We believe in art that not only reflects our current society, or re-presents the past, but offers new ways of thinking about our collective future. We aim to connect local communities to a growing constellation of publics, with new voices in music and sound. We work with artists to present community focused activities, performances, workshops, masterclasses, lectures, and experimental music events. Through a radical re-imagining we see art’s potential to not only impact the singular viewer/participant but a neighborhood, a city, and thought itself.

We value the exchange of ideas, culture, social perspectives, and organic growth over the exchange of currency. Imagination is power, yet so many of the tools needed to enact this radical force sit un-accessed, circulating only in small circles. We believe the arts can help to reconnect disjointed publics and weave together new ways of sensing, thinking, communicating and being.

Taking cues from historic hotbeds of creative production and a touch of folklore-magic, Little Dumbo contributes to new ways of experiencing and supporting experimental music culture while incorporating a deep reflection of it’s history. Guided by a collective of artists/musicians/writers/historians, our primary mission is to facilitate opportunities for artists touring the east coast.

At our headquarters in Richmond Va, Little Dumbo seeks to be a destination for local, regional, national and international artists. These artists are curated collectively from the pool of inquiries received and invitations initiated. In addition to our current projects we're working to develop a sponsorship program for select artists to support broader US touring networks, while increasing the viability and visibility of these artists in our growing network of communities.

Colin Lang is a critic and art historian whose research focuses on the history of electronic music and its relationship to the plastic arts. He is currently at work on a manuscript that traces the development of electronic music as it emerged in, and out of, more traditional artistic contexts (galleries/museums, theater) beginning in the 1960s.  His dissertation entitled Room 19, 1966–1969, examines the early work of Imi Knoebel, Blinky Palermo, Imi Giese, and Jörg Immendorff, all students under Joseph Beuys at the Düsseldorf State Art Academy. His writing has appeared in Artforum and Texte zur Kunst.

Elizabeth Nall a classically trained violinist, began to experiment with electronic sound and composition while involved in a collective founded by German composer, Herbert Brun, School for Designing a Society. In studio practice today she uses technology to test the expectations of musical ideas, exploring method in search of inspiration in the previously unheard. 

Benjamin Thorp has been shown nationally and internationally including group shows at Diapson Gallery, New York (2010) and the Imaginarium Gallery, Lodz Poland (2011). Prior to Little Dumbo, he was the Founding Curator of Black Iris Gallery where, he developed exhibitions and projects with artists Arnold Kemp, Leslie Rogers, GWAR, and Clifford Owens among others. As a programmer he's engaged a long and diverse roster including Marc Ribot, Maria Faust, Flamingo, Mary Lattimore, Jamie Branch and Bonnie Jones. Thorp's work as a sound engineer and producer can be heard on albums with artists Stephen Vitiello (12k Records), and Ian Svenonius (Dischord). He has received multiple grants for Music Research from The Danish Ministry of Culture has funded his search for the avante sound. 

Drew Davis was born 5/31/83 (a Gemini) into the great arms of the Midwest. Long-standing sound explorer with time spent working behind the doors of both Goner Records and Numero Group. Currently anti-playing and learning full deconstruction of the brass world within the confines of the Crazy DOBERMAN movement. Both feet firmly planted in Richmond, VA currently as the next steps of the journey are arranged.

david moré