Meet Prov Krivoshey & Asha Rahaylia | Co-Founders, Residents, Music and Creative Directors of Dark Heaven

We had the good fortune of connecting with Prov Krivoshey & Asha Rahaylia and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Prov Krivoshey & Asha Rahaylia, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Prov – I’ve had a vision to build a brand that would foster positive change in Chicago for many years. As a freelance artist and musician, this has been particularly challenging because the nature of creating music is fundamentally focused on nurturing the self. The thought process behind starting Dark Heaven was finding a solution to combine my love for music with the goal of giving back to the community, whether it was in the form of hosting events, donating to nonprofits, etc. Coming out of the Covid pandemic, Asha and I saw an opportunity to build a community unified by the love of underground sounds, dance culture, and performance art. As an artist/DJ, I also wanted to create a platform to test unreleased music and eventually evolve the brand into a record label encompassing the energy experienced at our events.

Asha – After making the switch from freelance modeling/photography to settling into my current career working in UX/UI Design, I was looking for a way to connect more directly again with the arts and music community. I had been throwing events for years, but only private ones – never anything to the scale of what we do at DH. Our parties always had a theme, and that’s a big part of what made them so special. Aside from the love of dressing up, playing into a theme in other ways – such as atmosphere, musical selection, set design & menu – can elevate an event and make the entire experience much more immersive. Prov saw that this was a niche that could set us apart, and we leaned into it. The response that we got from the community is definitely what kept us going. Our events thrive on creating spaces where people can feel free – to be who they want, dress how they want, dance how they want – in a uniquely inspired environment. It’s clear to me now that we are not only building an event production company, but that we are actually building a brand that feeds off this energy.

Please tell us more about your art. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
Prov – I am most excited about my new artist moniker, Vorp. Although I have been producing house music and DJing since 2017, I always felt that a big part of me wanted to make music that was harder, faster, more experimental, leftfield, obscure, and oriented in techno. Debuting Vorp at the first Dark Heaven event felt like a move in the right direction.

Challenges I’ve overcome mostly entail letting go of business / creative relationships with friends that were toxic or taking advantage of me, as well as nurturing the ones that are healthy and mutually beneficial. I’ve learned to foresee traits in people’s characters that help me better value the short time we are granted in this life. I feel that I have been following the path of a determined but struggling artist; since becoming financially independent after college, none of it has been easy at all. I think the most important lesson learned has been to stay genuine in my craft, and surround myself with like minded individuals. Too often, I think we are tempted to sell out and follow trends, but in my opinion that would just be choosing to compromise artistic integrity. I’m grateful to provide spaces that are inclusive and to curate events highlighting queer and underrepresented artists.

Asha – I touched already on how our attention to creating thematic experiences sets us apart, but there’s a little more to it than that. I think that our events do well not only because of the care we put into it, but thanks to the community around us. Our parties are very queer, and from the beginning it has been our goal to make our events a space where individuality and authenticity are celebrated. This is why our main focus is on DIY, underground events, as these sentiments can be scarce in more mainstream club culture. I think there are a lot of people that are looking for environments like the ones we create..We want to be an intersection where all different types of communities can meet, to feel liberated and safe in each other’s company.
We’ve learnt a lot since we threw our first show last October – how to find good venues & know which ones are taking advantage of us, bringing in out of town talent & working with agents, who we should hire to work our events, the best ways to reach our audience, optimizing ticket sales, planning ahead to ensure installations are finished on time, keeping expense sheets, how to lead other members of our expanding team… It’s crazy to me that we’ve only been at this for a year. I’m really excited to see what the next year brings and am hopeful that we continue to grow and learn at this rate.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Prov – I’m a huge promotor of parks. My favorite is Ping Tom Park! I always suggest friends to take the $10 water taxi along the river that goes from Ping Tom to the beginning of the river walk off of Upper Wacker. Other parks I love are Humboldt Park, Palmisano Park (because it’s built on a landfill, has a quarry, and is probably the only hill in Chicago). If it’s summertime, I would recommend visiting Hollywood Beach or the Montrose Dog Beach if you love dogs! I also always send people to Garfield Conservatory Park because botanical gardens are good for the spirit.

Asha – I think Prov has pretty much covered all of my favorite haunts for music – though of course, I would recommend that anyone visiting check out any underground events as well.

Food – Spacca Napoli for real, Napolese pizza and the best burrata this side of the Atlantic. Prov already mentioned Bad Apple – this is the ONLY burger you need in Chicago. Cabra in the west loop has incredible Peruvian food as well as really well made cocktails.
Speaking of cocktails – gotta name a couple unsung heroes of the northside – Nighthawk & Victor Bar. And for beer – The Longroom & Hopleaf (great fries, duck reuben, yum!)
I love going to the Music Box and the Gene Siskel center to see foreign & art-house films. The Art Institute of course, has a great in house collection and usually pretty great exhibits.
This might be a weird one but for anyone who loves photography (especially film) – Central Camera downtown is great for poking through vintage cameras and equipment.
Hollywood Beach up north is great, super queer beach, I love that I can take my top off there (lol). And the Graceland Cemetery – I love going here to watercolor, read my book, or just ride around on my bike.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Prov – This is hard because I feel that realistically my list of people deserving credit is very lengthy. My partner Asha deserves a huge shoutout for believing in me and co-founding Dark Heaven with me. I’d like to give a shoutout to my friend Cambron Little, who’s supported me in all my efforts since the day we met at University of Louisville’s music center. He is a genius composer that has heavily influenced me to think differently about setting forth intention in the process of making music. A lot of credit also goes to my friend Arty Madorsky who I played in bands with throughout highschool. The most credit definitely goes to my parents for taking me to piano lessons as a youngin and then supporting my move to Chicago to pursue a degree in the business of music management at Columbia College.

Asha – My biggest shout out goes to Prov. From the beginning it was a joint effort, but I think he saw the bigger picture before I did. I’m very thankful to have a partner like him and it’s really rewarding to grow together in this endeavor. I’d also like to give a shout out to my friend Clare – the experience I had doing shows with her before DH is part of what gave me the confidence to put on my own events with Prov. I would also like to thank our team at DH – Danny Nally and Caleb Foland, and our visuals/installation partner, Cara Givens. Their faith in our vision and their willingness to help us and to grow with us has been invaluable. Lastly, I would like to thank my dad. He’s just the best. Anything cool that I do is thanks to him. He taught me to believe in myself, to take risks, to be a renegade, a jack of all trades, and how to appreciate the exponential possibility of life.

Website: https://darkheaven.co

Instagram: https://instagram.com/darkheavenco

Twitter: https://twitter.com/darkheavenco

Facebook: https://facebook.com/darkheavenco

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOgupquk2Q1xienyjZc0BCg/featured

Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@darkheavenco

Image Credits
credit: Trevor Jay Prickett & Asha Bacchus