Omaha Fashion Week’s passion series The Front Row offers an up-close look at the creators and cultivators that are reshaping Omaha’s fashion and arts community. Founder and director of Culxr House, Marcey Yates, shares how he is making an impact in the Omaha community with his passion for music, arts, and culture.

“Culxr House is an innovative, community hub that focuses on providing artists and creatives a safe space to grow their talent and obtain access to resources necessary to turn their art into economic opportunities. The Culxr House exists to bridge both social and economic gaps through the cultivation of talent and artistry within the inner city.”

— The Mission

How did the idea of the business originate?

It started as an incubator project, which was part of a revitalization project down on North 24th Street where we’re trying to rebuild the community. Make it more vibrant. After that project was over, I had the opportunity to build my business. After spending a year down there, I recognized certain things that were needed as far as resources. You know, I can only do what I know and I’m an artist, which means that my connections are all around music and art. That’s where I can help out, by bringing arts and entertainment down to the area. This is gonna bring people down, which means that they come and spend some money on things that can support the businesses. That’s essentially what we need, people spending money down here so, economically, we can grow. That’s how it got started. Then we had the opportunity to move to a new location, which was bigger and more of a fit for what we’re trying to do. It had a built-in stage, it had room for more people, and the last space was kinda tight.

What is the main goal of Culxr House?

To not only support artists and entrepreneurs, but be a resource for them in the way that their art is evolving as a business so that they’re able to support themselves, too. That’s the idea of it. To build entrepreneurs by engaging them into their community and helping them to understand how they can have an impact.

Marcey Yates during weekly Open Mic Night on Tuesdays at Culxr House. Photo by Anne Gustafson.

What goes on at Culxr House?

We normally have performance events, mainly in music. Mainly hip-hop events, but we do a mixture, whether it's like rock, alternative, singer-songwriter. All kinds of events go on here. We got into vintage clothing. We started with just a couple racks, but we decided to expand that because people like the stuff that we have. With me being a record collector, I put my records up for sale and collaborated with another record collector, Joe Benson. He has a good portion of records in here, too. So, everything you see here at the Culxr House is just an extension of myself, the things that I have to offer and share. I try to just help artists like myself along the way, too.

What does it do for the community?

We’re a safe space. We offer space for entrepreneurs to house their business, do pop-ups, and be able to test their markets. This area’s a safe space for youth where they can practice their talent and be in an environment that’s creative. We’re just an example. We're building the neighborhood into something that's appealing, positive, vibrant, and something that’s for the community.

“We’re inclusive. This is a place for everybody and it’s right in North Omaha.”

— Marcey Yates

Laughter from the audience on Open Mic Night at Culxr House.

What is your favorite thing about the Omaha creative community?

Honestly, just the potential that we have and the opportunity that’s here. It’s rare to have this opportunity to have an impact on your city and your community directly. A lot of things are changing here, so that’s why the opportunity is there. A lot of people are looking for good ideas that are forward-thinking and have money to spend on them.

How do you think Omaha can become more involved in the creative community?

If they want to be involved, just reach out. With social media, chances are they’re probably following someone that is involved. If you are for the people you’re reaching out to, then they’ll accept you. That’s how it is here. Just be active or just go forward with your thing and maybe you’ll attract attention.

What advice would you give to a hopeful entrepreneur?

Business plans are a real thing. If you’re an artist, you need to write a business plan and ask other people that are in your industry. Just ask and research.

Make affordable art, too. You just can’t come out and your stuff be like mad expensive, right. If people don’t know about you and your brand, they’re not going to be spending that much on it. Always try to make quality art.

Keep it real as possible, it’s going to be easiest that way going forward. Have a cause and a mission. Just be nice to everybody and network. If you have all those things, keeping it real, your stuff is authentic, and you have a mission, it’s going to come out as a good product. The money part is going to come naturally because people are going to support it. That’s in regards to whatever you’re doing. Naturally, when you have your business plan, you’ll take those other steps of setting up what your business is going to be.

As a business owner, what are your struggles and victories?

I think, working against certain things that you aren’t in control of. Certain things were written so areas can’t get resources and access. You're working against those forces right off the bat, like being in a location where your deposit is going to be twice as high just to get your water, where it’s harder to get loans, those things. You have to be really creative and more resourceful because you’re going to be paying out of pocket like that. Also, getting people to not be afraid to come down to this area because it’s a safe area. So, just working against those forces.

I feel like I can’t really complain about anything though because things are happening here in a good way. Building community partnerships has been a really good thing, too. Being able to pull in such a wide variety of people. Import organizations building new partnerships. People seeing where they fit in and where we can fit in with them. Being recognized in the news and the media. It’s been a natural come up, too. I haven’t had to do much paid marketing for Culxr House. I focus on our social media and I feel like that’s where we build authentic support. So, we channel through those outlets and let everything happen.

What is the best part of your job?

I think the best part of it is that I don’t call it a job. It feels like a natural thing. What I do love the most about it is when I get to see people getting over their fear, coming into their own, becoming an artist. It can be a hobby and you don’t know if you should just go for it because you’re not confident. That’s a huge fear that holds people back from doing anything. Just getting to witness them grow and seeing them have success in terms of becoming a business where they're getting compensated for their work, I think that’s the best part.

What do you need from the community?

People using the space for their events, whether it's on the calendar once or twice a year, book Culxr House for an event. It’s a great space. Also, we’re trying to increase our technology with more computers for lab stations for artists to work creatively with digital and audio. I’m always looking for donations in terms of things like that, too. Same thing with clothes, our point of selling the clothes is to have affordable and accessible clothing. So, if you have things you want to donate, we’re always open to taking those. We always need instruments, such as guitars or horns or drums. Things like that, too.

What do you hope to see in Culxr House’s future?

Right now, I just want to continue to grow the brand. A lot of people may not be familiar with it. To continue to branch outward because we have a really special thing going. Continue to build upon my staff, just put on great events, and gain more resources.

Are there any exciting upcoming events?

On February 15th, Marcey Yates with Xoboi, also known as The Dilla Kids, will be doing a show with Scky Rei. The J Dilla Tribute Show. I don’t know if you know who J Dilla is, but he’s a great hip-hop producer from Detroit, the king of lo-fi. It’s Black History Month so we’ll be celebrating blackness. February 15th, mark your calendars for that. Make sure you show up at the Culxr House.

Get involved in the Omaha community with Culxr House! Follow along for more information on upcoming events through the links below.