So this is rather exciting.
Since the *unofficial* announcement of Artist Alley becoming the Artist Villa, there has been a lot of talk about whether or not the decision is a good one, where the Artist Villa would be located on the UBC campus, and how much traffic flow would there be going through the AV itself (assuming that artists will be put in a separate room/building as the "villa" implies).
*Un-Official Leak?* The Artist's VILLA? is pretty much the only thread I follow closely.
In order to increase traffic flow, I've suggested two things:
1. Create a booklet that contains all of the participating Artist's Info and a preview of the Artist's style/artwork
2. Create a Raffle and have Artists donate artwork to the grand prize at the end of it all.
It was all someone's suggestion of creating a map that had all the artist names on their spots that pretty much sparked my interest in creating a separate or not so separate booklet listing all the artists on different pages and having a few bits and pieces of art along with their information on each page respectively.
I thought it was a relatively good idea because you get to know the artist and preview what their style is before even having to go into the AV itself. It could give people a plan on where they want to go first, and see what's in store for them before it starts!
Also, it can serve as a memento for that year with all the AV information, web links to favorite artists, signatures, etc. It's something someone can collect and hang on for keep sake. And each year it will be slightly different because of different participating artists and all that jazz.
However, thinking that it might also promote some segregation within some of the artists (professionals vs amateurs), the raffle idea came up.
Initially it began as a contest to see who can collect all the artist's signatures/doodles and having people turn those in for a prize. That would make people more involved with the artist alley and have them take their time going through all the tables.
Then that became more of a raffle as you can just get a % of the artists to sign the book (back page or two) and handing that in to get a raffle ticket for a draw at the end of the convention (or at the end of the day) for the prize.
The prize of course is all donated from the year's participating artists. And depending on how much is donated, then there could be multiple prizes drawn! It's a win-win situation.
Plus there has been also some talk that the artists should also donate to help the charity auction :D Which I think would be excellent!
Anyway, that's all the things I've thought of so far.
Some how I'm quite enjoying this and actually being actively participating in something I care about (the AA).
AE has so much talent in the AA, I don't think it should be just an 'alley' anymore. I think it should be one of the bigger draws of the convention since we have such diverse artwork, and artists. We're definitely one of the strongest and largest artist groups out there.
