Brainstorming for ArtomaticTX - New info!

[Amanda K. Wolfe]

Hi everyone! I've just begun laying the groundwork to bring an art festival to Houston (which would be its third incarnation since its inception in Washington, DC). Rather than waste space with an overview here, I'd recommend reading my two rambling blogs on the subject (and checking out the links I included - as well as artomatic.org, the DC website).

Okay, now that I've made you do all that research... heh... I'd like to ask the natives if they have any ideas for how to tailor this to the Houston area, or just see who would like to be involved. This is the first stage in forming a collaborative of artists and volunteers who want to be involved in something they can really call their own. As the slogan goes, it's "by artists, for artists" - and it's a great opportunity for both well-known and unknown creative people of all kinds to get together and shine.

So, I'm creating this discussion in hopes that we can start bouncing ideas off of each other. There will be an actual in-person open organizational meeting in about a month or so, but it would be nice to have some ideas to grab onto before then. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts, questions, etc. and get a dialogue going, especially since every single person on the DC board of directors and several from Toledo's have informed me that they're geared up to make this happen, which means now there's no going back!

Sorry to keep cramming this down everyone's throats, but the one thing we're not raised with in Ohio is tact.

[Amanda K. Wolfe]

It just occurred to me that I'm going about this all wrong, because if it were me, honestly, I probably wouldn't be reading blogs and clicking on links and such. So, I'm just going to jack the story from DC's site, as they probably describe it best:

"Artomatic is a month-long multimedia arts event that draws together visual artists, musicians and performers and brings their work to the community without charge.

It was originally conceived as a way to break down the geographical and social segmentation of the Washington arts scene, to bring art directly to the public and to build cohesion among artists. The city's ongoing development in recent years has diffused the arts community by breaking up pockets of artist studios. In addition, local artists are sometimes overshadowed by national blockbuster shows and federal landmarks. Artomatic provides a forum for all of our area's artists to convene, perform and exhibit, strengthening the visibility, cohesion, and marketplace of Washington's arts community.

Artomatic began in 1999 in the historic Manhattan Laundry building. A dozen or so artists originally toured the empty building and within a month, three hundred and fifty artists had cleaned, lit, painted and colonized the 100,000 square feet. Over 20,000 visitors attended the first Artomatic over 6 weeks.

From there, it grew organically, as buildings were made available to Artomatic by community developers. Music and performance of all kinds were added. In 2000, 665 artists exhibited and 200 performed at the old Hechinger’s building; more than 1000 artists and performers took part in 2002 at the Southwest Waterfront and even more in 2004 at the old Capitol Children’s Museum in Northeast. The number of visitors has also more than doubled to over 40,000. Artomatic made a stop in Virginia for the first time in 2007, occupying a former Patent and Trademark space. It drew over 40,000 visitors.

By artists, for everyone

Artomatic is organic; there are no juries or curators. A Board of Directors comprised of local artists and supporters, and a steering committee comprised of local artists, arts administrators, and community activists develops outreach procedures and participation guidelines to ensure the broadest possible artistic representation from the DC metropolitan area.

Each participant pays a nominal fee and commits to volunteering a set number of shifts. Most participants, however, give much more of their time; volunteers execute every task, from hauling trash and building exhibit structures to maintaining the website. As a result, the show draws artists and visitors of different races, cultural backgrounds, ages and experience levels.

Emerging and established artists have the chance to work with and learn from one another. The diversity of artwork and performances attract the broadest range of people, providing a forum to build institutional connections; linking public and private schools, universities, community development organizations, human service organizations, corporations, foundations, and cultural organizations. Artists, organizations, and visitors come together and illustrate the energy, vitality and strength of the arts to impact the community."

-From artomatic.org

I'd like to emphasize the fact that there are no boundaries to this show; we had fire eaters, roller derby girls, stand-up comics, even last-minute graffiti on the walls of the building in 2006 (our hosts in 2007 were a little less liberal!). The concepts of performance art or visual art or what have you were not strictly defined, which encouraged people to push the envelope.

[Kim Ritter]

I suggest you get in touch with HACK ( Houston Art Car Klub) @ www.houstonartcarklub.com
This sounds right up their (our) alley..especially the last paragraph sounds like the art car ball
Are you going to Flipside?

[Amanda K. Wolfe]

Kim, thanks for the info - HACK is one of the groups I first envisioned being perfect for this. I just recently heard about Flipside but haven't heard any info on when and where it is, if you could fill me in...

[Amanda K. Wolfe]

Update... I just talked to George Koch, the chair of Artomatic in DC, and he's willing to fly down for our organizational meeting (a couple of committee members from Toledo would like to join us either in person or via conference call, too). I'd like to see this happen in about six weeks, so that we can pass the word around and get as many people on board as we can. Would July 3, 4 or 5 interfere with anyone's plans? If so, we could go with Thursday, Friday or Saturday of the following week. If anyone has any suggestions on a place to hold the meeting, please let me know. It would be nice to have an environment where we can be productive but casual (sometimes that one cocktail or cup of coffee helps, right?), and where we can potentially fit a lot of people comfortably but be able to hear each other.

[Dawn Bell]

Super Happy Funland might be a place to meet... you would have to contact Poopy Lungstuffing here on artshouston. I know their place is not open to the public now because they're working on some building permits. Just a thought.

[Amanda K. Wolfe]

That's actually a great idea - I could see SHFL becoming a sort of "home base" for the action once they're back up and running. What it's about and what Artomatic is about are so similar.

[Elder Street Gallery]

I would like to help with this. It is something that I have been wanting to see for a long time.

Terrence Boggs

[Amanda K. Wolfe]

I can't tell you all how excited I am about the response to Artomatic. I feel confident that we're going to get a great core group going to push this thing along, and we're all going to make something great happen, something which is perfect for Houston artists. Also, I keep forgetting to mention one very important aspect of this: participating artists, should they wish to sell their art, get to price and sell their own art, with no commission paid to the Artomatic organizers. This is yet another great aspect of this show. I saw a lot of good sales happen, and even though I didn't sell any of my work personally, I was offered a job teaching at a place called Scrap4Art (they turn trash into art, and if you've seen my photos, you know that was my theme for my last Artomatic exhibit). So, it really does good things for unknown artists!!

[Kim Ritter]

get the art car people involved, they are a can do bunch of artists

[Kim Ritter]

oops see I already said that

[Amanda K. Wolfe]

:) No problem, your reply got this back into the forefront, which was where I needed to put it anyway. Since I haven't really found a location for the meeting yet and I've been trying to make some media contacts to let people know about it, I'm pushing the meeting back to early August, if that works for everyone. And as always, if anyone would like to volunteer a location, that would be a major help. Anyone know if it's possible to hold a meeting in Super Happy Fun Land even if it's not officially "open for business"? Granted, it might be by then, so that may be a non-issue. It seems like it would be an accommodating place for either a small or large meeting.

[elizabeth cencini]

How big is your meeting? I would like to participate in finding out more.
I am a member of Artists Alive and Well and we are a large group of artists always looking to exhibit as a group show. I do all the PR for the group. I am also part of a Co-op Gallery just now opening up in September. I do the PR for that group as well. If you help me I'll help you. lets work together.Yourplan sound good. Looking forward to meeting you.