So, you’ve done all the work setting up your event! Maybe it’s a small two hour gallery event in your backyard, or a 4-day festival at a museum, or a 6-month exhibition. People start arriving and soon your event is in full swing. This is exactly what you planned it would be like, hopefully someone is capturing the moment!

Now that you finished your event you start working on the next one. But wait, how will you spread the word about how wonderful the previous event was? A magazine is reaching out to you asking for photos of the event. One of the creators is asking for photos of people enjoying their game to put on their website.

Didn’t you take a photo with your mobile phone at some point, that will probably do it, right? Maybe you can scour the internet to see if anyone posted their photos?

After a day of work you scrape together 3 decent photos, 6 blurry photos, and a confusing video.

As you can see above, documenting your projects is an important part of your work as a curator and can serve many purposes.

• Press / Marketing
• Game Creator Portfolios
• Securing Funding / Sponsors
• Follow-Up Events Material
• History / Discourse
• Curator Portfolio

Below are some tips to help you prepare and think about documenting projects. Keep in mind that you can scale documentation up and down depending on resources, budget and size of the project / organization.

Videos & pictures are extremely important!

Questions to Consider:

• What do you want documented?
• Who is it for?
  • yourself, sponsors, partners, media, audience, participants, creators
• What is it for?
  • live documenting, archive, research, marketing, portfolio
• How will you document?
  • photo, video, livestream, audio, interview, podcast
• Where will you post / archive?
  • private, public, backup

Who will be in charge of documenting the project? Who will you need to make it happen? Depending on budget, time and size of the organization, you will have different means for documentation. Make sure you have at least one person to take pictures, even if that means you have to do it yourself if you are a one-person organization.

Good to Have: Hire someone specifically for the event or have them on your team. Always brief the individuals on what & how you want it documented! (Ask for different angles / perspectives and etc.)

• Photographer
• Videographer & Editor
• Social Media Manager
• Writer / Editor
• Interviewer

Press to Invite: To get a documented perspective from outside your own organization & bubble. Invite the right people to cover your event.

• Newspaper / Magazine / Game Journalists
• YouTubers / Streamers / Influencers / etc.

There are in general three different moments for using / taking / sharing documentation:

Pre-Event (see communication):

• Trailers / Promotional Material
• Press Releases
• Social Media

During the Event:

• Live Documentation: tweeting, live streaming, posting Instagram / Snapchat stories, etc.
• Taking Photos and Videos
• Interviews: written, audio, video

After the Event:

• Press Releases / Articles / Zines
• Posting Photos and Videos to Social Media
• Posting Videos to YouTube, TikTok, and Vimeo
• Updating a Previous Event Catalogue
• Portfolios

Where will you share documentation?

• Personal Blog / Website / Portfolio
• Photography Website: Flickr, Google Photos, etc.
• Video Website: Youtube, Vimeo
• Social Media: Twitter, Tiktok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, etc.
• The Event Sponsors
• Zines / Magazines
• Academic Journals

Backup Don’t forget to back-up your documentation!

What will you document?

• People Playing
• Interactions between the People / Objects / Games
• Setup / Layout of the Event
• Location
• Vibe / Ambiance
• Fun Moments
• Individual Projects (with & without players)
• Interview with Creators / Audience / Curators

There are several tools you can use to document your project. Keep in mind what you want to document, where you want to post it, who the audience is and what tool is most suitable for that purpose. Use what you know best or hire someone who has the expertise!

Live Documentation: Live documentation means, documenting the moment to give an impression of what is happening during your event and posting it immediately on social media. Tools that can be used for example: Instagram / Snapchat Stories, Twitter / Twitter Fleets, Twitch and/or YouTube Live

Photography / Videography: Taking event pictures or videos can be as simple as using your own mobile phone, but if you have the budget it is recommended to get a professional photographer or film person who has the gear, time, focus, and expertise.

Don’t forget to credit the creators, other curators, artists, team, designers etc.

Examples of documentation

• Game Event photography: Izzy Gramp, EMI Spicer, Julian Dasgupta, zoewi
• Videos: Playful Arts Festival, Playful Culture, Event Vines, A MAZE. / Berlin, Playtopia 2019
• Blog posts: Videogame Arts Around the world annual overview (2019)
• Curator portfolios: Marie Foulston, Simon Bachelier, Sarah Brin, Isabelle Arvers, We Throw Switches, Zuraida Buter
• Booklet / zine: Playful Arts Festival zine

Zuraida Buter

John Wanamaker