There has been a lot of growth in our (still) little print-book-publishing community here in COS in the past year: new independent artists, new publishers, new community studios, new recording studios, new zines, new letterpress studios. It’s been wonderful, amazing, and I can’t wait to see how far we can take this.
The first part of a lively scene is the people doing the work. We’re getting us some people, making us some work. The second part is a place where those people can gather, to share their work with other people also gathered. To bring those “other people” (the public, let’s say) in, to let the artists already there out, to make those “other people” not “other,” but people, each belonging in their individual way.
A secret group with a static membership does not grow as a community, plays no role as a group in the larger community. A place of sharing & gathering & growing/changing is crucial. One such place is on the verge of opening in south downtown Colorado Springs: Mountain Fold Books. (Full disclosure: I am a board member of Mountain Fold, and I believe fiercely in the project.) The description from the MFB website:
Mountain Fold Books is a new kind of bookstore. We're a non-profit, membership-based bookstore and reading room/gallery that will make small-press books and magazines accessible to the community of Colorado Springs and the greater Pikes Peak Region. While we have an amazing library district and two university libraries, small-press books of poetry and art books remain difficult to access. Our aim is to help connect Colorado Springs to the growing art and literary communities along the Front Range of Colorado by providing a welcoming place for the community to gather, read, exchange ideas, give readings and see books and art that currently can only be found in larger metropolitan areas.We are entering the last week of Mountain Fold’s first Membership Drive & Fundraiser. Success in this endeavor means that MFB will be funded until July of 2015, which means that the folks in charge can focus on making it the crucial thing that it needs to be, that this community needs, and that the small press-artists’ book-zine-print-etc. community at large needs. All of the information that you need to make your (tax deductible) donation is here:
http://www.mountainfoldbooks.org/shop/
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