MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Not everybody goes to go to college to further their education. Some Mid-Southerners are learning about their craft by finding resources in south Memphis.
Memphis musicians of nearly all genres work with the Memphis Slim Collaboratory. Named after blues legend Memphis Slim, the artistic community is designed to help guide and shape artists' careers.
People have access to different resources, workshops, and mentorship - all to help foster a brand similar to what Slim ran himself.
The artistic community center helps educate and provide resources to help further a musician's career, such as how to run a business, how to book themselves, and how to maintain their career.
“Taking from the mission of Memphis Slim, he was a very different blues musician that was literate, that was musically competent, that had a great business acumen, and was really focused on the business of getting and keeping his money and creative assets,” said Tonya Dyson, Executive Director of the Memphis Slim Collaboratory.
The Collaboratory is actually the birth home of Memphis Slim. The home was renovated and reopened back in 2014 as the center we see today.