Posted by nullthread on Mar 29, 2022
For about three hours on a sunny Sunday afternoon, Pipsqueak Gallery hosted the first Make/Swap Zine Meet, a free and all ages space for zinemaking and its related ideations. Zines are a low-barrier and artful way to gather your thoughts around a beloved subject. I've seen a lot of zines get turned into books, so don't sweat starting small when you feel overwhelmed!
I signed up for a microgrant a few months ago with a small write up and this event poster and received $750 for the event series. I used it to buy a common pool of art supplies and the ability to just provide free copies. I simply had a sheet where attendees would self-report how many copies they made.
Long gone are the days of a nickle a page; black and white copies go for 11 to 15 cents each and color copies can go up to a full dollar! Corporate survellience also means your friend can't sneak some copies over to you. Thus community copiers and risographs keep zine culture alive and well - and this event is an extention of that energy.
Since this was the first event I was running right after the pandemic, I decided to be very intentional with my advertizing. I posted about the event in my personal social medias (<3k followers), as well as a few leftist spaces and collectives. Instagram had surprising reach, despite my low use of it (Finsta, anyone?) It's always a good sign when people ask if it will happen again - some even asked monthly! The instant feedback was very gratifying but quarterly might be the right frequency for my current capacity. We'll see when the next one happens!
Pipsqueak Gallery
173 16th Ave
Seattle, WA