Today you are starting your first of four days working on producing your zines for the Collingswood Book Festival. I can think of a couple of very different ways for coming up with ideas for your zine and/or developing existing ones ideas: one privileges serendipity (what did find?), another audience (who might buy your zine?), and yet another your schtick (what ideas are too good to ignore?). Let’s start with the first one: serendipity.
Find & Copy
On Thursday I shared this homework activity with you. What did you find in the library? What can you do with these? How did the activity go? Challenges? Recommendations for next time?
Zine communities: festivals & other events
Fairs, readings, workshops, parties, and other events are part of what makes being in the zine community so fun. Here are four events happening in West Philadelphia this fall:
- This Thursday (Sept 26): Zine Reading at The Soapbox (West Philly’s Kingsessing neighborhood)
- This Saturday (Sept 28): Zine-Making Workshop & Blkgrlswurld Punk Fest and Zine Fair (UPenn’s Institute for Contemporary Art)
- Saturday and Sunday, Nov 16 & 17: Philly Zine Fest (West Philly)
There are even more amazing events happening in the next year if you’re willing to drive a few hours to NYC, Baltimore, D.C., or even smaller communities in Lehigh Valley or Scranton (each of whom have their own zines fests).
Speaking of small communities… today we are getting you ready to think about your second zine, whose audience will be attendees at the Collingswood Book Festival on October 5.
Activity: As you think about what you might make for the Collingswood Book Festival, let’s take a moment to reflect on the event. Who attends? How big is it? What might we expect when we’re there? Who might be your zine’s audience? What kinds of content might find audiences more easily than other kinds?
Zaney-ziney ideas
Activity: Last class we circled up and you kindly shared some of the zines you ordered a few weeks ago, talking about where they were from, why you ordered them, how they were produced, etc. Today I want us to continue sharing, but before we do I want us to specifically inventory the ideas behind the zines so that they inspire new ones. To do that, let’s go to this Google Doc.
Homework for next class
- Continue to research and communicate with your group about the Tactile Proof presentation — have your artifacts “in hand.”
- Storyboard at least one zine idea (in multiples of 4) — come up with an outline for 4, 8, 12, 16, etc. panels. These should be specific enough to give us a sense of your idea without totally committing to them.