SLIDELUCK POTSHOW: the blog

Greetings LA!

Ok, so there have been many rumblings and rumors about having another Slideluck Potshow in LA. We feel that there is now sufficient momentum from people based in the area to effectively pull it together. There have been a number of new people that have expressed interest in getting involved, and it seems like making it happen should be very manageable.

Brief, incomplete introductions:

Sarah Poust is the Business Manager of the prestigious photojournalism agency VII. She is probably pretty absorbed with planning of the VII seminar in London. We are working together to do our first SLPS London in conjunction with it. Morgan Hagar is an LA-based photojournalist, who heard about us through Lightstalkers and has been aggressive about getting involved. Kim Lansill is a rep that has worked in LA for many years, and has access to talented photographers and possibly studio spaces. Monica Anchin is an Assignment Editor at Wire Image and attended the first SLPS LA. Rebecca Shulman was a classmate of Alys Kenny’s (Producer of SLPS) at SVA and is the Regional Director of APA (Advertising Photographers of America.) Natalie Obermaier is a fine-art photographer and has been involved in Slideluck, both in LA and Seattle. Kaycee Olsen is the Gallery Director of the Paul Kopeikin Gallery and might have some leads on spaces. Darcy Bartoletti is an artist, old friend of Alys’, and is involved in the LA arts scene.

If that ain’t a superstar line-up, I don’t know what is. It looks like we’ve got a lot of bases covered here. In any case, the first step to putting together another Slideluck is finding an appropriate space. Photo studios, art spaces, and galleries have always worked well for us. We did the first one in LA at a beautiful studio right on Venice Beach, but it seemed to be too far out of the way for many people. It’s very important that the space allows food and alcohol and that there is a large, open space for viewing slides. I’m guessing that if this event is well-publicized and planned, we should expect 150-200 people, so the space should be spacious enough to accommodate that many people. Once we find a space, everything else should fall into place and we can provide more details for proceeding.

One disclaimer that I should mention is that I don’t want Alys and I’s preoccupation with SLPS New York (March 24th— all are welcome!) or our upcoming string of 5 back-to-back Slidelucks in Europe (see blog for schedule, http://slideluckpotshow.com/blog/ — all are welcome!) to slow your preparations down. We are so over-stretched right now, it’s a little hard to fathom. However, we both really, really want to attend and be a part of Slideluck Potshow LA. It would mean a lot and I think we could bring some valuable experience if we could be there. Right now, we are basically booked up for a few months. Which may not be entirely a bad thing. It takes a little time to garner submissions and momentum.

One open date might be Friday June 29th, because Alys has to be out there that weekend anyway. Other than that, there might be some other possibilities in May or June, but we are pretty booked prior to that. It’s sort of up to you all.

I’m going to post this email to the blog and then invite you all to join it. It is meant to be a place to centralize communication, so that people don’t have to cover the same ground more than once. You can also pick things up from other cities, etc.

That’s all for now. I hope you are basking in Southern California sunshine as you read this.

Best,
Casey

Greetings Friends, New and Old!

As you may or may not know, aside from being a photographer, I am also the founder and director of Slideluck Potshow. What is Slideluck Potshow? It’s a slideshow and a potluck. Basically, people bring food, drink, and up to five minutes worth of slides. We do the show three times a year in NYC, in large photo studios, where we show between 30-40 artists for a crowd of 500-800 people. It’s quite a popular event here among photographers, artists, curators, reps, ad agency people, magazine editors, architects, designers, and other creative types. The whole thing operates on the participation of the attendees themselves— bringing home-cooked dishes, or picking up food from restaurants, and bringing a bottle of wine or a six pack of beer. It has been a very successful model in NYC, Seattle, LA and DC, where we are currently running slideshows.

This April and May, we are launching a number of Slidelucks in Europe. We will be in London April 14th (in conjunction with VII seminar,) Madrid on April 21st, Berlin on April 28th, Milan on May 5th, and Paris sometime in between. I am familiar with the quality of photography coming out of Denmark, and am a big fan of Copenhagen in general, and having talked to some others, feel that it would be a great place to start a Slideluck Potshow. We are thinking that perhaps, on the Thursday before Berlin, April 26th, we could do the first one in Copenhagen!

The most important part is to find a place to host it. Generally photo studios and art galleries are the most conducive. Bars and Clubs change the feel of it, and often have conflicts with the food and drink aspect of the potluck. We have been able to have (huge) spaces donated in every other city, including NYC. We are estimating that the first time shows will draw between 100-150 people. It is important for there to be some kind of an open viewing space as well. We are a non-profit, so the donation should be considered a tax write-off, though I don’t know how that works internationally. Whomever chooses to host the space will be rewarded with a lot of positive association, potential clients, and PR and very likely some good press. We have been treated kindly by the press here and I’m guessing the same will hold true in Europe.

