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Calotropis ni?Our story begins with a plant  that then becomes a dream [where we affirm] “with/in these fields where we are gathered, we say the radio must continue to radiate its loving transmissions all while resisting against all who want to steal/kill our sound. 

Calotropis then, is a community-based radio that believes in the importance of the ongoing pulse of music and making; aiming to stretch the radiophonic by dancing in the archives, collaborating with the underground, and never forgetting the skies beyond the sky.

We do this through our ongoing, ever-evolving  sharing of the radio. We believe the radio is that medium, that mode, that message, that meeting ground for working out community on the way to community,  stretching archival practice, playing, practicing and so much more.Tunado?

Tuna-build Kakitu

“Building is not a one time event. Instead it is an accumulation of many things, including failures and disappointments. And – I learn fromMariame Kaba – a willingness to learn and the capaciousness to build with those who show up… Building needs steady, repeated work.”
Keguro Macharia, Imagining Freedom Substack.
Octavia Butler’s Parables Taking this instrument called the radio and re-working it so that it works for us; we create pockets of time and space to meet each other in conversation and collective meaning making. We do this by giving attention to the question “What does the inside of a radio look/feel like?”This is why we call the radio our playground, it is where we  allow the inner-child to dream, the inner-teenager to experiment and the artist to make. As we insist on community on the way to community, then our becoming is continuous, messy, incomplete and ever-evolving. 
Aje?

As the Calotropes, we organise ourselves along two principles of faith:
Becoming of the radio
Access to the event

Becoming the radio then is our pinkie promise to each other and access to the event is how we work this out through an insistence on touching carefully, tenderly and curiously. Access to the event asks us to consider the question “Are you legible to even the slowest reader in the room?” and we have found our hands responding through building semi-permeable boundaries that allow for curiosity and exchange.

Practically, we do this thru using low barrier methods of production such as using accessible streaming software, centering curiosity and play in our making and decentralized decision-making and execution. It is here that we invite our friends to play, think and make with us as we continue to build this space-ship, archive and playground.

We welcome curious hands that touch tenderly and center safety in their making. Yaani, rule 1: of the playground Safety first and rule 2: the playground is open to everyone.