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A place to connect, create, and collaborate.
Ticketed Events
Regular Shindigs
FREE EVENT- 4th Friday Gallery Openings- Every 4th Friday of the month the Switchboard hosts a gallery opening reception from 6-9PM for the next month's display of artwork. With the exception of a few months, 2023 will focus on OPEN CALL FOR ARTS so artists from all over the community will have opportunities to submit their work. More info can be found here.
VENDORS FEE ONLY- Switchboard Art Market- Every other month on 2nd Saturdays one of our artists, Eric Tonzola, hosts an art market where local artists are welcome to come vend their work All inquiries about setting up vendor spaces can be directed to Eric. More info can be found here.
$10 COVER- Open Figure Drawing (18+)- Nude Figure Drawing Sessions hosted by artist Darren Jordan are held at the Switchboard on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month from 6-9PM. More info can be found here.
FREE EVENT- Open Mics- Open Mics at the Switchboard are held every other Tuesday from 7-10PM with Bjorn Jacobsen and 1st Saturdays of every month from 2-5PM with MOE Blues. More info can be found here.
$10 COVER- Yoga- Yoga sessions with Stormy are held on Mondays from 6:30-7:30PM and Saturday mornings from 9-10AM as well as with Miss Alison on Wednesdays from 6:30-7:30PM. More info can be found here.
FREE EVENT- Poetry Slams- 2nd Fridays of every month from 7-9PM the Switchboard hosts an open mic style poetry slam for all of our local wordsmiths to partake in and enjoy. More info can be found here.
FREE EVENT- Improv In A Hat- Join Rebecca and Travis for an evening of improv games and meet-up with whimsical friends every other Tuesday (Opposite of Open Mics). More info can be found here.
Summer Camps & Workshops
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About the Switchboard
Switchboard Studios & Gallery is a place for artists, musicians and wordsmiths to connect, create, and collaborate. Located above Columbia Kettle Works, the space is equipped with 7 artist studio workshop spaces, a gallery, and private entertainment space ideal for private parties, community meetings, and small music gigs.
The Switchboard is quickly becoming the central creative hub of Columbia. Workshop spaces are shared with 10-12 other artists and is open to the public during Columbia Kettle Works hours. Patrons of the brewery will be welcome to grab a beer, go upstairs to view our monthly gallery exhibits, talk to the artists while they are working in their spaces, and jam out to live music in our event space.
The space was named the Switchboard to honor the past history of the building as the United Telephone Company. We love using this to build on our own love for making connections. The artists that utilize our workshop spaces and entertainers that grace our stage come from all over. We have a healthy mix of creators from York, Lancaster and Local Columbians who all have their own unique medium to bring to the collective. Our Switchboard has everything from wall muralists and fashion design, to collage, tinkering and pottery. We host regular Open Mics every other Tuesday to offer our local musicians a place to hone their skills and host Live Music entertainment in the event space.
Each individual artist that we bring in for solo exhibits in our gallery we try to pull from both local Columbia artists and elsewhere to bring in more connections for everybody on both ends of the line. Whether you are a professional looking to make connections or fresh on the scene and looking for experiences hanging your work in a local gallery, we want to use our Open Call For Art shows every other month to help support artists of every skill level and medium.
The Switchboard has been actively reaching out and collaborating with other local organizations like the Columbia Historic Preservation Society, MFE (Music For Everyone), Coexist In Kindness, the Boys & Girls Club, artist collectives in Baltimore, and our local school district's art program. The list keeps growing!
As a creative space, it's our goal to provide as many opportunities as possible to the local arts and music community.
Our artists enjoy helping to curate our kids summer art programs. They are the adventurous and artistic escape that your kiddos are searching for. Getting to pull from experiences from several artists, several mediums, and several creative avenues, we LOVE being able to provide our local kiddos with hands-on mess-making and creative exploration.
The Switchboard offers monthly Poetry Slams on the 2nd Friday of every month from 7-9PM where the community can explore the magic and art of words. Participants are welcome to share poetry, song lyrics, stand-up comedy skits, monologues, inspirational speeches, short stories... any words that inspire you. It is a great place to get good, positive constructive criticism for your work or just enjoy sharing ideas with like minded individuals.
Our event venue is host to cool happenings like Paint n' Sips, monthly Switchboard Soirees where we bring in caterers and musicians for private ticketed events, and family entertainment.
The Switchboard is also home to Columbia's Movers & Shakers Society, a group of local community volunteers, artists and businesses that work together to pull off wondrous shindigs for our Columbia Community like our annual Halloween Party in the Park and Columbia's Chili For Charity Cook-Off.
Just a reminder that all strawberry orders need to be given to Rebecca Lynn Wright on February 8th! A portion of the proceeds will go towards funding for their super groovy community events.
Message the Movers and Shakers FB page (and give us a follow!) or email us at cmss17512@gmail.com to submit orders.
We make $8 per each order, that’s an incredible profit!
Please try and sell a few orders if you can! Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated!
As long as you are CREATING, we want you to come see us. The Switchboard is excited to make such an impact on the local arts and music community here in this little river town and have lots of ideas to look forward to putting into action. :)
