Chicago Zinefest?

[Billy Da Bunny]

Yo Neil, yo quimbys people, yo chicago! We gonna do a zinefest? there were rumors floating about.... I'd like to help make that happen, though I don't want to be the main bunny in charge or anything.... but i'll help! any thoughts?

[Bradley Adita]

What I'm proposing, on the campus of DePaul (unless a better place can be agreed on), is a meeting between you all and me and anyone else who wants to be part of that meeting - (people who have something to say about this idea of the Chicago Zine Fest, who get in touch with us in advance, and who have copies of their zine for trading with each of the others meeting - furthermore I'd say that only people who are members of the Chicago Zinesters Group should be eligible to attend this meeting - cuz if they are not already part of the conversation here, then they've already missed the boat) - - - - Also, I wouldn't consider it one of the future 'open meetings' you talked about - but rather an open (but private - once we know who wants to meet) meeting where people can really talk openly (sort of "off the record") about their concerns. If its just me, that's fine, but if other people want to meet up and talk, thats fine as well.
I'm putting this out there as a way for me to communicate with you (the organizers) so that there is less lost in translation + it would also be a chance for me (and those others who arrange to be part of the meeting) to get a sense of where you guys are coming from. My guess is that it would probably last like 2 or 3 hours or so maybe longer, maybe shorter. If this is something you want to do, we can arrange it through this forum, and through WMZs email messages... (BTW, this coming Friday, Monday and Tuesday work for me - just putting it out there) - - - - Again, sending emails or phone calls is not going to give us the chance to communicate with each other the way that meeting in person as a group will. Like I said, I am not against the email/phone/etc... but too much is lost - and not enough attention is focused on the subject matter.

Leslie Perrine - Do you really believe your own argument of not worrying. The only way to not have a mediocre fest is to not plan a mediocre fest. You are still in the planning stages, so it is what you do now, in advance of the event, which will determine the quality of the event. Luck and chance come into play, of course, but to count on them to deliver the zine fest from the realm of the mundane seems to stem from a lack of planning rather than an intentional decision. - As for the month of March - you actually have some convincing arguments there, but my main complaint would be that I'm not sure it gives you all enough time to plan - As for Columbia, I stand firmly behind what I wrote earlier - from what you said so far, I would definitely recommend the Alternative Art Space you mentioned before.

Ramsey Everydaypants - I appreciate your willingness to share your ideas and plans. But making time for a meeting, (like the one described above), would, in my view, be the most beneficial. If this is not possible - I'd prefer to focus the conversation here. Like I said before, if there are specific things - ask them here.
(obviously other "Chicago Zinesters" can answer the questions as well).

Lastly...
What do you mean, "I don't know what either of them mean"?
Playing dumb worked for the Ramones - but it won't work here:
The two questions remain unanswered.



leslie perrine said:

Bradley,
Thanks for your input about the venue and how to organize the fest. We are definitely going to start having open meetings once we have the venue confirmed and have started the gears really getting in motion about this. This should be around the middle of this month.
I guess how we see it is that if we don't worry about having a mediocre fest it won't be mediocre--it's going to be awesome! We're excited, other people are excited and that's really what matters. We think getting people together being able to see people working in the same genre (which DIY art and publishing is definitely glossed over for bigger things in chicago I feel, and not highlighted at the printer's ball) and have an open fun place to talk about zines and publishing and get inspired to keep doing it, is what is important and what will make the event a success.
We picked the end of winter because we knew there weren't a lot of other zine or comic fests going on at that time. We also didn't want to set the goal so far ahead that it felt like it was never going to happen. It's definitely going to happen and since we picked march, we're trying to hold up to march unless some catastrophe happens along the way.
Definitely the idea of all meeting up and talking is great and going to happen, we'll talk more in a week or two about that. And my suggestion of email was more if you had direct suggestions such as different venues and contact information for those venues, I'm not trying to privatize our conversation in any way.
Also, your two questions that haven't been answered, I don't know what either of them mean so I can't answer them, sorry.
Thanks again for your concerns, we've definitely been talking about them but also are confident that the event we're planning won't be mediocre and will be fun and hopefully you will to.

leslie

ramsey everydaypants said:

I also wasn't trying to privatize the conversation by suggesting you call me. I just thought a conversation would be helpful so we could catch you up on various ideas we've already discussed in meetings. Many of your suggestions are things we've previously had in depth conversations about, so I thought it would just be more concise to be able to catch you up to speed, so your suggestions are relevant to where we are in the planning process and we can focus the conversation a little more.

[Mony Nunez]

i had mentioned before something about making cool flyers and posting it around and handing them out to get more in touch with the public and zinesters.however, i "accidentally" forgot about the whole modern idea of....just simply starting a website. it's stupid though but yeah i guess what i want to know is how i can contribute to this proccess of planning for a future non-mediocre zine fest?

[ramsey everydaypants]

Hi Monika! We'll be having open meetings within a couple weeks so we can all get together and start working on making this a big, awesome event. We'll definitely keep you posted. There will be all sorts of things people can help with. Your suggestions of flyers is still very important, as well as a website, which is already in the works. All means of communicating will be important in getting the word out!

Monika Nunez said:

i had mentioned before something about making cool flyers and posting it around and handing them out to get more in touch with the public and zinesters.however, i "accidentally" forgot about the whole modern idea of....just simply starting a website. it's stupid though but yeah i guess what i want to know is how i can contribute to this proccess of planning for a future non-mediocre zine fest?

