Surround Yourself With Culture Makers

We spend a lot of time absorbing culture: Reading Twitter, listening to music on the radio, seeing movies, digging into new sites, scrolling through Pinterest, etc.

As someone who works in marketing, I see it as part of my job to be informed and inspired by all forms of culture — it keeps my brain active and creative.

Over the past few years, I’ve realized that of all the types of culture I can consume, the most stimulating is when I get as direct as possible with the original source.

That means making the effort to go to gallery openings, live music and book tours — and actually meeting the artists behind the work.

I’ve got my calendar marked for Aug. 18 and you should, too. It’s the launch of AUTOPTIC, a one-day festival of independent comics, posters, music and art, and the perfect opportunity to meet many people making culture happen in the real world from the bottom up.

Whether you can make it out to AUTOPTIC or another type of art festival, what matters is taking the time to feed your culture intake with actual real people who make things.

There’s something fully energizing about the “counterculture, punk, lo-fi and DIY aesthetics” that makes up scenes like AUTOPTIC. The return on creativity that you’ll see in your professional work makes it all worth it.

Here’s a highlight of some of the comic, zine, and print artist that will be exhibiting at AUTOPTIC:

Tom Kaczynski (Uncivilized Books)

Raighne Hogan and Justin Skarhus (2D Cloud)

Caitlin Skaalrud (Talk Weird Press)

Jordan Shiveley (Grimalkin Press)

Robert James Algeo (in absentia press)

Zak Sally (La Mano 21)