Dearest Chicago Zine Fest supporters,
We held off as long as we could, but unfortunately we’re in quite a bind right now.
For the first five years of CZF we had a free space, which allowed us to keep our costs very low. When we were forced to find an alternate space to host CZF we were shocked by the costs of accessible, large, event spaces in Chicago. We have worked very hard over the last two years to keep costs for our exhibitors low and to keep the fest free for attendees. In the span of a year we went from needing to raise $3,000 to $4,000 to needing almost $12,000 to cover our costs.
We have an entirely volunteer staff. Those of you in Chicago know that we beg, plead, and cajole our friends and community to help out and offer their skills whenever possible as well. Designing posters, reading at events, volunteering during the fest, running around town hanging up posters, schlepping supplies to the fest-for this we can never thank you enough. Right now we could really use your monetary donations. We are $1,902 short to fulfill all of our financial expenses for the year.
We have been so happy in our newest exhibition space. We found a space that is willing to have us, very accommodating, fulfills all of our space and accessibility needs, and is beautiful! The costs for such an awesome space are quite high and figuring out how to offset those costs has been an ongoing issue.
To give you a sense of what it costs to run the fest here is a basic run down of our expenses:
$9,000 Friday and Saturday spaces
$1,000 for invited guests and artists
$400 Event insurance
$600 printing costs
$500 Supplies
Total $11,500
We really need your help and any amount would be greatly appreciated. We realize that just making ends meet for this year is the priority, but anything we get over our costs for this year, will give us less anxiety about getting Chicago Zine Fest prepared for next year.
Thank you so much,
CZF Organizers
Alex, Allison, Heather, Johnny, Julie, and Violet
