about the press/working project

The Press/Working project is a collection of documentation on how the NewLights Press and some of our community collaborators actually make the things that we make. The goal is to demystify the backend work of running a press and/or being a maker of artists books and prints. It is directly inspired by open source software and mutual aid.

The Press/Working project contains several elements:

Generation Spaces: Online documents and chats created as spaces to collectively and publicly brainstorm ideas to address problems and create opportunities in the larger artists books/publishing field. The “Artists Books Conversations” are a series of public Zoom chats about mutual aid, resource sharing, and tool/infrastructure building. Email NewLights to join those chats.
NewLights Documentation: Online documents and spreadsheets that NLP uses, and other info that we thought might be helpful.
Resources from Community Members: Links to other artists/presses that are collaborators on the Press/Working project.

The documents shared here are not a model to be followed exactly. They are meant to be “forked”–copied, adapted, critiqued, iterated, and developed for each individual press/artist. The hope is that this information will be useful on its own, and at the same time will help foster conversations about equity and financial resiliency in the field.

More resources will be added over time, and what is here will be continually modified based on use and feedback. Do you have a suggestion for something to add? Would you like to participate in the project? Check out this document and get in touch.