Two hundred dollars and a kitchen table.
That’s the popular story of how ZUMIX got started: back in 1991, in an apartment off Maverick Square. But, says co-founder Bob Grove, “that’s not just the myth. It’s the reality.”
Bob, along with longtime ZUMIX executive director Madeleine Steczynski, was concerned about the rise of youth violence in Boston, particularly in neighborhoods like East Boston—and the lack of spaces where young people could come together across differences. They gathered some young people and musician friends for a summer songwriting program, which then kept going that fall, and that spring, and the summer after that.
Speaking from his home in Spain, surrounded by guitars, Bob recalls those first days in Maverick Square and the young people who made ZUMIX come alive.
“We had a whole mix of kids from around the city,” Bob says, remembering the widespread busing in Boston Public Schools at the time.
“We had East Boston kids, but also students who made the bus trip from other areas, like Mattapan and Roxbury. From the earliest days, we made it clear we wanted people to leave their labels and preconceptions at the door, to get to know each other as people.”
From its early days in that living room, ZUMIX (originally known as Music Mobile) sought to give young people a voice in the space. The Youth Advisory Board, which today lives on in the form of the ZUMIX Teen Council, was involved in early decision-making for the organization.
“We wanted young people to have a voice,” says Madeleine, who still serves as ZUMIX’s executive director. “This thing we were building was for them, so we wanted them to have a say in how it went. Thirty-five years later, we’re still committed to that.”
ZUMIX soon expanded from music and songwriting lessons, launching initiatives such as the Warmth Program, which brought students to senior citizens’ homes to sing and perform for them, fostering connection between the generations.
ZUMIX students and friends also began performing free outdoor concerts in Maverick Square, a precursor to the current Summer Concert Series in Piers Park. “We used to run extension cords across the Square into a building for power,” Madeleine recalls, laughing. “People would come up out of the T station and wonder what we were doing. But people loved it.”
After several years, ZUMIX had outgrown that apartment in Maverick Square, so it moved to the former Cardinal’s Nest at 202 Maverick Street. Today, ZUMIX operates out of its own, beautifully renovated Firehouse on Sumner Street, running programs and providing free and low-cost creative opportunities for hundreds of young people each year.
“ZUMIX is the best thing we’ve ever done,” Bob says. “If you’re going to live in a difficult world, the best tool you have is art and artistic expression–to keep yourself sane and to reflect on what’s happening around you. That’s what we can do, both for ourselves and with young people.”
Thirty-five years later, that same spirit lives on in the Firehouse—where young people still shape programs, raise their voices, and build community through music and creative technologies.
