RC Collective
Building the relational foundation for everything else we do.
Upcoming Gathering
Join us at the next Ayni
Ayni is the room you can't get into at a show — a shared meal and an intimate circle of world-class artists from the Global Majority. Eat with them. Talk with them. Play music with them.
Ayni — a Quechua and Aymara word for the reciprocity that holds a community together.
Sunday, August 9 · Crown Heights, Brooklyn · 30 seats (TICKETS AVAILABLE STARTING JULY 24TH)
For a taste of what Ayni gatherings are like, check out the Ayni ٢ teaser below.
About The Program
Beyond Programs, Toward Movement
Relationality has been at the heart of RC's work from the very beginning. Whether we're documenting traditional musicians, facilitating ethical remixes, or co-creating live experiences, we know that the strongest creative work emerges from the deepest relationships.
The RC Collective is where we make space for relationship as the work itself. It is the only RC program with no required artistic output. No deliverable. No deadline. Just regular space for our community to share meals, hold conversations, jam together, and build the solidarity networks that make every other dimension of our work possible.
This is how we grow from a sequence of programs into a movement.
How It Works
The RC Collective currently consists of one ongoing initiative: monthly in-person dinners at Barzakh Café, our partner in Crown Heights, Brooklyn — communal meals where artists from across RC's programs come together, share a table, and deepen the relationships that began in studios and on stages.
As the community grows, we'll introduce virtual gatherings to extend the Collective beyond NYC.
The Meaning of Ayni
Ayni comes from Quechua, Aymara, and other Indigenous communities of the Andes. It loosely translates to reciprocity — the practice of mutual giving that binds a community together, where what each person offers returns to them through the whole. It is one of the guiding principles of their way of life. We honor this principle and invite it into the RC Collective: every table is an exchange, and everyone who joins both gives and receives.
An Open Table
The RC Collective began with the artists who've invested the most in RC's vision, and has grown outward in deliberate phases. Today, the table is open — anyone who shares our values is welcome to join a dinner.
RC program alums always have a place here. If you're part of RC's wider community, this is your invitation.
