Alix Olson and the Protagonist Project.
Like most working grassroots artists, I have depended upon the generosity, love and support of my audiences over the years in myriad ways- you have helped carve out space for me to travel, speak, learn, write and perform. My gratitude is boundless, truly. These past 3 1/2 years I have been pursuing a PhD in Political Theory and have been on the road a lot less. I am loving this particular journey but I sure have missed all of you.
The poems I have selected for the forthcoming album Protagonist constitute an assemblage of personal-political reflections on the past five years or so. Some of these pieces, like "Dear Diary" you may have heard at shows while others are brand-new. The point is that ALL but two of them are unrecorded, some not even written down, having been living a nice but very solitary life entirely inside my brain. I have recorded two at this point, "Women are Different" and "Dear 16 Year Old Me" (you'll hear a snippet of the latter behind the video of me talking about this project). BUT I need YOUR help to finish recording and mixing the rest
and sending them into post-production land! This entails paying other grassroots and freelance artists to play on and produce the tracks, help me design the inside of the album and make copies of Protagonist. I am also planning to do the lyric book version- as I have with my past albums (my serpentine poems just don't fit in a CD booklet as handy as that would be-- I've tried!). So.. I'm reaching out to all of the protagonists in my little corner of the world asking if we can make this project happen together in the next few months. I love these poems and I would love even more to release them into the world to share them with all of you. We have 30 days to raise the funds and then I can hit the studio! Also, check out my new website: http://www.alixolson.com where you can preview one of the new recorded pieces for the album.
Risks and challenges
Ask any independent artist- or maybe you are one: beginning each new project is a challenge. You have to just sort of hope for that special blend of logistics and magic to make it come together just so. But, with your belief and support (that's where the magic comes in), I have optimism about launching Protagonist. Making these kinds of projects happen, for me, has always been about community.
Learn about accountability on KickstarterQuestions about this project? Check out the FAQ
Support
Funding period
- (34 days)