Overview
“Layers” was a multi-faceted interactive event meant to introduce a range of creative communities to collaborative opportunities that benefit each group equally. For this event, we worked with installation artists, independent fashion designers, models, visual artists, and photographers. I designed an experience that contained one comprehensive activity for all guests and creative freelancers to participate in.
The purpose of this event was to give unknown models and freelance photographers a free space to build their portfolio, meet one another and network for potential future projects. We worked with visual and installation artists to design 6 unique sets for guests to use. We contracted 6 on-the-rise designers to contribute that season’s unreleased fashion lines for use in the event. Our live stylist would direct various looks with our in-house photographer and models she met on site. This event practiced a concept of shared resources and positive competition to provide low-budget photoshoots for independent designers while providing unique sets and free use of released photographs for models and guests alike.
My Role
I conceptualized the entirety of this event. I organized a team of 5 creatives to communicate the needs and direct action on behalf of each community represented. I was in charge of working directly with installation artists and visual artists. I also supervised the work and direction of my team members with the models, designers, and photographers.
I generated agreements and contracts to protect our team and the event from legal backlash. I developed evaluation and analysis methods to track during the
event operations. I organized payments, recorded expenses, sent out invoices and maintained contact with all designers and artists. I directed the creation of all promotional content and developed a marketing strategy for social media outlets. I took charge of scheduling and managing all of the performance musicians involved.
The Conflict
This is an experience I will never forget. The preparation for this event was a nightmare. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. The night before our scheduled event, there was a severe rain warning. It would be raining through the night, and our rooftop space had neither coverage nor drainage. My mentality when planning events is to hope for the best, but plan for the worst. So in response to the rain warnings, my closest team members and I prepared to hang some handmade rain coverage. When we arrived on the rooftop, we began cleaning up the empty cans and cigarette butts left behind from previous use. To our surprise, in the corner of the rooftop we came across a pile of human feces. I was shocked and disgusted, but I was not ready to give up on this event. I acquired a shovel, a ton of personal protective equipment and cleaning products and proceeded to clean the feces from the rooftop. This was a horrendous experience.
By the time I finished that excursion, the rain storm had arrived in full force. Not only did we miss our chance to hang our rain coverage with ease, but the tarp we had was covered in holes anyway. Instead of hanging the coverage, I went to the store and picked up a squeegee in preparation for the next morning.
The next morning came and I was up by 7 am to start squeegeeing the rain from the rooftop. It took all of 10 minutes until I stumbled upon a fresh pile of human feces in the exact same spot that I had cleaned the night before. With the thought of public health in mind, I made the call to postpone the event for the following weekend. This was a tough call that cost us a large chunk of our budget, but I felt a moral responsibility to my guests and supporters.
Resolution
The event was rescheduled for September 2nd, another day with questionable weather. We could not afford to cancel again, so instead of relying on rain coverage, we moved a portion of the event into the downstairs studio of the building. Our design team moved one of the sets indoors and I decided that should it rain down on us, we could use the small space as overflow and continue our celebration indoors.
I made sure to come up with an emergency rain plan. Each team member was assigned to protect the electrical equipment or artwork they were closest to. I gave each person clear instructions on what to grab and where to place it. This was important to ensure that my team felt prepared and I wouldn’t be running around like a madwoman with no explanation in the midst of a downpour.
Luckily, our biggest enemy that day was the clouds. While we took a hit in attendance because of the date change and poor weather, the guests that did join us were extremely engaged in what we had to offer. This was the type of event that flooded social media posts for weeks to come. It seemed like everyone got their next best profile picture while at the Layers Interactive Pop-up.
Evaluation Flaws
Part of my evaluation analysis came from how we invited guests. The purpose of our method was to provide exclusive invites to our known models, photographers, artists and performers. The exclusive invitation with their name would grant them free entrance when they show their ID. Anyone else who shows that person’s exclusive invite at the door would receive 50% off the admission price of $10. The goal of this process was to measure the rate of attendance through word of mouth. We would track who of our exclusive invitees brought the most guests and were therefore most valuable to our social networking growth.
While this would be extremely informative in retrospect, after engaging with guests and receiving feedback, I found this process to be confusing for most people.
I learned from our first event, This is About Birds & Freedom, that more people will attend as a result of a friend’s review during the course of the event. My intention was to make this event most accessible to the creative friends of other creatives since that is who would benefit from attending. We hoped the models that we personally invited would share the concept with other model and artist friends, et al. Those with no connection to these creative fields, who only came to observe, would pay admission to support the freelance workers who made the event a reality. While the flyer of the event may have spread through word of mouth, the purpose of the invitations was lost in a bad game of telephone.
Many people didn’t know that they were supposed to show an invitation containing someone else’s name at the door.
The cost of admission turned away many of our creative community guests and left us with a smaller group of supporters that had more financial accessibility. This was trifling to me for two reasons. The problem was that, while our method of evaluation had informative qualities, the lack of effectiveness caused our results to be less accurate. Most importantly, our event wasn’t accessible to the community it was meant to serve.
What I Learned
How to coexist with Murphy’s law. When planning live experiences, it’s important to create a scenario for everything that could possibly go wrong that would be a detriment to the success of the show. The trick is, not to plan in a way that prevents the conflict, but how to find the path of success with the added restraint of a given conflict. In other words, how to work with the problem not against it.
I learned more about the tendencies of the market I was serving and the economic patterns influenced by admission fees at community events. This event was successful because income was generated from a wide range of sources and not solely dependent on admission. Individuals who were personally connected to the purpose of the event or members of the team were more likely to pay an admission fee. This created a more intimate and exclusive experience for guests and Layers became the event that people wished they attended. However, charging an admission fee restricted this event from having an impact on a large number of people in the community. There is a give and take producers must consider when determining at what point in an experience they expect a user to spend money.
