We’re often asked about the history and origins of Art Conspiracy. As we enter our 9th year of Art Con, we have a lot of new faces and supporters in our midst — so maybe we do have some explaining to do. For example, how did this get started? Why did we choose our name? And what does any of this have to do with Hurricane Katrina or the JFK assassination? Art Conspiracy Co-Founder Sarah Jane Semrad explains:

 

Art Conspiracy started as a one-off fundraiser and the intention was simple: to help children displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The group of friends who started it felt helpless watching our city being invaded and wanted to reach out and really do something besides contribute what little we could afford to a charity. We figured if we could pull our resources to make one big donation, we’d have more impact. Our charity of choice was The Children’s Health Fund, started by a fellow artist Paul Simon to help low income families pay for everything from underwear to chemo.

Jason said, “Hey, do you think we could get 20 artists?” and I said, “No, we need 100, man” — and lo, The Art Conspiracy was born.

Co-founder Jason Roberts locked in the bands while I roped in visual artists and volunteers to produce the event. A team formed to support all aspects of the event from PR and graphics to building a website and art installation. We knew it was crazy even as we were planning it, but the art creation on site had to be the day before due to our rental agreement.

Plans began forming in late September and as the scale of what we wanted to do grew, we knew our timeline indicated a December date. Locking in The Texas Theater was key and actually came before the name. From there it was an easy leap to name our event The Art Conspiracy – nodding to the location of the fundraiser, the scene of Lee Harvey Oswald’s arrest on November 22, 1963, but also the conspiratorial nature of the artist / musician collaboration that was about to go down.

The inaugural event was absolute bedlam in the best way possible. Not only did 900+ people attend, but also the fire marshal! And some of the outstanding memories? The event was BYOB because we were in a dry part of town at the time, so what’d we do? Make a beer check. The line to get in the theater wrapped around the block and several auctioneers went hoarse trying to negotiate bids with no bullhorns.

Once it was over and we’d actually cleared enough money to pay all of our credit cards back and to make a sizable donation, literally hundreds of people emailed me asking “when’s the next one?” Keep in mind, this is pre-Facebook, pre-Twitter. This event and its impact spread like wildfire on email, via flyers all over town and leveraging the artists’ and bands’ networks.

Starting a new nonprofit became the focus after Art Con 2 with all profits going to local art and music organizations — and now 9 years later, here we are. Art Con has gifted more than $200,000 into the local art and music economy right here in our hometown. It’s also become more than an annual event. It’s a force of nature. It’s easy to volunteer, get involved and see this thing into the next 9 years.

 

ABOUT ART CON 9:
Art Con 9 will take place on November 16, 2013 at 500 Singleton Blvd from 7-11pm in a warehouse just across the Calatrava Bridge from Downtown Dallas. The space was formerly occupied by Dead White Zombies and is across the street from Trinity Groves.

Art Con events are designed to be affordable and offer everyone a chance to purchase original artwork at a reasonable level, starting at just $20. More than 150 artists converged on a warehouse-turned-art studio to create unique works of art on Art Con’s signature 18 x 18 inch plywood boards.

Current bands confirmed are Zhora (featuring Taylor Rea formerly of Ishi) with headliner New Fumes (Daniel Huffman of Polyphonic Spree) and two DJs, DJ Emptycylinder (Vinyl Fantasy) and special guest DJ Sarah Jaffe. This year attendees will have the opportunity to buy an exclusive HIPster ticket, named after beneficiary My Possibilities “Hugely Important People”, limited to only 50 tickets. Tickets will be sold by Prekindle who is donating their services for the event.

BUY TICKETS: http://www.prekindle.com/promo/id/22815447475184564

After you get your tickets, head over to Facebook to join the event – don’t forget to invite your friends!