Fire at The Sketchbook Project

On Monday, February 28th, the moving trailer that we were using to transport the entire Sketchbook Project collection from Brooklyn to St. Pete caught fire while driving through Baltimore. First, we are incredibly thankful that everyone involved is safe and not hurt. We are working on getting answers to why this happened, but from what we can tell, it was a devastating accident. Luckily AT LEAST 70% of the collection was saved by a bunch of volunteers and firefighters who heroically moved the books off as fast as possible at the scene. A local church then helped move each box of books into the parking lot one by one. Lost in the fire were all of our office supplies and around 7,000 books of the collection. We are assessing the damage, but it will take us months to sort through this. We are hopeful that this number drops as we go through the books.

 

Those of you who know me or the project know that I have spent pretty much my entire life working on this incredible collection. It's been over 16 years since we launched, and I am so proud that we are the world's largest collection of sketchbooks. To say this is a loss is an understatement. I've donated my time for the past year to help manage the collection and the non-profit, and we were so excited about the future plans we had. We were in the process of booking multiple residencies across the country, setting up our new St Pete, FL location and so much more. Now, our future is unknown, and we plan to pause from our everyday operations and figure out the best way forward and how to salvage the collection into what it is meant to be. We are turning off new submissions to the project and focusing all of our time to strategize the best way to come back from this.

 

We need your help. The loss of each sketchbook is unimaginable, but to lose the spirit of the collection and the mission of the project’s creative community we have spent years cultivating would be even worse. At this devastating moment, we are asking our community to please consider donating to help us right now to rebuild our platform. We need the resources to hire help, and the time to pause on planned partnerships and exhibitions so that we can recover. We are incredibly grateful for your support.

FOR MORE INFO ON THE SKETCHBOOK PROJECT PLEASE CLICK HERE .

-OUR MISSION-
 
With over 60,000 sketchbooks from 30,000 different global creative people, we have grown over the past 15 years to be the largest collection of sketchbooks in the world. We have reignited art careers, inspired first time creatives and even helped a few marriage proposals. We have connected long lost friends, sparked creativity in young minds and created a space for art to live on, indefinitely. 

We are more than just a project. We are a slice of global creativity. We are an inside look at what people are thinking. We are an archive, a library, a source for endless inspiration. To see inside The Sketchbook Project, to really see it, is to see a one of a kind, unique archive. A glimpse into what people are thinking. What creative people have to say. A global institution.

As a nonprofit, we’re building out new programs and projects that continue to inspire creativity. Whether you are new, or have been around since SBP Vol 1, we are grateful for all the support over the years.

Whether it’s participating in our project, making a tax deductible donation, or just volunteering your time, your support helps our nonprofit make all of this possible.