Besides writers and self-publishers, we also attract local performance artists, music producers, fine artists, graphic designers, actors, sculptors, photographers, screenwriters, film-makers and journalists.
Our ICN email newsletter now reaches about 300 independent writers and artists who choose to remain ‘in the loop’ and in touch with others of our kind. We both receive from — and disseminate to — members of the network regular communiqués on public lectures, seminars, and literary-artistic events.
We are now hard at work, expanding our web presence by means of this brand new, dedicated web site and interactive portal.
Needless to say, without funding of any kind, we operate on a ‘shoestring’ through the contributions, good will and enthusiasm of everyone concerned.
We have staged about half a dozen performances so far (Spoken Word & Music), in various cafés and clubs around the city. We offer a training workshop once a month for emerging self-publishers. We host monthly meetings at a local theatre space, give public talks and serve on panel discussions.
To quote Carlos Corvos, a Brazilian-born poet I recently met: Thanks to ICN, I feel as though I’m in touch with the world!
In a nutshell, this is it: As independent artists, we need to connect, to network, to get in touch with one other, to move forward en masse. There is indeed strength in numbers — despite fond notions of ‘splendid artistic isolation’ — as our growing numbers suggest.
I see us progressing more as a loosely knit popular movement rather than as a formal organization. In keeping with our ‘zero budget’ we restrict bureaucracy to an absolute minimum. We have few formal rules, labels, titles, hierarchy or structure.
And so, as we move into our fifth year of existence, we’d like to extend a general invitation to all. Our rationale: We are the vast community of the invisible — until we become visible. This is our ultimate goal: to become visible. Please join the IC community - we welcome you!
© 2005 Christina Manolescu, Author-Publisher, Prince Chameleon Press, Invisible Cities Network
The Invisible Cities Network...
Author: Christina - Published 2006-03-28 03:45 - (3021 Reads)Celebrating five years connecting writers and artists ...the Invisible becoming Visible
When the ICN started out in the year 2001, on April Fool's day, to be precise, over a coffee at the raucously noisy former "Porté Disparu Café" on the Plateau de Montreal, the idea was to try to connect with other writers and self-publishers, and hopefully to raise the profile of, and respect for self-publishing in the process. Five years later, I believe ICN is making some impact on the scene...View image gallery: http://www.invisiblecitiesnetwork.org/tiki-browse_gallery.php?galleryId=1