Hello All! If you're reading this you'll see the crowd fund has ended here! Yet it hasn't quite! I'm continuing to raise funds HERE. (http://uptreesbook.moonfruit.com/)
Please visit the new site to get your copy of the book and other goodies and support the project! Thank you!
Thank you to everyone who has supported the project thus far... here's to phase two of the project!
THE ART OF CLIMBING TREES - THE UPTREES PROJECT
From Henrik G Dahle and Co!
I spent a year climbing a tree every day, recording conversations with over 80 inspiring people I invited to climb with me, on diverse subjects, taking thousands of photos and keeping a diary. It's now time to turn this adventure into a 200 page full colour book. A kind of chaotic, creative manifesto for positive change.
I PROMISE TO MAKE YOU AN UNUSUAL & INSPIRING BOOK!
Contents of this blurb:
- What is Uptrees?
- Draw me a tree for the book? (and get 16.5% off the book)
- What Rewards are available for your support (on the right hand side)
- When will you get your 'Reward/s'
- The Team and what's involved with bringing it together
- Budget
- Viewable media
It started seemingly randomly as a personal challenge, and after 2 weeks of this eccentric discipline, I started inviting co-climbers to join me. I have a tick in my brain called a conscience, or perhaps it's naivety that we can turn this Titanic off course and sail it beyond the frozen arctic past the ice breaking up. So with a sinking ship or tick in mind our conversations in the trees would turn to politics, the environment, childhood memories, - I suppose that would be innocence. Science, mathematics, art, the pace of life, death, waste, romance, fresh ground coffee, always with a drop of sweat and a chuckle... Some of my companions included a band, a class of 9 year old children (who sang to me about trees), a shaman family, an anarchist, an anthropologist, a politician, an economist, professors, artists, poets, activists and 44 people at once, (including an 8 month pregnant woman!)
The project led me onto a Norwegian chat show, into a 3 story tree house theatre, to being hoisted into a Pine tree by the Fire Brigade, having my hair cut in a tree, staging my own death falling out of a ___, almost not needing to stage my own death by almost falling out of the tree by accident, failing to impress myself with an attempt at political direct action, climbing the Trafalgar Sq Christmas tree before it was cut down in Oslo. It all came to an end with a forest exhibition where a bird made a nest in my exhibit, and a Family Tree Party where I climbed with my estranged parents and the whole family was thrown out of the venue. Crikey!
I want to share this adventure with you! My diaries, my reflections since it ended, the thousands of photographs, transcribed and edited conversations and complete my year's walk about UpTrees as a beautiful and inspiring book. The blog can be found here: www.uptrees.net
This tangent has changed my life, seeding numerous off shoot projects (www.rehabrd.com, www.444trees.com, www.worldgeneralstrike.com, www.earthfuneral.org), given me a richer understanding of the challenges we face and some of their solutions.
You can see the UpTrees blog here: www.uptrees.net (where you'll find some of the unedited conversations UpTrees and musings), and you'll find the art for sale here: www.uptreesshop.moonfruit.com, although I'm encouraging people to buy prints via the crowd fund, - and you get the book thrown in!
The world is cooking with possibility. I want to bring my seemingly whimsical adventure, and with it contribute to a constructive and playful conversation.
Trees. The great lungs of the world along with lichens, mosses, creepers, grasses, oceans and lakes of algaes. You can't climb algae and grasses. The trees are innate metaphor creations. Trees are made of wood. Grow themselves into challenging climbing towers. We came down from them to conquer the Earth but we left something behind up there. A childlike and cerebral journey UpTrees to discover the branches and roots of our restoration...
DRAW ME A TREE!
Artists / illustrators / hobby tree drawers. Anyone who sends me a drawn tree will get 16.5% off the price of the book as a small thank you. Full details found here: http://uptrees.net/2013/07/27/draw-me-a-tree/
BOOK DESIGN & LAYOUT
As well as the huge amount of great images and stories that will be crammed into the book I am lucky enough to have been working with the brilliant book designer Welmoet Wartena. She has already done a beautiful job of the booklet and will be designing the book with an equal measure of inspiration and discipline! (keeping me from over cluttering the leaves with everything!) She is both an expert at creating books for artists and has a passion for trees! www.welmoetwartena.com.
Some of Welmoet's previous work.
WHEN WILL YOU GET YOUR BOOK AND OTHER REWARDS?
The book will be printed ready for the Trafalgar Sq Christmas tree's arrival in November/December 2013. This tree was central to the project and marked the middle of the adventure and bridges my two nations - Norway and GB. You will be invited to the launch party! Other perks will be sent by October unless you have a special request, if you're using a Reward as a gift to someone. (get in touch and I'll try and deliver it to your time scale, unless it's a copy of the book. We need several months to finish it).
