Plymouth Art Weekender 2019

Plymouth Art Weekender (PAW) is an artist-led DIY arts festival that takes over the whole city every September. Plymouth Art Weekender's exhibitions and events showcase a huge range and variety of artworks made by the creative community of Plymouth and the wider South West. PAW creates an important platform for the work of artists at all stages of their career to be promoted and supported as part of the same event - from school children & residents, to local art students, recent graduates and professional artists working in region, all the way up to big name art superstars! We do this to make sure that communities across Plymouth can come together to enjoy art, take part in activities and have new exciting, creative experiences.

Now in its 5th year, Plymouth Art Weekender is going from strength to strength. The event has been successfully run & managed by a voluntary board called Visual Arts Plymouth - a group of artists, curators & arts organisers who live and work in the city - since 2015. Through the funding we work hard to gather, each year we generate jobs and paid opportunities for artists, curators, producers and stewards to make sure everything runs smoothly and we want this year to be no different. We also help early career artists to realise new and ambitious projects through our Plymouth Platform mentoring scheme and want to continue our work with communities, residents and school groups from all over the city & make sure that more people get to see and experience the great art that Plymouth has to offer.

Every year we produce free print & online listings and maps of all of the fantastic cultural events that take place throughout the city across the 3 days fo the Weekender, and this year we want to widen its distribution so even more people know what's going on.

Across the years we have worked with artists from far and wide to create unforgettable and engaging works, having been able to commission artists as well as create seed funding opportunities through SOUP events. With your help, we can deliver a Weekender to remember, and secure the future of this unique cultural event for years to come!

Your donation will make sure we can make this happen, from as little as £2 you can help us continue to raise the profile of the arts in the South West, and in return we have come up with some amazing rewards.

Rewards:

PAW PIN BADGES - We have 250 of these great PAW logo pin badges available so you can show your support for this fantastic festival.  

ORIGINAL PAW TOTE - There are 5 of these classic PAW totes in PAW pink up for grabs, these were originally only for PAW staff, so nows your chance to get one! 

NEW PAW TOTE - Linen tote bag with the PAW design from 2018.

PAW T-SHIRTS - These PAW pink t-shirts are usually only available to PAW staff, but here's your chance to get your hands on one of 30 we've made available for our fundraiser!

ARTIST PRINT BY BRAM THOMAS ARNOLD - Bram's fantastic commission for the 2017 Plymouth Art Weekender was a huge success, culminating in the work "Park Bench Reader". As part of our Crowdfunder he has offered this print from a performance lecture entitled "Keep The Aspidistras Flying" he gave at The Plymouth Athenaeum as part of his project.

ARTIST PRINT BY LAURA DENNING - Laura has been a part of every Weekender since we started in 2015! She was commissioned last year to produce her fantastic 'Hydrosapien' project during which she worked with choirs and members of the D/deaf community to deliver two stunning performances, one of which was part of the opening ceremony of PAW and The Atlantic Project.  We are offering you the chance to own a folio of prints of three excerpts from the "Hydroscore" Laura developed for this performance.

ARTIST PRINT BY FLO BROOKS - Brighton-based artist Flo Brooks was one of the artist selected for Plymouth Platform in 2018. During his amazing project 'What Comes to Matter' he worked with members of the LGBTQI+ community in and around Plymouth in a project which culminated in him taking over in the Lions Den on The Hoe with a thoughtful, yet vibrant, installation. We're very proud of the work he has given to us for our Crowdfunder, his painting "never mind the pecs, how’s my Tiara?” was created as part of his work last year, and is taken from items found in the Plymouth LGBT archive.

EXTRA ARTIST REWARDS 

STUART ROBINSON WESTWARD HO! BOX

Previous PAW artist, Stuart Robinson, is offering 3 of the artwork and souvenir boxes from his fantastic Westward Ho! project. 