[Mony Nunez]

Totally! sounds awesome.
and call me mony!XD

ramsey everydaypants said:

Hi Monika! We'll be having open meetings within a couple weeks so we can all get together and start working on making this a big, awesome event. We'll definitely keep you posted. There will be all sorts of things people can help with. Your suggestions of flyers is still very important, as well as a website, which is already in the works. All means of communicating will be important in getting the word out!

Monika Nunez said:

i had mentioned before something about making cool flyers and posting it around and handing them out to get more in touch with the public and zinesters.however, i "accidentally" forgot about the whole modern idea of....just simply starting a website. it's stupid though but yeah i guess what i want to know is how i can contribute to this proccess of planning for a future non-mediocre zine fest?

[Billy Da Bunny]

if there are open meetings, i'll totally come and give my 2cents.

brad brings up a lot of good points, though no one answers his questions. but brad, your questions are weird and don't make any sense! hahahahahhahaha! never trust a juggler...

i've been to really great events at columbia, and really not so great. i planned a not so great event there. it's big and has lots of support possibilities, and the staff are always good. and LARGE spaces! but yeah, columbia is a big place, lots of buildings, so events can also get lost within them. clear promotion is good, and lots of good signage on the day of is great! and the location of columbia is great, i think. personally, i would have steered towards other venues, but columbia is totally doable.

um.... what else? i had other points, but forgot... Go Bears!

[Bradley Adita]

Billy, yeah but would you want to meet on the DePaul Campus with the organizers?
Nope, the organizers have not answered the two questions yet, but maybe they have to get together and talk it over, you know, and come up with a unified answer - so give it some time. At least you didnt say that you don't know what the questions mean. I guess you can all them "weird" and say they "don't make any sense" (but they're not that weird - and actually they do make sense - I mean this is the CHICAGO(land) zinesters group and we've all seen the GOONIES, right?). - - - - The line, as I recall was "never trust a hippie(*)", furthermore, I maintain that everyone is a juggler and we wouldn't want everyone going around not trusting themselves, would we?
um.... what else? i had other points, but forgot... Lovie Smith still has a job!

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cV__3c22Xo

[Mony Nunez]

i love the goonies.>_br /> don't give up. never give up on your questshuns and seek thy answers.

[Bradley Adita]

stating the obvious:

http://chicagozinefest.org/

btw: Jay Reatard RIP

[Olivia Arrow]

Exciting!!!

Bradley Adita said:

stating the obvious:
http://chicagozinefest.org/
btw: Jay Reatard RIP

[Bradley Adita]

Olivia, its not really exciting that Jay Reatard passed away...

but yeah - at least the website has some content on it now

[ramsey everydaypants]

Chicago Zine Fest has officially secured spaces for the events we have been planning. Here's how the event will play out:

Friday, March 12th--zine reading @ Quimby's and art show followed by Gadabout Film Fest screening @ Johalla Art Gallery

Saturday, March 13th--day of exhibiting and workshops @ Columbia College's Conaway Center

There is still a lot of planning to be done, however. At this point we are excited to open up the floor to the many people who have expressed interest in helping out. On Saturday, January 30th we will be having an open meeting to discuss where we stand, as well as what still needs to be done to make this event as awesome as it has the potential to be. The meeting will be held at 11:30 AM on Saturday, 12/30 at the Logan Square Library (3030 W Fullerton Ave., just a couple blocks from the Blue Line California stop), so bring your ideas, contributions, and experience, and get involved!



That's all for now. Stay posted, follow us here or on twitter or facebook, spread the word, and get excited!

[Chicago Underground Library]

Hey,

Nell from Chicago Underground Library here.

We have our own meeting on the 30th at 3pm but I'm going to send a few of our folks to attend since I have to start setting up at 1pm. I admit that I had no idea this was chugging along (we've been moving and have been a bit underwater lately), and we were recently contacted by our friends at No Coast who thought we were organizing this. So they want to be involved, we want to be involved, I'm sure APC would want to be involved, and I'm sure Center for Book and Paper Arts folks would want to be, too, unless they're the ones who already hooked you up with the space at Columbia and are already on board.

Please keep me in the loop at [e-mail] and look out for some librarians to drop in on Saturday morning.

And if you want to migrate over to CUL for the community meeting at 3pm, it's all about our programming and plans for serving the small press over the next year and I'm sure folks attending that would want to know what's going on with the fest, too. 621 W. Belmont, 2nd Fl.

Look forward to meeting you!

Best,
Nell
--
Nell Taylor, Director
Chicago Underground Library
www.underground-library.org
621 W. Belmont, 2nd Floor
Chicago, IL 60657
Sat-Sun, 1-5pm

The CUL wants to be your friend!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chicago-IL/Chicago-Underground-Librar...
http://www.myspace.com/chicagoundergroundlibrary


ramsey everydaypants said:

Chicago Zine Fest has officially secured spaces for the events we have been planning. Here's how the event will play out:

Friday, March 12th--zine reading @ Quimby's and art show followed by Gadabout Film Fest screening @ Johalla Art Gallery

Saturday, March 13th--day of exhibiting and workshops @ Columbia College's Conaway Center

There is still a lot of planning to be done, however. At this point we are excited to open up the floor to the many people who have expressed interest in helping out. On Saturday, January 30th we will be having an open meeting to discuss where we stand, as well as what still needs to be done to make this event as awesome as it has the potential to be. The meeting will be held at 11:30 AM on Saturday, 12/30 at the Logan Square Library (3030 W Fullerton Ave., just a couple blocks from the Blue Line California stop), so bring your ideas, contributions, and experience, and get involved!



That's all for now. Stay posted, follow us here or on twitter or facebook, spread the word, and get excited!