Nature abhors a vacuum.

Joshua Jenkins isn’t so fond of them, either.

“The decisions I make from a creative standpoint often come from observing the scarcity of that thing,” he said during our conversation at Hartford’s Cafe Amore.

Jenkins previously filled local voids with his own fashion line, and he was instrumental in the formation of breakfast lunch & dinner, the community ventures incubator.

Much of Jenkins’ energies these days go toward nurturing the vibrant grassroots house music scene in and around Hartford, including through Paved Under dance events and Pressing Plant, a vinyl series he produces alongside Elijah Hilliman.

“If someone else was already creating these spaces, I don’t know if I would feel compelled to be the driving force activating these ideas here.” 

Since bars and restaurants won’t host these events, Jenkins and his peers host them, setting up in whichever spaces they can find, like friends’ salons and basements.

Fear factors into our dearth of nightlife options – both people’s (unfounded) fear of downtown Hartford, and fear of failure.

“People are afraid of failure to the point where their decision making isn’t rooted in what they love, appreciate, and admire.”

Spatial density presents a challenge, too.

West Hartford Center succeeds because there are multiple options of various categories of businesses across many blocks. And apathetic landlords who “are not vested in ideas the city needs” are also a barrier.

Luckily one thing Hartford does have is a “come as you are” attitude.

“Hartford [lacks] the pretense of New York. There’s no judgment here.”

Jenkins likened Hartford to a gymnasium. “It is a safe space to try things out and be a little kooky. It’s a strange town. People are afraid of ridicule, but I don’t see that in Hartford.”

That’s what house music is about: embracing the new and different. The genre sprang from disenfranchised populations – people of color, poor people, queer people, all left out of the mainstream –  forging their own events, their own sounds, and their own spaces. Jenkins does that here; and it’s so much more than dancing. It’s grassroots. It’s activism. It’s essential. 

“Hearing the feedback from people in terms of feeling safe, feeling connected, and feeling pride because these experiences are happening in a place where there is so much scarcity, it gives me affirmation,” said Jenkins.”

To those unsure about taking a leap into new ventures, Jenkins suggests embracing vulnerability: “For any creative person, being comfortable in vulnerability is the most important thing. You have to feel more comfortable in a space of vulnerability than not.” Kind of the opposite of dancing like nobody’s watching.

So, Hartford, who’s ready to boogie?