March 4, 2014
For immediate release

The Zine Archive & Publishing Project, founded as a project of Hugo House in 1996, is taking that big step so many 18-year-olds dream of — it’s moving out of the house. ZAPP’s archive of 30,000+ zines (one of the largest zine collections in the world) is safely packed away and ready for archival storage, as an organization ZAPP is officially incorporated as a Washington state nonprofit and is fiscally sponsored by Shunpike, and a fundraising campaign is in the works. Come help celebrate this exciting transition with an evening of zine-making plus readings from ZAPP volunteers and alums on Sunday, March 9, 7–11 p.m., at Vermillion Art Gallery and Bar, 1508 11th Avenue.

In Jan. 2013, Hugo House presented ZAPP the opportunity to separate from the House — establishing a new, fully-independent organization that would take ownership of the zine collection and develop its own programming structure. Using valuable input from the community gained at an April 2013 public meeting facilitated by Lisa Fitzhugh, a core group of longtime ZAPP volunteers spent 2013 researching organizational possibilities. The hard work of 2013 has allowed ZAPP to quickly and effectively establish itself as an independent, non-profit entity in just the first two months of 2014. Much of the rest of 2014 will be spent fundraising and seeking a suitable commercial space to house the archive and to allow ZAPP to resume programming in its own space. The organization has an optimistic goal of identifying a new location by the end of the year.

To help the organization through the transitions of 2014, ZAPP recently hired non-profit consultant Josh Powell. “I’m really looking forward to working with ZAPP’s volunteers at this critical and exciting time,” Powell said. “They’ve done an amazing job so far of exercising thoughtful deliberation and care, instead of just plowing ahead with a quick fervor — they clearly know what a precious resource they’ve been entrusted with and are determined to do this right.” Powell will lead the development of a five-year business plan and a capital campaign to be launched in late May.

The coming year will not be limited solely to organizational building — ZAPP programming will continue throughout 2014. Although the bulk of the archive is in storage, a portion of the zine collection has been kept available for programming purposes. ZAPP continues to be available for community partnerships — in January volunteers visited Bellevue’s Ground Zero, a youth center for Eastside teens, to discuss zine history and lead a zine-making workshop. Hollow Earth Radio has extended an invitation for ZAPP volunteers to appear periodically on the Sunday afternoon Buoy & Bellow show to chat about zines (the next appearance will be March 16). ZAPP will be tabling at the Portland Zine Symposium in July, and also continues to table at zine tours that stop in Seattle. While on hiatus, ZAPP volunteers also will be working to make the catalog available for browsing via the organization’s website at ZAPPSeattle.org, thanks to a generous grant from 4-Culture.

“The collection is safe and sound for the moment, so everyone has the breathing room to take these next crucial steps with confidence,” Powell added. “When we start raising the funds to secure ZAPP’s future, well, that’s going to be an opportunity for the whole community to make a statement about just how valuable a resource the zine archive is.”

 

Event details:
ZAPP Is Alive, Long Live ZAPP
Sunday, March 9, 7–11 p.m.
Vermillion Art Gallery and Bar, 1508 11th Ave.

 

 

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