At the heart of all the hard work was the commitment to helping raise funds for Streetlight Schools to enable them to open their Grade R and Grade 1 in 2016.
While they were excited about the exhibition and had used social media to spread the word, they didn't expect the queues of people who arrived at the old Transvaal Post Office; hungry for music, food and beer and art. While the new arrivals were being ticketed, live music and DJ’s played. Pop-up food trucks from The Bedford, StreEAT Cuisine and Vuyo’s were selling their food from 18:30. The craft beer stand from Leaky Tap proved a massive draw card for hops connoisseurs, designer brews from Coffee by Cupped helped ward off the cold and for those who needed something a little stronger, they got their fix from Molecular Bars.
All in all they received and hung about 4000 pieces of A5 artwork from all over Johannesburg, Nelspruit and even from Cape Town. Out of the doodles they received, they sold around 800 pieces, each for R100. Some ardent supporters went home with entirely new art collections.
But behind the great attendance, camaraderie and sales were the seriously supportive suppliers: TechRig gave them technical help to the value of R68 000, T-shirts from Sharpie South Africa, bunting was sponsored by Charmaine Elliott at CME Decor Specialists, stationery came from Dalrod and furniture from Bunker. And that's the list before you even get to the entertainment.
The organisers take their hats off to the DJ's: Kid Fonque, DJ Lebza from
YFM and DJ Ed Surreal for keeping the vibe going and donating their valuable time and talent. The crowds were also kept on their toes by live music from George Town, the Awesome4some and The Runaway Train Cult; all playing for the good of the cause.
While the organisers still processed some of the unexpected learnings (like the long queues and bad signal for the credit card machines) they could never have foreseen the turn out. They are already strategising on how to make next year even bigger and better.
When they received this message from Melanie Smuts, founder and CEO of Streetlight Schools, it makes then feel like the challenges were all worthwhile: “Congratulations on an amazing event! I think I speak for my whole team when I say we were completely floored: by the venue, the number of people, the great vibe and your incredible promotion of Streetlight Schools. We cannot thank you enough: it is completely humbling and wonderful to have been a part of such an amazing event.”
For more information,
visit the website. Alternatively, connect with them on
Facebook or on
Twitter.