In early 2006, I set up Get Involved as a monthly club night at The Social with a difference. The difference, as the name suggests, was to encourage as much participation as possible.
Guest DJs and live acts were invited to play at each session and the crowd was encouraged to get involved, literally, as tambourines, maracas and other instruments were dished out to be bashed enthusiastically to a blistering soundtrack of infectious Rock’n’Roll, Rhythm’n’Blues, Garage and Soul.
And so, very much in line with the concept for the night, a different designer or image-maker was commissioned to produce the poster for each month’s event. After three years, I had commissioned posters from Accept & Proceed, Ali Graham, Anthony Burrill, AustinFromNEW, Crispin Finn, Dan Huglife, David Oscroft, Dave The Chimp, Design Friendship, Eskimopush, Ian Stevenson, Intercity, James Joyce, Jeremyville, John Slade, Jon Burgerman, Kate Moross, Kavel Rafferty, Kerry Roper, Laura Southcott, Gemma Shiel (Lazy Oaf), Lucy Vigrass, Matthew Hodson, Michael C. Place, Nat Shah & Rob Jones, Nils Leonard, Paul Pensom, Peskimo, Richard Hogg, Rupert Walton, Rose Stallard, Sam Muir, and TwoPoints.net
When the night came to a close in 2009, all of the posters were specially reprinted for a retrospective exhibition at Concrete Hermit's East London gallery space in order to further celebrate the night and show off its legacy of lovingly designed promotional materials, including posters and badges by some of the most highly respected and in-demand image-makers working today. The exhibition also featured photography taken by Dean Chalkley who DJ’d regularly at the night.
Artwork created specially for Get Involved has subsequently appeared in several publications including The Pictoplasma Character Encyclopaedia (Pictoplasma, 2006), Pens Are My Friends (IdN, 2008) and Airside’s 2007 calendar. The maraca-wielding monster Peskimo conceived to appear on the Get Involved poster they designed in 2006, now exists as one of their BambooZoo series of collectible toys, created in collaboration with Kidrobot.
Get Involved's finest hour? A headline slot on Friday night in Glastonbury’s Stonebridge Bar. It went off! Huge thank you to everyone who got involved during the project's duration.