HOW WILL YOUR SUPPORT BE SPENT?
I already spent my savings on getting us this far! So now we need £21,177 to finish the book. Sounds like a lot of money! If we can pre sell about 800 books we're nearly there. I will also be seeking external sponsorship to ensure we reach our goal. Here's how the money breaks down...
Editing, Writing, Layout & Design - £10,600
I will be editing material for the book, paying for transcription, running this campaign, making and posting you the perks. I don't have great needs for living but I do need a roof over my head and generally need to eat. In which case this proportion of the funds will go towards focussed time on this. Keeping the wolf from the tree house door and buying materials for perks.
A portion of your support will go towards Welmoet Wartena's time. She already gave a considerable amount of her time and patience to creating the UpTrees booklet for free. For the book she's going to need even more patience and time and so to keep the bear from her door. A percentage will be paying for her to work her wonders.
I'm also going to employ transcribers for some of the remaining material and an external editor with fresh eyes to make sure this book isn't riddled with mistakes! (like this funding campaign probably is!)
Printing costs - £5710
We're going with a printers who will deliver a high quality full colour book. To make it cost effective and get the price down we're going to print 1000 copies soft cover for the first edition. The book will be about 255mm x 195mm.
Postage of Rewards - The rewards need to be made and posted.
£3 each book - 1000 books = £3000. 50p for seed postcards. (other postage fees for prints etc, no more that £4 - total £500)
Sponsume Fee - £762
Sponsume charge us 4% of the total amount raised assuming we meet our funding goal. And 9% if we don't. (I will by hook or by crook be raising the remainder of a deficite in the funding goal to ensure the book is made).
The total target goal includes the fee to Sponsume.
Paypal
Sponsume operates through Paypal and they charge 2.9% on transactions plus a small fee depending on your currency. About £500.
IF YOU WANTED TO SHARE THE PROJECT...
Tweet ideas:
'The Art of Climbing Trees'. The UpTrees book! Politics. Art. Environment. Adventure. Crowd funding! Please support! http://bit.ly/15wk408
A year climbing trees becoming a photographic adventure book & Manifesto for positive change. Please support! http://bit.ly/15wk408
Hello all you lovely supporters...
The crowd fund at Sponsume ends again today (28/08/13) after they offered a brief extention.
The total funds were clearly not raised but great things have come out of going for it with all this!
I've now created a new funding page here (http://uptreesbook.moonfruit.com/). Please have a look around the new site (that I made myself) and offer feedback - for clarity, broken links, difficulty buying or using paypal, or anything else you'd like to comment on! How can it be better?! I'd really appreciate your feedback and continued sharing of the project!
I've had a rethink of the budget as you can see on the new website. I will continue to raise money to make this book possible in PHASE 2 of this endeavour! I'm also going after larger funds and grants! Please let me know of rich philanthropists, ethical businesses who need tax breaks by supporting artists, grants, winning lottery tickets you know of...etc!
I'll keep you updated via my own email program from now on and tell you about everything that's going on...
Thank you all again...!
Henrik
Hello! Just a very quick note to say Crowd funding has been extended here at Sponsume, until the 28th August.
I've been up to my eye balls the last few days... will tell you all about it soon.
Thank you...
Henrik
Hello from UpTrees!
This phase of the crowd funding is imminently ending! And a new one will begin!
I wanted to get this out to you as the official deadline has passed to say thank you again. The crowd funding will continue either here or elsewhere. I'm having trouble getting through to Sponsume who are hosting it but I will let you know!
This will be a beautiful book and the beginning of a wider creative 'campaign' for world change. That's what this is all about.
Anyway - the project started 10 weeks ago and it's been a really interesting journey for me! I couldn't have done it without you. All the publicity, support, development of what the book will become, and the whole experience has already made the book a step closer to reality! I'll also be reaching out for grants... etc, and rethinking how the book is put together.
The last few days I've been filming a kind of 3 minute taster of the project for Channel 4 commissioners to see. I did a 40 minute interview explaining all of my projects while trying to sound intelligent and passionate! We'll see what becomes of that...
Please keep sending me your drawn trees to go in the book!
I'll keep you posted!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
Hello supporters!
8 days to go of the crowd fund and what a crazy few days it's been!
Suddenly I was in the Times, The Metro, the Sun plus and the Independent. The project was the light hearted bit at the end of the ITV news. I was called by the BBC World service and Channel 4.
All of this hasn't done that much for the crowd fund yet! Partly because they omitted the website! It was an interesting flurry of attention though for the project! Good practice for dealing with the media and it all helps! Thank you so much for your support - it would have been a very depressing 8 weeks without it!
Can I raise another £7000 in 8 days?
Anything is possible!
