Q&A with Neil Mallinar, host of Tradition Scarf open arts night

Senior Neil Mallinar held an open arts night known as Tradition Scarf on Feb. 5 for Hopkins students to perform in however they pleased. The News-Letter spoke with him about what inspired the event as well as plans for future events.

This interview has been condensed and edited.

The News-Letter: To begin, how would you describe Tradition Scarf?

Neil Mallinar: Basically it was an open arts and music night for students at Hopkins to present things they’ve been working on or show off skills they have in an open environment so that they might feel comfortable with the people around them. It’s not on campus, so people were likely to come out and have a good time.

N-L: Why did you decide to spearhead this type of thing?

NM: The idea of an open mic night or a basement show is nothing particularly novel. It’s kind of something I’m sure a lot of people have experienced and been to, but here at Hopkins we’ve never done that, at least not that I’ve seen. Basically I know a ton of people are creative and want to do something about that. They want to show off their skills, and I’ve talked to many people about doing a night in which people could present. A friend of mine was talking about doing something like that, hosting a show as well. He’s been doing it, his own version of it. It’s less of an open mic, more of him performing for people, which I pivoted into anyone can perform, basically recognizing that there’s people who can do things musically and artistically. Also, I wanted to foster collaborative arts at Hopkins. That’s a big thing, just get people together who work together and know that each other exist.

N-L: What inspired the name?

NM: The first iteration of the name was just “Friday Night Soiree” because it was on a Friday night. Basically I chose “Soiree” randomly, and I posted a poll on the Facebook page saying: “Who has a better name?” People posted ideas, and “Tradition Scarf” got votes, so we went with that.

N-L: What do you think Tradition Scarf means?

NM: For how it came together. I think it means that people are respectful and want to engage with other people creatively. I think that’s a big part of why you don’t see a lot of things like this happening on the Hopkins campuses. Maybe people are too scared to do it, too scared to reach out, or they don’t know the people. People from every single different “clique” of Hopkins — engineering students, humanities students, etc. — just respectfully come together. Nobody really felt uncomfortable putting themselves out there, and I think that means that we’re going to see things like this more often because now everyone knows you can do it and people will respond well to it. There are people who have heard about it. I have no idea who they are, and they are way beyond the extended group of people that I know. People were just telling me that some random freshmen were talking about it. I don’t know any freshmen other than the members of Throat Culture. Basically, members of the SGA heard about it, and they asked, “How can we help?” People from WJHU heard about it and asked, “How can we help?” What this means for the Hopkins campus is that someone needed to do it, and now that they know that people want it, they need help to put it together.

N-L: Are you planning on having another iteration of Scarf?

NM: At least one more — we probably can’t do two in the time left, but one more for sure.

N-L: Do you think the SGA involvement affects Scarf?

NM: We have thought that. Actually, they asked if we could do it at a building on campus, and we said “no.” I think part of the reason why people came out is that there were not security guards surrounding the entrance. People come to campus to do work, and this is the kind of school where people only do work on campus. I don’t think people feel comfortable engaging socially in something like that on campus. I think the reason so many people came out is because it was in a basement — it was grungy and sort of informal. I think involvement by any of those organizations would be helpful. If they can apply for grants or have people who plan, that’s cool. I think we want to maintain what we had last time because it wasn’t a rager. People weren’t getting wasted; they were just hanging out and having a good time, and I think that’s exactly what we’re going for. Nobody’s not going to want to come because such-and-such provided pizza or soda but I think it would not work as well if it was held on campus.

N-L: How would you feel about Hopkins doing its own thing in terms of the Scarf?

NM: Honestly, the selfish part of me would be like, “That’s kind of cool” because I inspired Hopkins to create a new thing. Obviously, they’re going to do it if they want to do it, and they might see it as a success. I think the people who would go to the Hopkins version of it might not be the same kind of people that would go to Tradition Scarf. Basically, I think it would be cool if Hopkins were to do something as long as students were to continuously do more basement shows and more informal shows as well. I think we need to set up more unaffiliated, informal events and push further with those events. The underground scene at Hopkins is coming alive, so as long as we keep that momentum, Hopkins can do whatever, and they’re going to get a group of people that will overlap.

N-L: Scarf could be tied to the burgeoning underground scene at Hopkins. Do you think we will see people from MICA, Towson and UMBC in the next iteration?

NM: I’d be super down for that — I think that would be really interesting. I don’t know how it would play out. There’s always people that are going to tell you that MICA students judge Hopkins students and Hopkins students judge MICA students in terms of artistic ability or whether or not they’re trying to be alternative. There’s always going to be a group of people who feel there’s that disconnect, but everyone should have that mutual respect for each other and just be down to hang out and see what’s going on in this area. That would be so cool, and I really have a hard time believing MICA or UMBC students came over to disrespect the event. I think it’s important for there to be Hopkins-specific ones as well because that’s part of building that Hopkins scene of people who work together — having that sense of community that I don’t think exists yet. That’s necessary. I think that’s important to foster a better school community. There’s no doubt that there’s going to be overlap, and I’m assuming next time there’s going to be people from Peabody or MICA.

N-L: Do you have any idea when the next open arts night might be and if it will have the same title?

NM: I’ll probably put it up under the same title for now. I might post another poll. It might be fun to have a different name each time. I’d shoot for last weekend of March or first weekend of April. Someone suggested a Spring Fair kickoff.