Invader Tim

So say you were a forward thinking art-lover in the Rockford community, and you had the idea to invite all kinds of galleries and businesses to have a Pub Crawl of sorts, but with art. You’d make sure they were all divergent, and interesting in the pieces they displayed. You know there is already an Art Scene in the fall. You’d call the new one ‘Spring Scene.’ It would be cool.
But, I bet after getting this all set up, YOU’D advertise. Or tell artists so they could get work in. Or generally not suck. The Rockford Art’s Council, however disagrees with you on the advertising thing. And the sucking thing apparently. They are firm believers in getting a $100 entry fee from galleries, but what they did for that $100 is not too clear. Maybe it’s the sucking. Is that what you pay for? The few local galleries I spoke to seemed to think that the $100 sucking fee seemed the most plausible. Oh, there were flyers; they got out a full week before the event—well in fairness a full week if you rounded up a week.
I wished that they had changed from my last dealings with the ineffectual lumps. I got dragged into designing a web site for them for free for this horrible abomination in Rockford known as First Night. It’s a New Year’s party that’s—hey gang dig this: alcohol free!
Let’s side track. The thought is that it’s for the children. So wipe that sour look off your face, you. It’s for the children. And a good thing too, because the children don’t have any thing to look forward to toward the end of December. Its good to have a holiday geared toward them specifically. Thank you Art Council for having the fortitude of thought to take a notoriously adult holiday and turn into a time for the kiddies. ‘Cause it’s been a whole week almost since they had a national holiday all their own.
Anyway, It’s like this. I did all the graphics and design…even though the damn photos they gave me to work with were in black and white. The Web being such a new medium, how were they to know it was color? Now the site never got finished. The two most important parts were missing. The logos for the sponsors. They never got those to me in a format I could use. I could feel free to round them up if I wanted, but you know, I didn’t. And they never got a schedule, but they assured me I could go to any bank and pick one up. Then re-type the whole thing in. I ignored their calls two days before the event asking when everything was going to be done? You know, they still needed to get me material, but when would I get it done?
I blew them off and went to a very adult, very alcohol-laden party.
Times may change, but standards must remain.