Thursday

It’s a Thursday morning, 8.14am. My phone jingles to alert me to a new Twitter direct message. It’s from Lauren Gentry (an illustrator I met whilst working on a recent Central Station collaborative project) and it says:

Hi, Kokomo’s is closing (bar with palm trees) and they’re welcoming events in the evening until they close next week. Mon & Tues are free. What do you think? Too short notice for a quick art exhibition/night?

I reply positively- straight away- saying that we should, beyond a shadow of a doubt, go for it. With the awesome power of the internet and social networking on our side, we could do it. Organise a successful event in only five days?…bring it on!

So together with fellow DJCAD graduate Jen Collins, we decided on the theme of a free-for-all Art/Craft/Makers show & sale of work. Being in the midst of the UK’s ‘Big Freeze’ we agreed on Lauren’s title Jumpers and Jamboree, which described not only the attire of many of those attending, but also the diversity of styles and skills on show. Each of us designed individual posters, which collectively embodied the range of methods and genres to be included in the night’s event.

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Friday

The following day, posters were distributed throughout the Art School and University campus, nearby shops, cafes, Artists’ Studios, Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre and Print Studios. Posters were also circulated via email, which those wishing to participate were able to print-off at home to advertise their inclusion in the event. With old-school poster advertising and resultant word-of-mouth taken care of, the next and main port of call was the internet. Dundee’s thriving online arts community welcomed the event with open arms, with us choosing to advertise and call for submissions via Facebook, Central Station, Email, Twitter and through our own personal Blogs.

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Monday

By early Monday morning we had received an overwhelming response to the call-out, and having twenty confirmed artists and makers for the event on Tuesday evening, we were forced to close the call to any further submissions.

The small bar was organised into a tabled selling area displaying all manner of handmade delights including silver jewellery, recycled paper wallets, crocheted hats, gift-wrap, clothes, artists’ books, badges, prints and paintings occupying any free nook or cranny.

Whilst we had a good number of exhibitors, we were still collectively nervous as to whether anyone would come along to see or buy anything at all. While it is impossible to know how many people have seen a poster in the street and furthermore, whether or not they plan to attend the poster’s advertised event; in advertising online we were able to track how many people had read our blog articles- (and through Facebook Event Invitations) how many people had R.S.V.P’d as ‘Attending’. But even this nominal figure was nothing to get excited about.

The recent upsurge in individuals and organisations using Facebook to invite contacts to their Art Exhibition/House Party/Car-boot sale has created an overwhelming plethora of options for users. The difficult task, it would seem, is to make sure that your event stands out amongst the social networking crowd.

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Tuesday

However our fears quickly disappeared, as a huge number of Dundee’s creative community piled through the bar’s narrow doors as we opened Jumpers and Jamboree to the public. Part incredulous, part proud and just so relieved that we had such an excellent response to our last minute event, it wasn’t long before visitors were asking when our next event was planned for, and how they could get involved.

The night was punctuated with live music we’d managed to arrange for next to nothing, and a good old-fashioned prize raffle, with which we managed to recoup our expenses. Neither we nor the bar took commission from any sales made on the night: all exhibitors sold at least one piece of work, with several making up to £100.

We were very well organised- and without methods of communication as quick as Twitter and Email it would have been near impossible to have organised the event within such a short time period. We Tweeted Tweets, Blogged our Blogs and generally made enough online-fuss to be noticed. However the one factor which made Jumpers and Jamboree a success, is that of Dundee’s fantastically tight-knit and enthusiastic creative community. Some may say that social networking is destroying human interaction – that our online lives are outweighing that of reality. But online networking and electronic communication is by no means a replacement for actual human interaction. For example, it is unlikely that all three collaborators would have come together to organise Jumpers and Jamboree if we hadn’t met in person through previous projects. However, there’s no doubt that if used correctly social networking in the arts community is an extremely useful tool, as the same people who re-tweeted our messages and forwarded our emails actually arrived in the flesh – keen to be part of the hype we’d built-up over the previous five days.

So thank you Twitter, for helping us spread the word. But thank you more to the real people behind the pixel avatars who came along to enjoy the fruits of our online labour.

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