This story is part of a series about arts and culture in Washtenaw County. It is made possible by the Ann Arbor Art Center, the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, Destination Ann Arbor, Larry and Lucie Nisson, and the University Musical Society.
"I think about stepping on a stage [as an] act of reaching out," says Kyler Wilkins, an Ann Arbor-based singer, songwriter, and producer who performs as
Ki5. In that moment, he adds, everyone in the audience "has an opportunity to reach back to you."
For years now, Wilkins has brought that idea of reciprocity to his own inspired live performances, where he’s known for creating unclassifiable soundscapes of looped patterns drawn from his own beatboxing, vocals, and eclectic samples. Now he’s applying the idea to his latest project: an ongoing concert series at
The Ark titled Voices, which is intended to highlight the work of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) artists in an intimate setting.
Past Voices shows have featured local favorites like Dani Darling, Jordan Hamilton, Marqu3tte, and many others (Ki5 included). The next scheduled performance, on June 8 at 7 p.m., will feature
London Beck with opening act Zoey Grekin.
"The idea was to find an intentional time and space [at The Ark] and expand the representation of BIPOC artists," Wilkins says.
For Wilkins, that emphasis on the "intentional" is key to deepening the connection between each artist and their audience.
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Hilary NicholsKyler Wilkins.
Over the last year or two, Wilkins says he’s been part of ongoing conversations with Ark administrators, board members, and stakeholders about how to broaden the venue’s musical offerings beyond the traditional Americana/folk music for which The Ark is best known. Despite folk music's actual historical origins (recently excavated in the work of Rhiannon Giddens, for example), the genre has come to seem distinctly monochrome.
The assumption, quite apart from the reality, is that folk music is made by and for white people — an assumption Wilkins says has also come to cling to The Ark itself.
"It's an interesting juxtaposition to have a music venue near you hailed as a brilliant listening room, and simultaneously, because of what genres you play, [think], ‘Yeah — but I'll never have a chance to be in such a space,’" says Wilkins. "… Those have been interesting things for me to reflect on as a Black artist."
In conversations with The Ark, Wilkins says, he’s been actively exploring questions like: "What does it look like to walk the walk when it comes to things like valuing inclusion, valuing diversity, valuing equity? And if a place is at the center of a community, but a lot of people who are feasibly close enough to take advantage of that don't feel like it's for them, are you really doing your job?"
By focusing on the work of artists who have historically been excluded (intentionally or not) from certain venues or genres, Wilkins hopes to improve representation of BIPOC artists generally. But he also aims to strengthen the bonds between artist and audience — which means strengthening bonds in the community as a whole.
With that goal in mind, each Voices show includes a mid-performance interview with the featured artist. Wilkins steps onstage to chat with each performer about "where they came from, what they're doing now, where they want to go, and all these things that represent them as a musical artist and as a human being."
Wilkins says he wants both artists and audiences to leave The Ark with "a deepened sense of community and connectedness."
Beck, the next featured Voices artist, grew up in Ann Arbor and now lives in Toledo, Ohio. Beck describes their music as "eclectic," "unapologetic," and "empowering."
As "a Black, non-binary artist," Beck says, "all three of those [qualities] … hold their own respective weight, especially in this particular climate, where we're stripping all of these DEI initiatives and … really making it clear that only a certain archetype of human deserves success and deserves a place in the world."
Beck was classically trained in viola and taught themselves piano and guitar. They write, engineer, and produce their own music through their production company,
Renivere Recording. But they also find time to host a podcast,
"The Frequency Exchange," in which they interview other artists and discuss music history and entrepreneurship alongside more personal topics.
"When people listen to my music, when they come to my shows, when they listen to my podcast … I want people to be encouraged to be authentically themselves. I want them to not be afraid to go against the grain," Beck says.
Beck says their fans might be accustomed to live shows where the artist appears in "crazy costumes … running around with my wireless mic." But they say their upcoming Voices show will be a more stripped-down affair, where audiences can expect "the very best of my artistry — the things that really light up my day and, really, my life overall."
"It's really important for me to be able to just connect with people," Beck says.
Artistically, Beck describes themselves as "in a place where I'm trying to rewrite my sonic signature, if you will — and my artistic signature, overall."
"When I first started creating [music], I just had this thirst to create," they add. (Beck released their first single at 14 years old under a different name.)
Since then, Beck says, "I began to fall into the trap that other artists and other creatives fall into: … focusing on what other people want."
In 2017, Beck rebranded under their current name. In 2021, they were selected for a fellowship with the
Amplify Project, a collaboration between Grove Studios and Leon Speakers intended to highlight the work of African-American artists in Washtenaw County.
Beck describes the Amplify fellowship as "the catalyst for me to lay everything on the table and really look at my artistry."
"I wanted it to be as true and … as authentic as possible," they say. "I wanted to be completely honest."
Initiatives like Amplify and the Voices series, which focus on increasing and expanding the representation of BIPOC artists, are "incredibly important," Beck says.
"We want to be able to see ourselves in other forms of life," they say. "When we see ourselves in other forms of life, that in turn gives us the courage to … follow down whichever path we need to follow."
Tickets for the next Voices concert are
available here.