40th Anniversary Book
A request from Jessica (Schulman) Edelstein who, along with her husband Andrew, is putting together a 40th Anniversary Book about Chiat/Day ...
As for the 40-year anniversary - Haven't heard of anything official planned as of yet by the agency, other than that my husband Andrew and I are still working out details for a 40-year book we hope to have done by October (or x-mas!). Since I've worked for the company in its various forms for 17 years and we have designed and produced a number of books for the agency over the years, we have been given blessings by Lee Clow and the agency to do one for the anniversary, although we must independently figure out how to fund it, which we are still working on. (No word on a party yet, but we think that buying up a bunch of seats at Dodger Stadium would be great!) Does anyone know the actual official anniversary date? I've heard April, I've heard October, can't seem to pin down a real date - maybe Chuck would know. We were aiming for October because that is when my understanding is that the deal was struck between Jay and Guy at the baseball game, but I could be totally wrong.
Since the real product of the agency "went down the elevator every night", we'd like this book to focus more on the people who made the place what it was/is and the real stories "from the inside" rather than a rehash of the work that has already been in so many awards annuals (and would be a rights usage nightmare). So If you want to put a shout out on your site for us, we are looking for approximately one-page stories that anyone is willing to share about their time at Chiat/Day. Only rules: tell us what made working at Chiat/Day different than any other place from your own personal point of view — the good, the bad and the ugly. Give us good stories, but please no naming people to protect the innocent (or guilty!) But you could write, "there was this one copywriter who drove everyone to the brink"...type of thing. Also, we are looking for behind-the-scenes and inside-agency-life type pictures with captions, dates, and people who are in them as best known. (Send stories and images to chiatdayat40[at]projectdesignstudio.com. [Editor's note: Replace "[at] with the "@" sign. I never put full email addresses in postings in order to prevent spambots from finding them.])
Also, I've been helping to start and have been making art with the first Room 13 student art studio in North America here in Los Angeles. Room 13 is host to a growing international network of art studios: each one facilitates the work of young artists alongside a professional adult artist-in-residence. Our network of studios and artists who are involved with them, is growing all the time. Currently, Room 13 studios are established in Scotland, England, Nepal, India, South Africa and the USA. TBWA\ has taken this great program under its wing and is helping it to expand to even more countries. If anyone is looking for a great way to help young artists (in the Jay tradition) check out room13scotland.com
Take care,
Jess