Market Day (or Trash and Treasure)

As part of our fundraising efforts we are asking you to bring along unwanted items, for donations, and then take some time perusing other items that you might want to buy. Money raised will go to help the Life Drawing Tent Crew. Any goods left at the end of the event may be reclaimed by their donors or the LDTC will donate them somewhere else.

Categories of item might include:

Books
Clothing
Bric a brac
Small kitchen items
Toys

NB that electrical goods are not suitable for this event.

The Project

Alison Mayer and Fleur Blüm, both former Presidents of the Life Models’ Society and life models with over 20 and over 10 years respectively, are leading a project to run the Life Drawing Tent (LDT) at Confest. The LDT is part of the Arts Village. This village attracts people who are interested in trying something creative and something new, including modelling. Given the likelihood of absolute beginners in modelling, there is a risk that people may have an unpleasant, unsafe, or unprofessional experience. As such our project aims to staff the LDT with volunteers to supervise models and ensure appropriate behaviour of artists 9-5pm across the six days of Confest (17-22 April). The LDT will not operate during dark hours.

In this way, we aim to guide the models' on health and safety while posing, as well as priming them for professional expectations of a life model if they choose to pursue it further. We will also undertake to create a safe space where predatory types are not able to exploit naive models, act inappropriately, or take photos, as this has, unfortunately, been an issue in previous years. After 2023 Arts Village lost the stalwart Max, who had managed the space for many years, and in 2024 the space was unmanaged. In 2025 we need to ensure that the difficulties of 2024 are not repeated, so it’s our turn to step up.

The volunteer staff for the LDT are called the Life Drawing Tent Crew (LDTC). To get enough volunteers for the LDTC, we want to offer to cover people's expenses to attend; food, transport and entry fees for Confest. We also plan to kit out the LDT with a platform/stage to pose on, materials and other bits and pieces. As such, we're planning to run some fundraising events. This is where you come in.

The LDTC is auspiced by the Life Model's Society Inc, #A0109478M