Sweet Lolita, by Alisa Perne
Alisa is one of our official bloggers for GxG and I couldn’t be more proud of her. This is lovely. ❤
Yesterday, I finally got a chance to scrape together enough time to read some of the blog posts people have written about GxG. I was directed to this one and really loved it, much to the surprise of its’ author. Really, go read it- it’s good.
I wanted to use that post to springboard into this one, and talk about how and why this event is different from the other Cursed events – something that Sal seems to understand even without discussing it with me.
In 2014 we will be doing four big events(so, not including Oopskate since that’s only one night a year) but until now we’ve only done three a year- GxG, World Goth Fair, and A Clockwork Spiral. All of them have changed over the years in ways big and small. We learn from every event we do. They are all different. Futurewave, which we’re adding in 2014 will be different still. But GxG is its own case. It’s morphed a lot over the years. It’s almost unrecognizable from where it began, and that’s a good thing. As SL evolved it evolved too. But really, it’s designed to be an easy event for both merchants and shoppers for the end of the year. It’s meant to be low-pressure, as this time of year everyone is under enormous pressure in RL. Because there’s no booth fee, there’s no way for merchants to lose money. If it’s slow, no biggie- it didn’t cost anything. If it’s busy? Bonus! There’s no rules about exclusives, or new stuff (though a lot of people choose to put out both), but there’s no pressure on merchants to jump through a lot of hoops to be involved. This event is intended to be as inclusive as possible- the only really firm rules are about vendors and IP/infringing content. It’s pretty open ended.
Because there’s such a low barrier to entry, we get a broad mix of applicants. For many, each year, it’s their very first foray into being in events at all. When it’s your first time doing a big event it can be scary and you feel like you’re in over your head. You don’t know about how important things like display and exhibit design are. You don’t necessarily know what the trends are in advertising design. Creators are often in their own bubbles regarding these things. We largely work by ourselves and don’t get out much. We don’t often see what else is out there, because we’re so busy churning out the next release. But events in general, but this one in particular, allows creators to come together in a low-stress environment and check stuff out. Look at people around them. See what others are doing. Gain inspiration and learn new stuff.
Sal is right- our group is very nice to one another. Very helpful and cross-supportive. We try as hard as we can as the org team to do the heavy lifting on this event. This allows both seasoned and new creators to breathe a little easier. Our experience tells us that the experiences that folks have with GxG, whether they make money or just gain experience are good- they come back to us for World Goth Fair, which is easily the toughest event we do all year. And when they do, after their experience at GxG they up their game. They take what they’ve learned and they apply it. They do better products, better ads, better booth designs. They ask for more critique, more help, and they get better at what they do.
A rising tide raises all ships.
In many of the smaller, niche markets change is slow to come, and SL has undergone a lot of technical changes in the past 18 months. But when creators see what’s possible, and how they can adapt those things not only in mainstream markets but in niche markets as well (which is all we do at Cursed events- mainstream isn’t our thing.) they find ways to adopt those new methodologies into their products and branding. The big names do their thing, and the small names get bigger and better from the experience.
That’s what GxG is about. It’s not intended to be a rough event. We have all our other events for that. It’s about taking a breather at the end of the year, and everyone coming together in mutual support of a small scene.
We’re pretty happy with that goal.
This photo wasn’t from one of our official bloggers but it’s just so nice I’m posting it anyway (don’t kill me, Sonya.) It’s from our event Flickr Pool (which you can post to also!)
LA PETITE MORTE – J&A EXPO – GLAM AFFAIR ,by Punkiss Resident
Gothmas by Gaslight 