When the Trent University Alternative Arts Collective (TUAAC) was founded in 2023, the group set out to organize and promote events in the Peterborough art scene. While they are now incorporated as a club, and receive TCSA funding as such, Co-Chair Ziggy Allin explains that they do not fully consider TUAAC as such—hence the lack of official membership mechanisms.

This measure is part of a larger ethos of mass accessibility at TUAAC, aiming to make it “a space [where] people can freely express themselves and where the everyday constraints put on us from academia and the workplace can be flipped upside-down,” says Allin.

Clubs and Groups Liaison Sarah Ovens explains the importance of TUAAC in bringing them closer to Peterborough’s art scene: “my interest for local art as a whole has flourished.” TUAAC has “changed how I appreciate the arts and even encourages me to even further practice on my art skills,” they claim.

The ‘alternative’ part of the acronym is particularly important to Allin, who observes that “TUAAC takes an alternative approach to most things.” 

This alternative approach does not stop at art, either. Despite large academic pushback (or in Trent’s case, apparent apathy) to pro-Palestinian activism, TUAAC frequently partners with other local organizations to raise funds and protest Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Before it was the collective that it is today, TUAAC was a friend group.

Oven recounts “when the Fall 2023 semester started, Ziggy had reached out to me and our close friends about the idea of starting a club at Trent for art. We met up in the Pit about starting up our own club that reflected on all art and spitballed some ideas about our beliefs and what we stood for in a group.”

“Trent students were hungry for something just like this,” Allin explains. The collective quickly picked up steam, and “as soon as the word got out about TUAAC last fall, interest and support was overwhelming. It truly is such a simple idea at its core: bring artists together so more people can appreciate the work.”

By the end of the 2023-2024 Academic year, about seven months after its inception, “there was enough interest to host a proper AGM and elect official executive roles,” and the collective had already helped organize several events, including a show co-sponsored with Miracle Territory and Arthur.

Ovens and Allin share their excitement about TUAAC’s upcoming events, most of all their “Rave to the Grave” music festival held from October 31^st to November 2^nd, featuring over 20 local artists.

Rave to the Grave is a “pipe dream” come to life for Allin. They’re particularly excited about “the diverse age range of the performers, from students to 30-somethings to 40-somethings with proper careers and marriages. We have drag and indie-folk and punk-rock and dance house, we really tried to cover everything under the sun.”

Following an extensive research process, Arthur has discovered that it is, indeed, possible for human beings to live up to forty years and even continue to make music at that age. 

Day passes for October 31^st and November 2^nd's ‘Rave to the Grave’ events are available through Ticketscene.

Ovens sees a lot in TUAAC’s future, and cites a generational optimism about what’s to come for the young collective: “we anticipate to be a levy group within the next year or two but in full honesty, I just can't wait to see how far TUAAC comes in the upcoming years and the footprint we hope to leave at Trent for everyone, including artists.”

TUAAC is already a defining part of Ovens’ time at Trent. “I think TUAAC has really helped me come out of my shell by meeting so many awesome people, and expanding my network with so many community members,” they muse.

Being able to maintain the growth that the Association has seen this year would mean, in Allin’s words, that “new students coming to Trent might get to experience four years of those events and have it positively shape their [university] experience.”

Author’s Note: in light of TUAAC’s refusal of my slogan proposal (‘Hawk TUAAC! Attend that Artistic Event’,) I’ve been left no choice but to publicly denounce this reprehensible organization. Hawk TUAAC! DO NOT Attend that Artistic Event.