It's been a while since our last full event at Kungfuology. That was the PETA show which is not on this blog.
Next up. Having struck up a relationship with Beijing avant-garde photographer Ren Hang, I decided to bring him down for a show. We originally wanted to get him on at an existing regular event, a photographer's night at Dada Bar. I didn't work out though so we crafted our own.
Before I talk details, this event has a special condition: I'n bringing someone down from Beijing. Obviously this adds massively to the cost. An event featuring artists from only the same city would cost only a fraction.
Ren Hang. I followed his work as a genuine fan and ended up buying prints from him directly. This led from looking him up on Douban to having a direct line/relationship.
We decided to have the event at Yuyintang. Ren Hang will show his work via slideshows and video then we wanted the band Boojii to play. Time Out magazine were going to in some part sponsor the event, but that didn't come through either so all costs I mention had to be put up by ourselves.
We called Sophia Wang at Yuyintang to book a date. This can be done via their website.
It will be a ticketed event at 40 rmb per ticket, as per The Cut Off Point. The venue doesn't charge to hire the space and the ticket split is 70-30. That is, they keep 30% of ticket money plus the bar.
Then we called Boojii's manager Brad Ferguson and booked the band. This was also achieved by negotiating a split of the ticket money as opposed to a one off advance fee. We are not looking to make money off this, only break even so I was able to offer a high percentage to the band.
You'll note that at this point, no money has been spent.
Bringing the artist down from Beijing. We decided to fly him. Including tickets and airport fees it's basically a 2000 RMB round trip. There are trains, we just chose plane. Also, he will stay in Jake's house, so no fees there.
Finally we needed a flyer design. Yuyintang usually can provide that, but I specifically wanted to support another local artist, Kaine Lv. Coincidentally, she used to be the flyer artist for Yuyintang. I had 500 left of my projected budget so I gave her four to design a flyer and we used the other 100 to print them at Daqi 24hour printers on the opposite corner to Yuyintang, Kaixuan Road/Yan An Road West.
Sophia then made a Douban event page via their Yuyintang host account.
It's a niche event of a specific style but on a Saturday night. If we sell 300 tickets at 40 rmb a ticket that's 12 000 gross. Easily enough to clear the costs and pay the band a decent amount.
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