walk for Music?
Aaron: Every year we’ve tried to bring a different set of prompts along the Walk, so people have a chance to dance. Our experience is in the street and club dance tradition, and that’s inclusive of Latin dance. So we’ve teamed up with ZUMIX board member Johnny Giraldo to do some Latin dance combos and short dances – at the caboose, and a timba line along the waterfront – as a great culmination to the Walk. It’s beautiful to see different talents brought into the experience of the Walk.
Ed: Aaron had the idea of putting down a mini dance floor last year at different parts of the Walk. I have great memories of different moments – near the library, near the caboose – where people were getting down on the dance floor. That was really fun.
Aaron: Aside from the amplified music we play, there’s dance and visual arts. There’s a mural along the route where we stop and have the brass band perform. I love that we have actual musicians who perform along the route. We usually stop near the mural that Artists for Humanity co-created with the Paint Studio. They’re doing something similar to ZUMIX in visual arts and technology, creating opportunities for youth.
Most of the time with the Trike, we are in a fixed-point location. Walk for Music is a special occasion when we can provide the vibes and be in motion along the route. Visual, auditory, kinesthetic – the Walk moves through space and time, and that makes it really unique.
ZUMIX is unique in its multi-dimensionality. It’s a beautiful and diverse cross-section of the community from East Boston and beyond. I also love the culminating performances by teachers, by pro musicians, and aspiring musicians who are ZUMIX students.
Ed: I love how intergenerational it is. I love the actual route of it. I think it’s nice that most of it is on a bike path, free of traffic, filled with murals and other things. It ends in Piers Park – it’s a really nice end point. The elected officials show up and support, and it’s a nice ending to the walk.
Why do you Walk for Music?
Aaron: Especially at this moment in time, against the backdrop of a lot of cuts to arts and culture and the humanities, it’s really important to show up for one another. I see ZUMIX not only holding space and fostering the creative development of so many youth, but also doing that for other members of the community.
ZUMIX is hosting events and conversations with leaders in arts and culture; Ed spoke on a panel at ZUMIX as a cofounder of a creative venture, and I attended a Boston Foundation event there. I think it’s important to show up and support members of our creative community. We’re not all that we’ve got in one another, but I think they’re the most important relationships to sustain.
We also love supporting ZUMIX because there’s so much resonance in our values: getting people to tap into their creativity, fostering connection in an age of divisiveness, and building a sense of community. Self-expression, self-actualization, realizing the power of creativity, the power of collaboration. And we also work to generate creative employment opportunities, particularly for youth. We’re really proud of the fact that we’ve been able to create more than 200 paid gig opportunities for live performers – musicians, dancers, visual artists. We’re trying to make a modest contribution to sustain the creative lives of other artists.
Ed: Any opportunity to gather together, dance together, celebrate together, make music together, is worthwhile and super important. It’s foundational to the way that community is actually built. There’s a lot that is changing, even the way that people make music now. There’s something lost when people are not together. There’s something magical that happens when you sync up with other human beings. It’s great to support an organization that supports that, particularly for youth, who need these opportunities and skills.
Aaron Myers and Ed Word Galan are local creatives and the cofounders of A Trike Called Funk. Join us at the Walk to see them in action!
