October was about becoming.
It was full of meetings, new relationships, books, conversations, and a few experiences I didn’t expect. And somewhere in between, I seem to have got myself a new role:
Fundraiser.
Not a title I ever imagined putting next to my name, but one that is starting to feel surprisingly mine.
I’m currently raising money for Season 3 of Book Making as an Art Form. Until recently, fundraising felt like something I had to do just to make the podcast. Now I see it differently.
It is part of making the podcast, and I’m approaching it from several directions.
I submitted applications to funds, including Pictoright, and entered the AFK lottery (again). I started conversations with companies about sponsorship. I’m very grateful that Pantheon Drukkers has already decided to support the next season.
I also opened a direct donation campaign and, at the time of writing this, you have already contributed more than 400 Eur. A good start. If you would like to support - that would mean a lot!
And next week, I’ll meet with G.F Smith to see where a first conversation might lead. Nothing confirmed. No grand announcements, just doors opening.
And I’m learning to knock on (all of) them.
The strange thing is that asking for support has become easier as I’ve become clearer about what I’m asking people to support. Season 3 theme is Circulation.
Books circulate.
Knowledge circulates.
Money, materials, skills, opportunities and people circulate too.
A recent conversation in my studio with Guido Vermeer from IGEPA brought this back to me. We talked about the changes in book printing and the paper industry, but also about our responsibility as people working inside this field. The future of art books isn’t somebody else’s responsibility. It belongs, in small pieces, to all of us.
My piece is this podcast.
To record the people, decisions and knowledge behind books while they are here to tell us about them. To make those conversations public. To connect people who might otherwise never sit at the same table.
The more I understand that, the less fundraising feels like asking for money.
It feels like asking people to participate.
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Meanwhile, beautiful books kept arriving at the studio.
October brought photography for Jap Sam Books, Kristin Metho and Marieke Coppens, among others.
I also photographed a very different assignment for BPD Amsterdam, that required renting a way stronger camera, and of course, now I want to get it myself.
Then there was Bring Your Own Book Fair.
Six hours of talking to people about books, which sounds exhausting, but it was wonderful.
My former intern Chiara was there, which made the day even sweeter, and I came home with that very particular kind of tiredness you get after spending hours talking about something you genuinely care about.
Apparently, I still have plenty of book-event adrenaline left :)
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I also visited Raddraaier SSP, where another podcast-related collaboration is slowly taking shape.
And on 24 October, we recorded Episode 7 of Book Making as an Art Form with Hans Gremmen from Enter Enter. We spoke about a space that refuses to behave like one thing.
A bookshop.
An exhibition space.
A meeting place.
A kind of chameleon.
Enter Enter grows through friendship, openness and people's willingness to use the space rather than through a constant cycle of funding applications. I found that liberating.
At the moment, I cannot produce my podcast entirely from my own pocket. I can invest my time - and I do, extensively - but I also work with people who deserve to be paid for theirs.
So for now, fundraising remains part of the job. Maybe one day it won’t need to be. That would be a lovely kind of freedom.
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November already has a few things waiting.
On 10 November, the Enter Enter episode will be released.
On 28 November, I’ll record the next episode with the Jaap Harten Fonds at the Stedelijk Museum Library.
There are other conversations in the calendar and others I don’t know about yet.
I like that.
If you want to visit my studio - just send me a message.
With bookish regards,
Justina
