Field Trip!  A new creative conference from The Jacky Winter Group and Australian INfront.  Amazing website illustration / design by Beci Orpin.

So I am a little behind with this news but I thought I’d save it ’til after Kids Week, in some vague attempt at editorial discipline…

Now we all know about The Jacky Winter Group, Melbourne-based illustration agency extraordinaire, founded and managed by expert Melbourne creative entrepreneur Jeremy Wortsman.  Mr Wortsman is endlessly dreaming up genius new creative business ideas – here’s another to add to the list!

Field Trip is a creative conference like no other.  Featuring ten revered Australian creatives from various disciplines including Beci Orpin, Jeremy Ley and Tin&Ed, Field Trip is a unique event in which the talented peeps listed here will perform a live ‘act’ which explores the creative process from start to finish.  This means no powerpoint presentations, no yawn worthy slide shows… instead, creatives briefs will be dissected and new work created in real time in front of a live audience!  Amaze.

We thought this was such a genius idea, we decided to ask Jeremy a few questions about the concept -

JW, you are already a very busy man – what inspired you to start Field Trip?

Like everything else with Jacky Winter, it was a natural progression. We run one of the most artist-friendly agencies in the world, and as part of that we pay for all promo out of our pocket. Over the holidays I was thinking how we could raise more funds to print our annual field guide, and a conference had always been in the back of my mind, but I never could figure out what to do in terms of a genuinely new event that would fit into the current landscape of talks/conferences/events, and then it all sort of came together.

Logistically, we had to raise capital to fund the event, and through our growing relationship with Australian INfront, it all just clicked. We had the content and the talent, and they had the audience and platform and sponsor relationships. A match made in heaven really. At the end of the day, getting our Artist’s work in front of eyeballs is our primary goal as an agency, so Field Trip is really just another way to do that in a truly engaging and innovative way (we hope!)

How does Field Trip differ from other creative conferences?

While it is a day-long event, we are considering our speakers performers rather than presenters. The main point of difference here is that instead of seeing the inspirations (before) and the finished products (after), the audience will get to see more of what goes in the sausage, so to speak, in terms of the process. We are trying to bring the studio onto the stage, and through a clever use of A/V and live video feeds, capture the creative process as it happens to give attendees a more hands-on, or raw, glimpse at the workflow of some of Australia’s finest commercial artists.

Will it be annual ?

Right now, the plan is to first see how we go doing an event in Melbourne and then following up in Sydney later on in the year. If we haven’t all had nervous breakdowns by then, you can definitely expect us to come back for more. We’re really suckers for punishment.

A couple of the talented creatives participating in Field Trip.  Top – Beci Orpin, bottom – Jeremy Ley.

The inaugural Field Trip will take place Friday, April 20 at ACMI in Melbourne, with another scheduled in Sydney in November.  If you’re into snooping at other people’s creative process, you should totally go. I am ;)

With under two weeks until the Melbourne event, tickets are selling like hotcakes – they’re $99.00 for regular admission, and can be purchased here.

ALTERNATIVELY if you would like the opportunity to WIN 2 x tickets to the Melbourne event, you can take your chances by leaving a comment on today’s post!

*UPDATE – this giveaway is now closed and the winner has been drawn at random, congratulations to Jackie (comment #82)! Thanks everyone for your great comments and to Jeremy and Field Trip for the giveaway!!

Please leave your comment before 10.00pm Melbourne time – one winner will be selected at random and contacted by email tomorrow!

Thankyou Jeremy W and Field Trip for this sweet giveaway!

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