What we do for artists and why

About Us Home What we do for artists and why Why the art festival roves and where we're roving to Why Mike Likes Bikes Guerilla Urban Camping The Artopium Art Troupe

Written by Michael Betthauser, Owner, May 2008 When I originally came up with the idea to create Artopium as a website, my vision was to connect artists and musicians to buyers from around the world. I know how hard it is to make a decent wage for one's artistic work, having tried to produce and sell several of my own albums, and I wanted to create a way for an artist to be able to easily connect and sell to anyone. Of course, once the website was up and running, the next step was to find all those artists. The Roving Festival was born from the need to connect Artopium, the website, and all the artists who represent the content of Artopium, with the real world for people to see first hand. By putting the Artopium member bands and performers on a real stage, the artists and vendors in real booths, with real fashion shows and real film screenings, Artopium can not only help those artists gain exposure, but can provide an immediate artistic outlet outside of the Internet. The Roving Festival event locations are most often places not usually associated with art and music (such as parking lots, co-ops, theaters, etc.) inso providing artists with new locations and venues to perform and display their work. I am very fond of the idea of creating new "temporary art niches" within the community and thus increasing the amount of creative activity in that area. The Roving Festival is it's own promotion vehicle, and spends the required amount of time, energy and money to promote it's shows. Fliers are printed for the artists and performers to hand out, but we also make sure a large number are distributed ourselves. We also hang posters, place newspaper and magazine ads, and if possible try to get local TV and radio news spots. So long as artists contact us for booking within a reasonable amount of time before the show, we try to make sure that all their names appear in as much of the advertising as possible. The Roving Festival tries to be as egalitarian as possible. Although, sometimes Artopium will book a more well known act as a headliner, most of the performance slots and all of the art booth spots are on a first come first serve basis. We will never hold an elitist attitude toward your art or music; all is welcome! The Roving Festival is a mixed media show, involving any mixture of theater, music, dance, visual art, installation art, video, fashion, poetry or any other art form you can imagine. By giving the event a theme, these different art forms can come together for one evening to have a connected meaning. Although, not all Artopium events may have a theme; in such a case, the art and music speaks for itself. Read the next article in this series "Why the festival roves and where we roving to". Sponsor Mike. Your art or music related company will receive a lot of attention as Mike and his Artopium Art Troupe rove through Europe and the U.S. throwing festivals. Could Mike be promoting your company's products to Artopium member artists, putting your logo on a large banner at the festivals, and placing your logo on all of the Artopium related websites? Could the story on this page be about how your company helped Artopium member artists? Let us know what you think! Or, check out these ready-made sponsorship packages that you can order online right now. Make a donation. Don't have a logo but want to help anyway? Make a donation to the Artopium Art Troupe to help fund their next festival and travels. Your money goes to a good cause and helps under-funded art and music to have a new and unique place to be expressed and enjoyed by local communities around the world.