If we can indeed find a space for April 26th, then getting the word out to photographers and artists for submissions will be the next step. I know BJ, from Magnum, knows a lot of photographers and is excited to get involved. Others have expressed interest, and I would like to just start the conversation. I am also going to post this email on our blog, which we use to centralize communication when starting a new Slideluck, so that we don’t go over the same information repeatedly. I will send an invitation to the blog shortly. Here is the link: http://slideluckpotshow.com/blog/blog.html

To get more of an idea what SLPS is, I invite you to our website. There you will see pictures from the events, archived slideshows, recipes, feedback, and more. We will soon be having pages for each city involved, so that one can look at recipes from Madrid and slideshows from Minneapolis.

I hope this message finds you well. If this is a project you would be interested in helping with planning, execution, or contributing artwork, please let us know!

Warm regards,
Casey

Hi Everyone.

I just wanted to let you know where we are at in terms of planning. This is the schedule we have worked out so far. Some of this is subject to change. The most important thing is that we need to find spaces in all of the places that are not yet booked.

April 14th: London (not booked yet)
April 21st: Madrid (booked)
April 26th: Copenhagen (booked)
April 28th: Berlin (not booked)
May 5th: Milan (not booked)

(These can also perhaps happen mid-week during April. We probably don’t want to spread ourselves too thin. Five slidelucks on this trip is probably sufficient.)

Here is what we are have in the works domestically:

March 23rd: Bend, OR (booked)
March 24th: NYC (DEADLINE EXTENDED! See site for details)
March 30th: Seattle (booked)
May 19th: Minneapolis (booked)
June 16th: NYC? (not booked)

(Should we look at doing LA, SF, and Portland sometime in late May, June, or July? Alys and I would really like to be a part of these shows as well.)

The other cities that we are currently working with are as follows: San Francisco, Portland, LA, DC, Bend (OR,) Spokane (WA,) etc. Other cities that are have shown interest, but are farther behind in development: Chicago, Boston, Milwaukee, Little Rock, Buffalo, Santa Fe, etc. Internationally, there has also been some interest in Tel Aviv and Mexico City.

We are currently working with teams of people in all of these cities. If you are interested in getting involved in the planning and execution of these, or any other cities, feel free to get in touch with us!

I am going to Haiti this week to shooting a story, so I may not have much email or blog access. If that is the case, please feel free to contact Alys Kenny for any urgent matters: alys@slideluckpotshow.com

Thanks!
Casey

Ok, since the SF thread is so frickin’ hard to find, I’m starting a new one. It seems that Marcus and Christine have some momentum. Augusta seems to be interested as well. I’m looking forward to seeing what we come up with!
Best,
Casey

Hi Damon and Jeana,
I found myself drinking beer with my close friend and step-cousin-in-law last night and the topic of Slideluck and fundraising came up. I’d never thought to really pick Matt McDonagh’s (Chawdaddy) brain, but I quickly came to realize that he has a lot to offer. I think that a short meeting between the three of you could be really, really beneficial. He has been more or less the advertising director for The Onion for about 8 years. He has tons of experience selling a funky, offbeat brand to numerous corporate clients around the country— from Guiness to American Apparel. Not only does he have a lot of connections that he would be willing share with us, but he has a lot of insight on how to approach them. He can tell us exactly what our one-sheet needs to say. He will use lingo that only he understands, but others just nod in agreement and write checks. In any case, aside from being an all-around great guy, I think he can bring something great to the table. I urge the three of you to set up a meeting as soon as possible.
Thanks for listening,
Casey

So we have a date for SLPS Madrid: Saturday, April 21st. Good work, Zoe and Pablo! Now we should try to nail down dates for Berlin, Milan, Paris and possibly London. Saturdays seem to be good days because they don’t interfere with people’s and spaces work schedules, so some good dates to try and fill are:
April 7th, April 14th, and April 28th.
Alys and I will be over there and hopefully shooting jobs during the weekdays.
CK
–

hello guys,

Good news: we got the place confirmed!

so you can update the web info now with dates and address.

SLIDELUCK POTSHOW MADRID
Abril 21 |19:00 | Lugar: c/ San Bernardo 24 - 5 izq
Traer comida & bebida | 19:30 proyección | 10:00 cena
Tema: libre | Fecha límite de entrega: Marzo 20.

at this point everything seems perfect, so book that flight!

zoe & pablo.

Hi Matt, Simone, etc.
We know you guys are pretty self-sufficient, but wanted to just invite you to the blog so that you could see what it going on in other cities. Our goal, and we are working with website developers now, is to create pages for each city. That way, all of the cities will be listed at the bottom of the website, and one could go and look at pictures from the event in Madrid, recipes from Bend, or slideshows from Minneapolis. It’s all in development. In any case, we would love to get you guys more integrated into the larger picture. Let us know if there’s anything we can help you with.
Best,
Casey