RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – What if your next favorite artist is right here in KOTA Territory waiting for their big break?
On this Week’s KOTA Cares, we are highlighting a non-profit giving local talent a stage to shine.
The 16-year-old Bodhi Linde is set to take the stage as an opener for Hamilton Loomis on Saturday at the Alex Johnson.
“He’s going to get up there, and he’s going to blow everybody away, including Hamilton because not only has he grown in size, but his talent has grown tremendously too,” Deb Lux, coordinator for the Emerging Performing Artists program, said.
This is all thanks to the EPA program, which not only gives emerging artists like Linde a safe and supportive space to perform, but also gives them a way to network with mentors and other artists.
“It’s really hard to find like a safe space where you can play and feel like your music is welcome and be able to start to make those networking connections and being able to meet other artists because a lot of times the open mics and stuff are in bars, and it’s hard to meet people,” Linde explained.
Linde has been a part of the program since he was 10 years old, starting out performing at an open mic where he met his mentor.
“We met every week, and he taught me more about how to play guitar, how to act on stage, we ended up doing some shows together, and it was just the start of a really great connection, and now I’m playing across the country and doing all these things, and it shows that you just need a little push off to start and that’s what Emerging Artists is,” Linde added.
For people interested, the Emerging Artists program still hosts open mics from 6-8 p.m. on the first Friday of every month.
This program is a non-profit segment of the Rapid City Arts Council and is fully funded by donations.
To donate to the Emerging Artists program, click here.
To buy tickets to see Linde open for Hamilton Loomis, click here.
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