Chromacon: A Passion Dream Project Realised
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The frustration of not being able to find the right public platform to showcase his work was the starting point for illustrator Allan Xia to come up with the idea for Chromacon – an independent arts festival showcasing creators of illustration, comics, 3D/sculpture, animation, videogames and much more.
Searching for real life engagement for his work, Allan participated in group exhibitions and shows with art collectives and friends. Allan said he really enjoyed the vibe of the opening night, “It was a very intimate way to engage with the art and the artist – whatever they saw was made by the person right in front of them.” From here, he said the idea just snowballed. He floated the idea with a group of artists prior to Christmas in 2012, thinking he wouldn’t have any response over the holiday, but by the New Year, he had 50 artists ready to come on board. His humble idea of hosting the event in a small scale community hall quickly turned into something much bigger and before he knew it, he was booking the Aotea Centre in Auckland and had four months to prepare for the event.
Not having any experience with event production other than the small art exhibitions he had participated in, Allan had to learn on the fly. The first Chromacon in 2013 was so successful, it has now become a biennial festival, and the third Chromacon is about to take place this weekend on April 8 and 9 at the Aotea Centre in Auckland. The festival has grown from 50 exhibitors in 2013 to 120 this year, and Allan said he is expecting a crowd of around 6000 to attend the event.
After the first event there was such enthusiasm for another one, that Allan thought ‘okay, how can I make this happen?’ Later that year he was awarded a prestigious placement in ART Venture 2013, a unique acceleration programme for creative entrepreneurs. Through this experience, Allan said he “really evolved.” He worked on his production and project management skills and said this really supported the execution of the next event.
Passing on many of these skills through the curation process of Chromacon, Allan said his team work with artists ahead of the festival to support and give feedback to ensure exhibitors are presenting their work in the best possible way. Sales are not the primary focus of Chromacon Allan explains, the festival instead focuses on the indie creative personally and their introduction to the public. Allan gets a real buzz seeing how inspired people get when they are able to connect with artists in the face to face environment at Chromacon. He told a story about a young art student he met at the first festival in 2013, who is now appearing as an exhibitor at this year’s festival.
A new feature of this year’s festival is the indie game developer space, featuring 15 New Zealand game developers. Allan sees this addition as an opportunity for cross-pollination of ideas from different disciplines. He said artists, programmers and designers might look for collaborators overseas, not realising the wealth of creative talent right here in New Zealand.
Allan feels very strongly that Chromacon should be free, stating, “There is not enough awareness that New Zealanders are producing such amazing and quality art. We know a lot about Lord of the Rings, but often we don’t know enough about the creative individuals from Weta and their own ideas and creative endeavors.” Allan spoke about Wellington brothers Peter and Robert Curry whose game Mini Metro has won a host of awards internationally including ‘Nomination for Best Debut’ at the BAFTA Games Awards and ‘Winner, Excellence in Audio’ at the Independent Games Festival. “It’s disappointing that we don’t engage with the creative process until after they’ve made it.” In order to keep Chromacon free, Allan has crowdfunded for festival costs via Pledge Me and Kickstarter. With a number of international artists exhibiting at the festival, Allan said Kickstarter has really helped to showcase Chromacon globally and engage with a much wider audience.
Describing Chromacon as his “passion dream project,” Allan advises those with big ideas in the making that “Passion gets you halfway there. Because you’re so passionate about it, you're speaking from the heart and can communicate the potential of an idea so much clearer. You’re already halfway there because you really believe in it. The other half comes down to how you apply your creativity to execute it. Don’t shy away from the challenges.”
Once Chromacon 2017 is complete, Allan is looking forward to getting back to his next project, which he describes as “an experimental videogame” where he is using virtual reality as an interactive storytelling medium.
Learn more about Allan here: