photo: charles steck

There is something inherently American about the ideal of the independent artist. Unfettered and footloose, with the cachet of faraway places and the aura of mystery about them, they slip into town to amuse and amaze the locals. Then, just as quickly, they are gone, answering only to the siren call of the open road, leaving a wonder-eyed knot of townsfolk behind waving tearful goodbyes as someone squints, "Who was that stranger?"

Such is the ideal. The reality, of course, is often somewhat different. Although independent artists on tour are indeed often unencumbered by corporate commitments, mortgage payments, family obligations and sometimes even significant others, life on the road can be lonely, baffling and, without the safety net company or corporate backing can provide, often downright precarious. As the stress of self-promotion and production grinds against the strain of chronic financial instability, the burning romance of the open road can quickly become plain old burnout. Performers not fortunate enough to have friends or contacts are often left to find their own way in unfamiliar territory with little or no margin for financial error.

In May of 2004, GoTour, an online community designed specifically for artists touring America, began to change all of that. Launched by The Field, the arts service organization assisting more than 2000 independent artists from 17 cities nationwide, GoTour's premise was -- like many a great idea -- brilliantly simple: to channel the inherently emergent power of the internet into an organized community of, by and for independent artists, constantly updated and expanded upon by the artists themselves.

"It's really a one-stop shopping experience," says Mark Lonergan of New York City's Parallel Exit, one of five local and 14 total artists chosen to participate in "Road Show," a mini-fest celebration at NYC's PS122 of GoTour's first anniversary online. "It offers information you can't get anywhere else."

"GoTour embodies so much potential regarding capturing the independent performing arts scene across the U.S.," notes Steve Gross, who, as Executive Director of The Field helped oversee the more than 1500 developmental hours spread over the five years it took to successfully launch GoTour into the ethernet. "From my perspective, the site is still in its infancy."

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photo: belinda akers

Divided into five major components, Destinations, Local Guides, Provisions, Sharing the Road and Speak Out!, GoTour's goal is nothing short of creating a "comprehensive map of the national performing arts community."

GoTour's goal may be domestic, but because it is internet-based, its reach is global. This can be an added advantage for the especially peripatetic indie artist, like Seattle's Carrie Sargavakian, who first connected with GoTour while living in Amsterdam.

"Through The Field's email list I was able to track the development of this exciting new resource even from abroad," Sargavakian recalls. "Now that I'm back in the States, I'm anxious to get more involved, to begin researching ways to tour my work and to bring other artists to my city as well."

Parallel Exit's Lonergan agrees. "We had been touring in Europe and North America for several years," he says. "And I was thrilled to learn there was a resource being created that would offer information on all aspects of touring for independent artists."

Community is the core of all things performance, gathering up artist, show and audience into a single shared experience. But traditionally, the hierarchical, top-down infrastructure of funding organizations dispensing the ducats and often the facilities as well limited the options and the freedom of artists working alone. GoTour aims to change that on a profound and lasting level. Encouraging -- indeed, existing -- upon the lateral input of working artists, each contributing her own local empirical expertise, GoTour is building the definitive insider's directory of the good, the bad and the in-between from thousands of contributors who are quite literally out in "the field."

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Selection of the 14 acts representing GoTour's first anniversary celebration was equally democratic: they selected one another. In January, GoTour invited members to define on a personal level -- in 500 words or less -- what it means to be an independent artist. "It didn't require work samples, letters of support, or budgets," says choreographer Kathy Dunn Hamrick of Austin, Texas. "Just a brief essay about something very close to your heart. What could be easier?"

photo: evan sung

Or more true to the essence of GoTour's concept. "The most amazing aspect of this contest was that people from all across the United States had the opportunity to vote for their favorite essay," notes Kristina Weise, who manages the Brooklyn-based electro-punk popsters, The Switch. "I channeled the inspiration I gained from the band into words the connected with people across the nation."

Besides The Switch and Manhattan's Parallel Exit, NYC artists Julie Troost (dance), April Lynn James, Erin Lee & Marci Appelbaum (music), join with Miami's Thelos Theater Group, Mt. Rainier, MD's Laura Schandelmeier & Stephen Clapp (dance), Oakland, CA's Akosua Mireku, Cambridge, MA & Jacksonville, FL's Mary-Elizabeth Holby & Shana David (music), Honuka, HI's Jennifer Lanier and Washington, DC's Jessica Hirst (solo performance), along with Austin's Hamrick and Seattle's Sargavakian to create "Road Show," a vibrantly multi-discipline cross-section of the type of independent talent GoTour supports and is supported by.

It is a type of anniversary The Field's Steve Gross hopes to be celebrating for years to come.

"In terms of the future, I'd love to see the site overflowing with submissions from artists across the country," he says. "The site is built in a way that encourages submissions from its users. My hope is that this function of the site is used more and more, so that it becomes one created by independent artists."

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In her winning essay, New York dancer Julie Troost wrote that "being an independent artist keeps me sane -- it's as simple as that," adding, "as with performance, any political or social movement begins with people coming together in the same space, leaving their individual lives behind for a time."

If live performance is about community, and community is about strengthening our collective infrastructure while furthering the greater social good, touring independent artists are in a unique position to improve the fabric of American life by their very transient nature, one performance at a time. And while life on the road may always be high on freedom and low on security, the coming of GoTour has helped reduce two other factors in the independent touring equation: loneliness and uncertainty. "For some of us," writes Thelos' Jorge Luis Morejon, "the format of independent work is a real necessity and the only way possible to be genuine, real and artistically uncompromising."

Or, as Maryland dancer Laura Schandelmeier put it, quoting Mahatma Gandi: "Be the change you want to see in the world."