This is the main perk for your support, A limited edition of 50 'Full boxes', all signed and numbered with a personalised message will be made containing the following:

• 'Keyring' book - An A6 book featuring images from my childhood collection of keyrings, each one bought as a souvenir of a place travelled on our family holidays. (1 of 50)
• 'Volvo on Holiday' book - An A6 book featuring holiday photos of the Volvos either sitting as part of a family portrait or as an ever present part of the holiday landscape.  (1 of 50)
• Car arrow screenprint - An A4 3 colour screenprint diagram of the Volvo complete with grill teeth and Arrow design (1 of 50)
• Tax Disc poster - An A2 (folded) digital print featuring all the taxdiscs from the Volvos I travelled on holiday in covering a 13 year period. (1 of 50)
• I-Spy postcards - A set of 8 postcards featuring the covers of the car journey essential 'I-Spy' books. Providing homage to their ability to combat boredom while contributing to car-sickness. (1 of 50)
• I-Spy multiple digital print - An A4 digital print of an artwork created from multiple I-Spy book covers
• Route Map - A digitally printed reproduction of a route map showing the journey the project will take. A2, folded in map style (1 of 50)
• Car Stickers - A set of stickers for your car of favourite holiday attractions and locations. Based on original stickers, keyrings and badges from our holidays with a newly designed 'I'm Westward Ho!' sticker (1 of 50)
• I'm Westward Ho! badge - A button badge to show your support with the 'I'm Westward Ho! logo. (not limited to 50)
• Westward Ho! stick of Rock - A stick of Rock from Westward Ho! with custom insert. Ever present on holidays but never purchased due to being bad for you teeth (1 of 50)
• Softmints - Always present on car journeys to combat car sickness, these are limited edition redesigned 1980's style packets with Westward Ho! branding. (1 of 50)

ARTIST PLEDGES

Are you a Plymouth artist with a project for the Weekender that you want some advice on? Maybe you want to sound your work out with someone for some feedback on the visual or conceptual ideas? or you want some help figuring out the technical stuff? Well, we are offering any PAW artist who wants a bit of help developing their project a 30 minute session with a relevant associate from Flock South West CIC, for £5 you can take advantage of this great opportunity to develop your event for this years Weekender.

Check out the list of Flock South West associates at  https://flocksouthwest.wixsite.com/home 

BUSINESS PLEDGES 

We have a range of offers for businesses within the city, with an average marketing reach of over 20,000 including 7000  programme print circulation around Plymouth, the South West and further afield,  your business can take advantage of some of our great marketing opportunities!These include: 

YOUR BUSINESS ON OUR MAP! - In return for a small pledge you can get your business on our online and print map alongside all of our fantastic art events. You will also be thanked in our print publication and on our webpage. If you have a business in the city and would like to make the most of this opportunity to advertise to our audience, then please check out the areas our map covers on our website.

ADVERTISE WITH US! - For a range of pledge amounts you can advertise your business with us in our print publication, whilst helping us ensure the future of our city-wide festival. Your pledge will mean that you can take advantage of a quarter to full page ad in our publication (Approx A4), reaching our audience around the city, the Southwest and further afield. You will also be thanked in print and on our webpage.   

What Your Money Will Help Us Do?

The money that your give will help us unlock extra funds from Arts Council England and Plymouth City Council, meaning we can deliver: 

• A paid team of professionals to help our voluntary body in the coordination, production and marketing of the festival. This includes a public engagement role, meaning that communities from all over Plymouth will get better access to all of the events happening over the three days, as well as working with school groups around the city. 
• Two £3k commissions for Southwest artists to produce works for the Weekender, supported by project partners Nudge Community Builders and Theatre Royal Plymouth. 
• Two £500 SOUP seed funds, for artists needing help to get their ideas off the ground for PAW. 
• Produce a fabulous print publication, listing all of the events across the three days with a map of event locations, and helpful information for audiences. 
• Support for our online presence, meaning we can share and promote the work of all our artists, as well as our partners.