The Collective’s new ‘Capsule Series’ showcases student talent

Students (left to right) Domenick Sevor, Daniel Toscano and alumna Brooke Harmon share the spotlight for The Collective’s “Capsule Series” performances. Photo Courtesy of David Farca and Lexi Zdanov.

Given the isolation associated with remote learning, it can be difficult to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Positive ideas can seem like they are millions of miles away, circling us constantly, but never close enough to reach out and grab. 

But members of Chapman’s on-campus organization for arts and music, The Collective, said they are trying to reel those goals in and begin to incorporate them into students’ new normal.

Founded in 2019, The Collective is a club of about 50 students that strive to gather artists of all kinds and give them the opportunity to dive deep into their craft. Ranging across disciplines from photography and set design to producing or performing, The Collective wants to develop a community of driven artists and offer students the space to truly test their limits, said senior business administration major Daniel Toscano.

Toscano, who goes by the stage name of “Mountos” and has been involved with The Collective since its conception, and told The Panther that the club was not only a safe-space for creation, but also a space that helped him acknowledge how making music can be a collaborative effort. Toscano, who is also head of live performances for The Collective, said the weekly club meetings allowed for him to brainstorm production ideas, get constructive feedback on his writing and fine-tune the small details to put out the best result during their performances each semester. 

“We bring artists together and give them a space to create and push their art as well as connect with other artists,” Toscano said. “The Collective has changed how I work on my own music, but also how I see and appreciate music because it’s really a collaborative process across the board.”

Another member of The Collective, senior communication studies major Domenick Sevor, said the group struggled to figure out how to transition the feelings from previous in-person performances of deep bass drops and vocals resonating in one’s chest into a digital form.

“We started to wonder, ‘If we can’t hold events in person, how can we still promote that aspect of collaboration and let people know we’re here and still doing something?’” said Sevor, who goes by “Digital Dom” on stage.

After brainstorming, they dawned on an idea of a “Collective Capsule Series.” This series, Sevor explained, was inspired by the National Public Radio’s (NPR) Tiny Desk concerts, where artists gave live performances of their songs in an intimate location in order to recreate the feeling of physically being there. 

The group snagged a small corner in the backyard of founder Phil Mentz’s house and hung a white tarp to project images behind the artist that emulate the visions and inspirations of their songs. They also created a pool of water below the tarp to add reflection and more room for play, managing in the end to create four filmed capsules by four different artists: Brooke Harmon, Mitchell Austrian, Mountos and Digital Dom. Even though it was at first a tricky project to complete, Toscano was proud of his peers and in awe of the visuals put forward.

“The Capsule Series is The Collective’s first stab at putting together a visual project featuring several artists,” Toscano said. “It was cool to see the space they constructed for these videos and how it was able to be morphed into the artists’ visions.” 

Members of The Collective explained how not only were they able to inspire Chapman students to come together via their digital performances, but they also brought up important conversations, specifically regarding Black Lives Matter. The first episode of the Capsule Series is performed by Brooke Harmon, who graduated last semester as a piano performance major. The song she performed is titled “Stop Killing Us.” 

“My people are dying day after day, and I feel like there is nothing I can do,” Harmon said. “I wanted to help other Black people find comfort in this, and they are not alone in their feelings toward this movement.”

The visuals of the Capsule Series are footage of protests her friends have captured these past few months, along with Harmon lying in the pool of water surrounded by floating flowers. The imagery in this video, as well as Harmon’s vocals, demand change and more representation for the Black community. 

“Art imitates life, and life is extremely diverse,” Harmon said. “There are people of all different backgrounds everywhere, especially in America – it’s like this huge melting pot. If music isn’t diverse then it does not properly reflect life.”