Wanya Reflects On the Garden
On June 8th 2024, Live in the Garden was born. As we enter our third season, I figured it would be nice to reflect on what the past two years in this space have meant for me. In two years we’ve cultivated a space where artists can be their truest, rawest self. It isn’t a popularity contest nor are ticket sales required. Just come with your music.
I first met ForwardThinking Founder Jeremy Collins at a rooftop bar showcase back in 2023. The following year he expressed that he wanted to do an outdoor event at St. Nicholas Miracle Garden in Harlem. The Garden sat as an abandoned lot for many years before being purchased by Columbia and later NYC Parks, the current owner. It’s run by Judi Desire who welcomed us into her space with open arms.
That first year was unconventional. In the early stages of an idea you get the freedom of going with the flow . Jeremy, Daniel, and Dayon drove up from Maryland the day of. Arkadius and I trekked from our respective boroughs. Everyone had an acoustic set for the most part, courtesy of Arkadiusz who was on guitar. Despite how noisy the city can be we were able to get the attention of people walking by. My cup was full; this is what community looked like.
The event was something reminiscent of a cookout; everybody had something to contribute. I brought my little Alto Uber FX PA system, Arkadius his guitar, Jeremy an extra mic, and we all pitched in for a couple bottles of wine. We even made a mic stand out of a tripod and rope - peak innovation.
The second year we’d seen expansion. We’ve tapped into our networks even more for collabs and to curate lineups. Jeremy and Daniel did their big one and brought on a couple of their DMV artist friends for our summer shows. In July 2025, we got a chance to partner with NUNAR, a DMV based magazine who provided event coverage and introduced us to Jersey-based artist LEE. The August show is still one of my favorites. I had a lot going on in my personal life at the time and the garden provided me an escape for a little while. August 2025 was our first time having a DJ, shoutout DJ Kaylo.
It was that show that actually inspired me to come on as co-producer. I saw all the background work going on throughout the day and wanted to see what I could bring to the table. We immediately started drafting up what would later become The Function, a Hiphop focused event. Originally the show was supposed to be around Halloween but was postponed to December because details needed some fine tuning. I appreciate Daniel and Jeremy’s foresight as rain poured like crazy that weekend.
For being the first show outside of the garden the night went well, we were up against the brisk New York City winter and sound issues. Blac Wata, a Brooklyn based collective, came in as partners this go around. It was nice to see that we could potentially expand this outside of the Spring/ Summer season.
As a musician, I found it incredibly tough finding places to perform at when I got my start. Companies weren’t really checking for uptown venues at that time. Everything was either in lower Manhattan or Brooklyn. To add to that, once you were booked you typically were forced to jump through various hurdles only for minimal return. Right before the pandemic a company contacted me about a show they wanted to book me for. I had no knowledge of the process and was quickly bombarded with messages every week regarding ticket sales. On show day I was told to arrive at the venue by 7pm for soundcheck and run of show. After questioning the promoter numerous times, I wasn’t given my place until 30 minutes before nor did I receive a soundcheck. Artist were also required to sell 30 tickets before receiving 15% of their ticket sales. Keep in mind it’s 11pm and I’ve had 18 people waiting for me for 3 hours. That experience has stayed with me since and I vowed to do better if I was ever in the driver seat. I’ve seen a growing number of showcases popping up in Harlem and The Bronx and I’m glad Live In The Garden can be in the conversation. We’ve always prided ourselves on artist relations; all styles of communication get honored and everyone receives the run of show prior to attendance.
This year we’re coming out swinging. Weekly meetings have kept us track for upcoming events and drops. Everything is a lot more intentional, the calendar is 3 months out. ForwardThinking has ventured out a little more. Link In Park, the first out of state show, was launched in Jeremy’s city of Baltimore. It felt great to plant our roots for future shows elsewhere. I’d like to think we’re ForwardThinking.