In a time when the world feels so divided by screens, headlines, and the general noise of being alive, there’s something beautiful about standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a packed campus space, music rattling through your body. That’s what The Shed does best.
The Shed is the University’s student-run music collective: a genre-bending, DIY club that helps keep the on-campus music scene vital. Nearly every week, the group transforms basements, common rooms, and the WestCo Cafe into venues, hosting everything from intimate open mics to full-on concerts with visiting artists. This semester alone, they’ve done everything from Spooky Screamo Night, which turned the WestCo Cafe into a cathartic mosh pit of sweat and noise, to a high-energy set with Frost Children that left the crowd buzzing, half the audience out of breath and sweaty, and the other half scrambling to find them on Spotify.
Ben Goodman ’26 is a veteran member of three years and the self-proclaimed “Sound Co-op Guy.” In his own words, he helps manage audio setups and passes down the “wisdom and institutional memory” of Shed members past. Goodman says The Shed is a space for anyone who wants to make or experience music.
“We try to provide a space and platform for anybody who makes music and wants to share it with the Wesleyan community,” Goodman said.
But over the years, The Shed has become what Goodman calls “the last club standing” when it comes to consistently supporting the campus music scene.
“Other clubs are booking fewer and fewer concerts and shows,” he said, “so we sometimes feel like we’re the ones keeping it alive.”
Alive might be an understatement. That mix of energy and intention is exactly what The Shed aims for.
“We operate with supreme collaborative energy,” Montana Gura ’27, a longtime member currently studying abroad in Kenya (and still FaceTiming into meetings at 4 a.m.), said. “Every Sheddie can both initiate projects that excite us as individuals and support the epic ideas of our fellow members.”
For Gura, events like 333—a collaboration between The Shed and the campus rap collective Mic Check—are what makes the club special.
“We had three bands, three rappers, and three DJs perform back to back,” she said. “It was wild. Bringing together such a variety of music tastes and performance styles creates such a fab and lively and supportive atmosphere. Just, yay! Community!”
Community really is the word that comes up again and again when talking to Shed members.
“Inclusion, inclusion, inclusion,” Gura said emphatically. “Exclusive music scenes are oxymorons, and I shan’t stand for them!”
Newer members like Sachin Rao ’29, who joined this semester, echo that sense of open energy.
“Right now, I just help setting up and cleaning up,” Rao said. “But I want to learn everything about how shows get made and build crazy mixed bills with as many different types of musicians as possible, whether they’re DJs, singer-songwriters, or even classical musicians.”
The spirit of collaboration is a pillar of the Shed mentality. They regularly team up with other student groups and art collectives. Giovanna Milisic ’28, a two-year member who DJed her first set at last spring’s Shedamine, says one of her goals is “intertwining ourselves more with other student groups on campus, like Mic Check or even visual art collectives like Fray or Noisy Visuals.” She describes The Shed as “a place for all student musicians,” where anyone can walk into a meeting, pitch an idea, and actually see it come to life.
And the ideas keep coming. The Shed is already planning a mixed-genre spring event with live bands, rappers, and DJs, as well as an ambient music night designed to have more experimental, atmospheric sounds. “The return of Shedamine is nigh,” Goodman teased. Fans of the annual DJ-and-drummer showcase, take note.
Also, coming up Nov. 7 is another major DJ event: Dancing Through the Decades. It’ll feature a 70s/80s set from 10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., 90s/00s from 11:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., and 2010s to today from midnight to 1 a.m. Expect disco, synth, pop, rock ’n’ roll, and maybe a few guilty pleasures.
“By hosting and organizing a majority of the musical events on campus, we help engage the arts community with the greater student body,” Mo Hagenbuch ’28, one of the event coordinators, said. “That’s what makes groups like The Shed so important. Music is something we build together, the sound of dozens of people pouring their time, labor, and passion into creating joy for others. At a time when young people’s voices are often belittled and diminished, it creates a space for us to come together and rise above.”
“I’m so grateful for The Shed; the community it’s given me, and now my ability to bring such community to others, is the most special thing,” said Gura. “Truly nowhere else I’d rather be at the crack of dawn, except maybe Trader Joe’s.”
So the next time you hear live music drifting across campus on a Friday night, follow it. You’ll probably find The Shed there, lights glowing, amps buzzing, excessive amounts of mylar, and a crowd moving.
Soleil Mousseau can reached at smousseau@wesleyan.edu.
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