How to set up an event as an illustrator
Me and Thomas from Tosam studio recently gave a 'Riso Party'. We threw open the doors of our studios and invited people to come and make prints, participate in an impromptu exhibition and have drinks.
Now me and Thomas have never really set up an event like this before. We first talked about how we wanted to set it up. Do we want to make a big event with talks or do we want to keep it small and only invite our riso friends? We naturally wanted to make the event as big as possible, but you quickly have to deal with time and money constraints. In the beginning we really wanted to set up a slightly larger event, for which we also wanted to apply for subsidies. We really wanted to organize it soon, because we wanted to have the riso print party before the holidays. Here we ran into a stumbling block: you can't have both! Applying for subsidies takes time and you also have to adhere to the deadlines of the many subsidy agencies. Ultimately, we did draw up a subsidy document in which we explain our event, but we haven't sent it anywhere yet. We simply didn't think it was good enough and neither of us had the time available to carry out our tasks mentioned in the grant document.
Ultimately, we put aside applying for a grant and simply decided to start small. The basics: 'We have a 1-day event where people can become acquainted with riso printing and come and print their own illustrations.' So we decided to make riso printing super accessible to anyone who wants to come, at least for 1 day.
This was ultimately the basis of our 'risoprint party.' But even with a small event, you still have to shape it. We sat down together several times to discuss this. We wanted three things:
a small exhibition with local risoprint work
a walk-in workshop where people can riso print
A small mini riso shop where people can buy riso prints
Before the exhibition, we first emailed some of our local riso friends to see if they had work to submit. At the beginning of our event, when we wanted to make it even bigger, we also had a theme and we also wanted to ask for new (or at least well-matched) work to be submitted. Unfortunately, this was canceled for this event, but we did ask everyone if people still wanted to submit work to frame or sell. The idea of a theme (and which theme!) is still planned for the next, hopefully even larger, riso party! We thought it would be nice to spontaneously expand the exhibition with the new riso work that was made. During our riso party the exhibition grew, because everyone was allowed to participate with their freshly made prints! It was also the intention that it was not purely artists, but also local residents from Utrecht who were allowed to participate. It was very surprising to see on the wall what diverse work everyone had created!
We designed a beautiful poster for number 2 on our list, also risoprinted of course, that could be distributed everywhere in Utrecht. We have hung this poster in various places. I really think that making physical work, such as posters and flyers, is sometimes the best and most striking type of marketing. We of course shared the event on our Instagrams, but we did not spend any money on online advertising to encourage people to come. Sometimes a brightly colored, riso print poster with neon pink ink is all you need ;)
We also ensured that everything was nice and cheerfully ready for use at the Huis van Betekenis, where we held the event. A large workshop table with paper, glue, scissors and markers, the riso printer with a beautiful riso backdrop and a lot of balloons (because it really had to be a party). A good place for people to create and also chat with each other.
We created a small shop for 3 where we sold risoprint work by various Utrecht artists. This way we still had a way to show our own work, but also to show riso print work by new artists to people who didn't know it yet. We were also able to show that risoprint work not only consists of designing prints, but also cards, zines, books, jewelry and calendars.
The final event was a very enjoyable day and many more interested people came along than we had initially estimated. It was quite busy all day, from 1 to 10 o'clock in the evening, with people coming to make their first riso prints. There was a lot of drawing, cutting and chatting all day long. It was especially fun in the evening, with the opening of the beers we had bought and the pop-up exhibition that was now supplemented with many new riso prints. Afterwards I was very tired, but also very satisfied and super happy that we set this up. It is very different from the design work that I actually do a lot, but I have learned a lot from it. I think it is very good to make local connections and set up meetings or events, because you can also learn a lot by working with others. Hopefully we will be able to organize another riso party soon!
Below is a nice gallery with some of the prints made:
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