Hey all, last year me and Molly Snyder launched a new entry in the “City of Festivals” (Milwaukee) called QWERTYFEST MKE, which celebrates writing, innovation, history, creativity… and, of course, typewriters. This year we have ambitious plans for a bigger event. We’re doing an opening night party at Turner Hall (with the Boston Typewriter Orchestra), and presentations and activities throughout the weekend. To help finance this, we’ve set up an Indiegogo fundraiser. Lots of great perks, including QF tickets, t-shirts, and subscriptions to our in-house zine, QWERTY Quarterly. As of right now, we’re at about 30% funded– I’d love to see that bump up to 50% funded by the end of this weekend. The link to that: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/qwertyfest-mke-2024/

Below the photo, you can find a press release with more info on QF and our fundraiser screening of California Typewriter on June 6. Thanks for your support!

Clack on! QWERTYFEST MKE Returns for Expanded Event June 21-23, 2024

QWERTYFEST MKE is inspired by an invention that changed the world–the typewriter and the QWERTY keyboard that we still use today– which was created right here in Milwaukee by Christopher Latham Sholes. We not only celebrate the typewriter and all iterations of the QWERTY keyboard that followed, but Milwaukee history and innovation in general.

We are also excited to give a platform to writers of all genres who create works on those QWERTY keyboards. Milwaukee has many talented writers and artists, and we want you to know about them. QWERTYFEST is co-organized by Milwaukee writers Molly Snyder (senior writer and editor at OnMilwaukee) and Tea Krulos (a freelance journalist and author). Many other local writers, librarians, artists, organizations, and businesses participate to make the festival happen.

At QWERTYFEST, you can try out typewriters and other writing machines, hear spoken word and presentations, participate in workshops, see unique musical performances (including our Friday night headliner, Boston Typewriter Orchestra), socialize at gatherings like our Typewriter Brunch Open Jam, and much more. It is an entertaining and informative weekend.

QWERTYFEST MKE 2024

Thursday, June 6: QWERTYFEST MKE fundraiser screening of the documentary California Typewriter at Oriental Theatre. We’re thrilled for people to see this film as it shows the versatile ways people can celebrate typewriters (in addition to Tom Hanks, Milwaukee makes a guest appearance, too). Ticket holders also get a free copy of our summer QWERTYFEST preview edition of our in-house publication QWERTY Quarterly. Tickets available here: https://mkefilm.org/oriental-theatre/events/california-typewriter

Friday, June 21: National Typewriter Day Ball at Turner Hall. This will feature live music with headlining guests the Boston Typewriter Orchestra: http://www.bostontypewriterorchestra.com/
There’s also interactive writing and mailing stations, the DarkFusion Systems Gaming Lounge, vendors, a dramatic competition called the Clackathon (as well as a words-per-minute contest called the Quick Brown Fox Typing Contest), storytelling, food and drink, and more.

Saturday, June 22: QWERTYFEST at Mitchell Street Arts. Workshops and presentations on typewriters, writing and creativity, history, and art. We are having a “Whisky Type” after party at Great Lakes Distillery.

Sunday, June 23: QWERTYFEST Activities Day. Typewriter Brunch Open Jam (location TBA), “QWERTY Journey” tour at Forest Home Cemetery, and other activities around town TBA.

We Are Fundraising to Make QWERTYFEST Happen Right Now

As you can imagine, flying in a Boston Typewriter Orchestra, as well as paying for work by local writers, artists, musicians, venue fees, (and typewriter ribbons) adds up. We have these methods of raising money:

Crowdsourcing campaign on Indiegogo. Every little bit helps to make our fundraising goal. We are offering some great perks, including tickets, T-shirts, QQ subscriptions, and more. Our campaign is live here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/qwertyfest-mke-2024/x/14628551

You can also make a tax-deductible donation to us via a fiscal sponsor. Please email us for more info.

Sponsorships. We have great sponsorship opportunities, including name attachment to elements of our event, ads in our media, banner placement, free tickets, and more. Please email us for more info.

Links/ contact

Contact us at: qwertyfestmke@gmail.com
Website: www.qwertyfest.com 
Facebook: facebook.com/qwertyfest
Instagram: instagram.com/qwertyfest_mke

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