I participated in the ANTIGRAVITY Alternative Media Expo this past Saturday. It took place here in New Orleans, at the new Howlin’ Wolf. This was the fifth edition of the Expo, and the third time I’ve been involved. It always draws a pretty eclectic crowd, with people of all ages and from all walks of life coming out to support local artists and businesses. This year the exhibitors included local filmmakers, comic book artists, crafters, t-shirt companies, jewelry designers, community organizations…the list goes on.
The Expo has been a great place for me to meet and network with cool new people. I first met Rachelle, founder of the New Orleans Craft Mafia, at the spring 2005 Expo. This year I chatted with some of the Big Easy Roller Girls, met a sociology professor from Tulane, who happens to be teaching a class about craft & culture this semester, and another teacher from UNO who has written a paper about the same subject. I also got a chance to speak with one of the founders of Staple, an independent media festival in Austin, Texas.
One of the featured guests of the Expo was Mat Schwarzman, author of The Beginner’s Guide To Community-Based
Arts. Notable local t-shirt companies Dirty Coast, Sigh Co. Graphics, and Defend New Orleans were all presenting their work to the public at the Expo. Local entertainment website NOLA Tonight even sent a representative to the Expo dressed up as some sort of human disco ball.
Some other New Orleans-based bloggers were there, letting people know about The Rising Tide Conference, which is happening here next weekend and will focus on creating a dialog about the state of things here in NOLA, one year after the storm, and what can be done to further the recovery and rebuilding process.
The local film community was out in full force, proving that they’re still going strong even if many of the big Hollywood productions that were filming here pre-Katrina haven’t returned yet. The New Orleans Filmmakers group was there promoting their new
magazine Shutter, which is NOLA’s only film publication. TimeCodeNOLA was also present, as well as my very own filmmaker boyfriend, David S. White (aka Penguin Productions), who was getting the word out about the world premiere of his newest short film, Sex Between Us, coming up here in NOLA on August 31st.
Even though it was hotter than Hades at the Howlin’ Wolf that night (something about the heat being accidentally turned on instead of the A/C before the event got underway?!?), fun was still had by all. I always really enjoy these types of things, and I’ve got to give Leo McGovern of Antigravity Magazine tons of credit for pulling off organizing an event this big time and time again. I can’t wait until the 6th installment of the Alternative Media Expo!
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Haha, I forgot we met at the Expo first!
I always think of our meet-up at Z’otz as our first meeting.
Well, really, we met on LJ first.