Introducing Artists Book House: Chicago’s Newest Arts Institution

Most of you in our ABH community already know and love the book arts. Many of you live, dream, create, and teach in this wide field.

Yet as the past six months have unfolded, we’ve encountered new potential partners and supporters who are intrigued by what we’re up to, but who are far less familiar with the varied arts of the book.

We needed a way to rather quickly explain the field to these new friends, and make the case for why Chicago needs an Artists Book House, here and now. But as much as we love books, a book about book arts wouldn’t cut it—and so, we turned to video.

Presenting our 2-minute “explainer” video: “Introducing Artists Book House: Chicago’s Newest Arts Institution.”

As the weather turns blustery, Audrey and I are taking the show on the road to spread word (hopefully without bluster). We’re ready to share this video with small groups of potential supporters, offer a taste of a book arts or writing activity, and invite new friends to join us in our ongoing ABH-building endeavors.

Here's where you come in.

Perhaps you would like to host a small house party and invite your arts-supporting friends? Or perhaps  you are connected to a group filled with potential patrons and would like to connect us, to give a short workshop and a talk? If so, please do email me at deborah@artistsbookhouse.org. I’d love to get in touch.

And yes, it’s the start of what’s known in nonprofitland as the asking season. With this video, we kick off our end-of-year giving campaign. You’ll be hearing more about it all very soon, and please forgive us in advance as we’re bound to get a little repetitive. We believe that the vision of an interdisciplinary arts education organization dedicated to teaching and promoting the literary and book arts in Chicago is a wildly worthy cause. And we know that you do, too.

We hope you enjoy the video. We invite you to share it on social media. We even invite you to share it with words something like these:

“Take a look at this short video from Artists Book House. And please consider joining me in supporting the vision of a non-credit interdisciplinary arts education open to all by donating here: https://artistsbookhouse.org/donate”

Please tag us if you do share, so that we can return the favor.

We warmly thank our videographer Ilan Elenbogen; our interviewees Ben Blount, Hannah Batsel, and Audrey Niffenegger; and Ilana Trachtman of Ruby Pictures for on-the-fly pro bono consulting.

For the love of books,

Deborah