Indexical was formed in 2011 to facilitate long-term collaborations between performers, composers, artists, and curators. Our work has resulted in a series of large-scale projects, including multiple record releases; gallery exhibitions and public talks; composition commissions and tours; community conversations; site-specific events synthesizing dance, sculpture, sound installation, music, and performance art; public workshops; and written publications documenting inherently ephemeral projects.

Indexical operates a gallery and performance space at the Tannery Arts Center in Santa Cruz, California. Our space hosts over 60 events and three major exhibitions annually, as well as multiple smaller exhibitions. We frequently collaborate with local partners such as the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History and Kuumbwa Jazz Center on projects that reach a wide audience, and develop over much longer time-frames.

Examples of long-term collaborative projects include a site-specific event at Lighthouse Field in Santa Cruz, led by artist and performer Carmina Escobar. This event involved participants from a broad cross-section of the community, including dancers, vocalists, cyclists, and a local street performer. Indexical has also developed deep community partnerships with UC Santa Cruz, including facilitating a year-long exhibition series Landscape & Life with curator Gabriel Saloman Mindel (PhD Candidate in History of Consciousness, UCSC), which explores the ways in which artists animate the landscape through a series of three exhibitions and eight public talks by scholars, artists, and activists. Indexical has also facilitated, recorded, and released works by Ghost Ensemble, the Happy Valley Band, String Noise, and other musicians.

As a community hub, Indexical co-presents the monthly series “Speak for Change” with podcast host and local leader Thomas Sage Pedersen. Pedersen is a leader in the local Black community, and our collaboration has been aimed at creating a space for community conversations in Santa Cruz.