Attendees cheer for performers at The Football Team: A Creative Collective’s Halloween Show on Oct. 25 at Coffee Pop-Up Boutique. A variety of food and coffee from the boutique was available for attendees.
At most Texas universities, Friday nights mean football games and tailgates. To some at UTA, they mean goth raves, gallery shows and indie concerts, all thanks to a group of students who decided to start their own team.
Founded in 2017 by Garret Martin, Downtown Arlington Management Corp. vice president and UTA alumnus, The Football Team: A Creative Collective began as a tongue-in-cheek nod to UTA’s missing football program and has since become a hub for the campus’s creative scene.
“I feel proud that it started and incredibly excited every time that it’s still going,” Martin said.
As a nonprofit organization on campus, the club hosts several events each year, from its early days of house concerts to sold-out events and goth raves organized by the current administration.
Martin was the first president or “quarterback” of the club and said he started it to create a space for creatives to come together.
Being surrounded by creative students at UTA, the “lifeblood” as he called it, he felt that they were what made UTA cool. With the help of professor Matt Clark, faculty director at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology Development, Martin pitched his club idea to Clark’s class, some of whom were the early members.
“UTA is a place where creatives are empowered, and that drives the organization,” Martin said.
When he graduated, he passed on his position through an election.
“I felt anxious,” he said. “And I felt excited to see somebody else kind of cast a vision. I think that was one of my philosophies, was that empowerment, and so to empower someone to take over the whole thing, that was a whole next level of it.”
The club’s rise and continuation has not been without its challenges. Martin said there has been a struggle in the past between the club being a business or a friend group.
“There’s been times where I was like, ‘Oh alright, it’s gonna fail, and that was a good run. I really loved it,’” he said. “But now it’s stronger than it’s ever been.”
Arlington resident Madison Khya, 22, left, and Waxahachie, Texas, resident Brayzon Henderson, 22, members of the band 4!, perform at The Football Team: A Creative Collective’s Halloween Show on Oct. 25 at Coffee Pop-Up Boutique. The event featured performances from the Bom Bom Boms, 4! and Matador.
Each of the nine presidents has had a different take on the ideals of the club, building on what the previous presidents left behind to create a business model or to come together as more of a friend group, Martin said.
The current president, Maggie Clark, has been a member of the club for three years. She said she was drawn to the club because it allowed her to hang out with her friends while enjoying and organizing events.
Under her leadership, there has been a focus on furthering community connections and expanding who the club works with, focusing on small businesses, Clark said, along with providing the club’s artists and musicians more opportunities and exposure.
“A lot of our members are musicians and artists, so we put a big emphasis on not only promoting our members, but also promoting local bands and that kind of thing; so any sort of live music or art-related event, we make it happen,” Clark said.
More is expected from members, such as attending events, which has been successful as a whole, Clark said. Because of the ground laid by previous members and officers, the club can plan further ahead and book venues months in advance, she said.
She has made it a priority to get members experience planning and executing events as leadership members and project managers. When she first joined the club, Clark had a lot of ideas but didn’t know how to make them happen, she said. With her presidency, she wants to make sure that members get the necessary tools to lead a project and are prepared for years to come.
Jazz studies senior Stellan Marroquin plays the guitar at The Football Team: A Creative Collective’s Halloween Show on Oct. 25 at Coffee Pop-Up Boutique. Marroquin is a member of the band Matador.
Around eight years later, the club is facing a new set of challenges.
With sold-out gatherings and a packed events schedule, the club is navigating both managing ticket sales and meeting venue capacity, Clark said.
“We’ve never had the problem of having to ask our buildings what their occupancy limit is, but that’s where we are right now,” she said.
The group, composed of around 30-40 consistently attending students, meets weekly at an art gallery called Create Texas where they discuss upcoming events. The group operates through a voting system for what members want and when.
“We’re all on the same team trying to get the same things done,” Clark said. “That’s something that people really enjoy. That’s what makes me come back. So that’s something I try to cultivate in our environment.”
“I’m grateful to be part of the football team, because it showed me a lot about friendship, but also about professional opportunities and how to be a contributing member of your community.”
@atclements03