Let’s talk…
Let's cut to the chase: we're afraid Geek Pop may die this year without your help. What we need is your ideas, advice and support to make sure next year's festival 1) takes place and 2) gets bigger and better. You can add your thoughts below or email us at crew@geekpop.co.uk
To get you thinking, here are a few random ideas from our artists and our own mad brains. We know you lot have your fingers in all sorts of pies, so you may be able to help us out in one of these areas.
1) Organise a live (i.e. physical not virtual) launch event during launch week for GP '10. Charge a small entrance fee and/or attract sponsorship from local geek/eco/sciencey businesses.
2) As last year, secure commercial sponsorship for specific tents - but we also need to find one or several sponsors for the festival in general.
3) Enlist help from brilliant design students as volunteers to pimp the site - illustration and animation skills lacking here. Could provide fodder for design portfolios.
4) Find in-kind support from web developers for a revamp.
5) Sell our bodies on the streets.
Please, please, please, if these are your pies (so to speak) or you have any other genius ideas, post your comments below or get in touch at crew@geekpop.co.uk
10 Responses to “Let’s talk…”
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5 is probably the most lucrative option but failing that, aren’t there a lot of big pharma/tech companies that have science communication budgets? Perhaps too underground for them though… what does anyone think?
Live event is definitely the best idea.
Although a virtual festival is a fun idea, it was difficult to persuade people it more than ‘just a website then?’
A live event would promote a proper sense of community and fun. It’s not too pricey to hire a venue and sound engineer and get a few bands on. A entry fee of even a fiver should cover costs & a complimentary CD.
I can put you in touch with a venue or two in Shoreditch if required!
We’re thinking maybe more than one live event (as well as usual web stuff). At least, we could have one near to Geek Pop HQ in Bristol and one in London. Naked Scientists have also just suggested one in Cambridge to tie in with Cambridge Science Festival, which happens at around the same time. Could web cast or record for website too. Keep the suggestions coming guys!
The Naked Scientists may be able to help out with live streaming - you could also stream into Second Life - a small audience, but a neglected one.
More videos perhaps? May be costly and time intensive, but seems fitting for a festival…
It’s worth trackling pharma companies for funding, but you’re likely to have more luck with people like Wellcome.
Try the British Science Association?
British Science Association have been invaluable from a publicity point of view, so more in-kind support there, but we’re told there are no real funds…
I agree with Posie, best thing is to “sell your soul” so to speak and get some corporate sponsorship from some sort of medium-sized company with a bit of cash to spare… trouble is who has cash to spare “in the current economic climate”?
I like the idea of a live event, but wouldn’t that rather defeat the claim of being the only virtual festival? From a band’s perspective, it’s one thing to record a track, and quite another thing to perform live. We (Radium88) haven’t played live for years, so that’d take some head-scratching and would cost us real rather than virtual cash. Just think of the wardrobe expenses alone.
Maybe selling a CD of the festival could generate funds?
How much cash does Geek Pop need?
Would Student Unions be cheaper/geekier venues?
Has anyone found my yak yet?
Mike - the live event would in no way be a replacement for the virtual event. It might feature one or two bands and we could stick the videos up on-site. But the main point would be to attract more media interest and sponsorship money. And perhaps we could generate a few funds from ticket sales and pin badges… Also, could be a good networking event for the artists and organisers?
We’re going to be doing a gig at the Cambridge Science Festival anyway next year which should be great fun. One thing I’d be up for is some sort of online collaborative song writing around Geekpop. A bit like the sort of thing the group I’m involved with are up to, but also like Peter Serafinowicz’s twitterband project: http://www.peterserafinowicz.com/index.php/2009/05/no-we-are-the-people/
The project would be geeky in its content, and its conception/delivery. We could release one pre-recorded track, or video every day for the duration of the festival (making it time bound).
I’d be happy to help pull that sort of thing together.
Hi guys, - Picking up on the CD idea, see http://www.fluidaudio.co.uk/ for details of an album called Hope - a compilation, with half the money going to charity. Could geekpop go the same way, and split the proceeds with an appropriate charity? The idea being that the charity would help a great deal with the promotional side of things and, of course, make people who didn’t buy it feel horribly, everlastingly guilty…
- The Royal Society is 350 next year, and seems to planning a lot of self-promotion for that reason. Perhaps it’s worth talking to them.
- And here’s a completed untested and wild idea, but have you considered - oil companies?! I’m thinking of their various campaigns to present themselves in a greener light, as environmentally aware nurturers of the earth’s resources rather than ruthless, oil-mad corporations… Sponsoring a stage, or even half a stage, at a virtual festival, might be a small step in the right direction.
If it comes to live gigging, please count us in. Cheers, stephen/Spirit of Play