Graham Watson chuckles when hearing the Web site he created referred to as a "pet project."
"It kind of implies that it doesn't take up every waking moment of my life," he said.
Watson, a freshman studying computer science, is the founder and webmaster of www.themunciescene.com, an online community of local artists and musicians.
The site features links to nearly 20 Muncie-area bands' Web sites, as well as a calendar of art- and music-related events and a message board. Watson said he also plans to eventually include locally-submitted original articles and photography.
Chris Wendt, a graduate student and member of the local band Epoch Inversion, said his band has benefited from being listed on themunciescene.com in a variety of ways, including in their search for new personnel.
"Right now we're advertising for a bassist on the Web site, and we've gotten all kinds of contacts from that," he said. "It's really done a whole lot for my band."
Watson, a Muncie native and graduate of Central High School, said one of the site's main goals is to help promote local artistic events and concerts.
"There's a lot happening in Muncie, and a lot of it goes to waste because people don't know about it," he said.
Watson said he conceived the idea for the site while attending an outdoor art festival in Muncie last summer. Inspired by what he saw and heard from many of the local artists, Watson began asking them how he could help them with their projects.
After most of them mentioned they could benefit from his Web design expertise, Watson began to build the idea of making a site for the local artistic community as a whole.
Watson said he aims the site at two distinct audiences: the artists and the patrons.
"The patrons want to go to the site and see how they're going to be entertained that week, and the artists are looking for support for what they've already done and need to do," he said. "In presenting this project to people, I really have to (emphasize) both because both are important. It's really about strengthening the relationship between the artists and their community and the patrons."
Though Watson originally bankrolled the themunciescene.com's expenses himself, three all-ages concerts were held at King Gyros last October to raise money for the site. The proceeds were enough to pay the the Web site's fees for two years.
In addition to his work with themunciescene.com, Watson has created Web sites for local businesses such as the Wizard's Keep and Bluestream Jewelry, as well as the newspaper and the drama department at his high school. A self-taught programmer, Watson said he wrote themunciescene.com's code from scratch, so that the site would be easily able to change with the needs of its audience.
One of Watson's current tasks is enabling certain parts of the Web site to update themselves automatically.
"Since it does take up a lot of time, I'm trying to set up things like the calendar to be self-automated," he said.
Taking up time is perhaps an understatement; Watson said he normally spends at least nine hours a day working on the site.
Fourth-year student Dawn Nagy, a friend of Watson's, said it isn't unusual to find him spending long hours in front of his computer screen.
"He spends copious amounts of time working on it," Nagy said. "There's nights where he won't go to bed until 4 or 5 just because he's busy coding and working out bugs."
Though much of his time is consumed by his work with themunciescene.com, Watson said he does maintain "some semblance of a social life," and catches live music when he can. He is also involved in the Gravediggers Union, a local role-playing game organization.
Watson, who also books and promotes some concerts in Muncie, said that while he doesn't make money from his work for the local artistic community, the process of helping others gives him satisfaction. He said he enjoys when artists are better able to express themselves because of his efforts.
"It's an affirmation that my existence matters, I guess," he said.
According to Wendt, Watson's willingness to help others is one of his greatest assets to the community.
"He's one of those people in life that's just got to do something meaningful with himself," Wendt said. "He's definitely somebody I like to have on my side."
Watson said that he hopes themunciescene.com can help artists and musicians struggling in obscurity find their audience.
"No matter what their art is or what they want to express, there's always going to be an audience out there who's going to be happy to receive that message," he said. "There's always something out there that they can find to enlighten them, and entertain them and give them hope in humanity."
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