DEAR FRIENDS,
We thought this day may never come, but The Busking Project has finally published our first book! We went with a professional designer, spent months writing and rewriting it, and, well, here it is. Click on these images to see big versions 🙂
Currently unavailable – we sold out!
CONTENT
Taken from over 45,000 photos we took on the trip, this book gives a unique, beautiful look at the world of busking, split into four main sections:
- Part 1: Malls Without Walls, exploring how busking is having to deal with an increasingly privatised public domain, and how bad policy is affecting buskers lives on the ground.
- Part 2: Freedom of Expression, where we look at the motivations and eccentricities of street performers, and the politics of putting yourself out there.
- Part 3: Challenging Assumptions, taking apart some of the common misconceptions people have about street performers
- Part 4: The Busking Project, where we tell our readers how we managed to capture this footage, and what The Busking Project is all about.
DESIGN
After many months of working together, we decided to go with Ronald Braunagel at Torque Design (http://torquedesign.ca). Ron’s work is stunning, classy and carefully put together. His personal philosophy is “mediocrity is full, but excellence is wide open.” Ron also happens to look like the modern day Bill Murray, with a sense of humour to match. Based in Vancouver, but obviously great at working from afar!
The book is printed on uncoated paper with a matt finish, gorgeous to look at and feels great in the hands.
COST
Why £10 for a paperback? The simple answer is that ignoring how much we spent on getting the photos, the costs directly associated with the creation of the book (£2,500) plus how much we’ll need for the next print run (£2,300) will mean that if we sell all 500 of our remaining books, we’ll just about cover our costs. One expense — the postage and packaging for all the books we’re gifting to people who’ve helped us along the way (a staggering 350 people), without whom this project could never have happened.
Where does the rest of our money go? Well, at the moment we’re updating the website to make it mobile-friendly and more useful for you. We’re also putting on events, doing academic research, building an online store, building a team and eating. Unfortunately, none of what we make is (so far) going towards feeding us. Some day we hope it might.