The crowd funding ends on the 17th August. Every penny supporting the project helps to keep me going with putting the book together and I'll be looking for any additional funds needed afterwards! So please tell anyone you know who might be interested in supporting ASAP! (Rich eccentrics who love trees and good ideas! Millionaires who don't know what to do with their money, people who love drawing trees and anyone else!)
Draw me a tree?
I'm offering a discount to anyone who draws a tree for the book. More info here. Please tell your artist / illustrator friends, children and yourselves about it. Please send me your trees!
And maybe someone you know wants a tree house? One of the project rewards?
Here's to the remaining 8 days! Thank you!!!!!
Henrik
Tree by Bethany Jane Warren and Anna Widen.
Supporters of trees!
Thank you again for your support!
Invitation to draw a tree for the book!
Please share this with your artist / illustrator friends!
I'm offering 16.5% off the price to anyone who submits a tree to go in the book.
I have some beautiful submissions already! Full details here: http://uptrees.net/2013/07/27/draw-me-a-tree/
Here's a full page spread from GD, the local paper in Lillehammer. Word is getting out there.
Still working on the national press so if anyone has any good contacts - please let me know!
Otherwise! Please keep spreading the word on Twitter, Facebook...etc.
Henrik
Hello tree people!
First thing's first...
By supporting the project you give me hope!
...so... news...
- New project rewards - I'll build you a tree house!
- UpTrees News media links in Norway / UK.
- Some writing about the book you are supporting - The Manifesto part! Exciting stuff!
- Your continued support… can you help?
The Tree account is creeping up and with 30 days to go I'm still optimistic of hitting or getting close enough to the target. One way or the other I will deliver a book!
I still need your help to spread the word though!
What's been happening?
Know anyone who might want a tree house in their garden? (New project reward...)
- I will build you a tree house in Spring / Summer 2014! I thought I should add a project 'reward' with greater value and I'd also like to do it! So in 2014 I will offer 2-3 weeks of my time to design and build a treehouse that sleeps two people. A cosy snug in a tree! So long as you have a suitable tree then I will make this happen using reclaimed timber. (don't worry I know which is the right end of a hammer). Please tell people about this new reward!
- I've been offered help by a brilliant person working in PR who has already given the project and my skills a boost. Let's see if we can reach a million people..?
- Subtitle to the book - 'Adventure & Manifesto'. Grandiose? Here's a little something I wrote to start qualifying the word 'Manifesto'. You can read about that here.
- If you haven't already been introduced to the professor... he's a genius I've been having a lot of fun with! See the promo I did with him here. Please share it! I hope it gives you a sense of the fun this book will be. At least in part.
Please keep sharing the project, - Tweets, Facebook… etc.
Use these links below to what other people have written or said, or write your own brilliant appraisal of how this book will change the world! (?!)
Links to media coverage:
Geobeats made a little film about the project!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emUr5UJ42aE
Sami Grover's piece published on Mother Nature Network:
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/man-climbs-a-tree-every-day-for-a-year-and-invites
Bristol culture - brief and to the point
http://www.bristol-culture.com/2013/07/15/the-art-of-climbing-tress/
If you understand Norwegian - NRK radio
http://radio.nrk.no/serie/kulturnytt-radio/mnma01013013/02-07-2013#t=14m32s
Double spread in local paper 'GD', in Lillehammer, Norway. I don't have a copy here.
More to follow soon! I hope you're having a great summer!
Thank you again!
Henrik
A facebook album of the first 202 trees to wet your whistle if you haven't seen them already.
https://www.facebook.com/henrik.dahle1/media_set?set=a.10151734257130013...
Been a crazy time of it and finally having a day off! Radio and Newspapers in Lillehammer, Norway yesterday and today. Found myself telling the press that I was getting the word 'Manifesto' back from the guy who killed all those people in Oslo, - who had his own manifesto. In Norway it's a dirty word. Not sure about bringing him into it but need to address it if I'm presenting a kind of creative 'Manifesto'... all be it for positive inclusive change. Grandiose?
Please keep sharing the project... It's coming together... 51 days to go.
There's one or two wobbly heart log slices left... (see below). Thank you to everyone who purchased books!
Here's a little update and thank you film - (click the image for youtube). Please keep spreading the word. Sing songs about it...
And I wrote this for Save Our Woods about Economic Growth. Yes - I am an economist as well.
Thank you all !!!!!
Hello! Little mini promotion... The next seven people to buy a book will get a free hand cut Wobbly Heart log slice. I cut this tree down with my dad for fire wood. (cutting them down rather than climbing them now are we?) Put it on the wall, - use to put hot pans on, give it to your lover, burn it symbolically...?
The log slices are very wet - fresh cut... so they might split a little but that adds to the fun and 'depth' of it... 'the heart that has been places'. Ooooh. Just write 'Wobbly Heart' in the 'message to seller' when you buy the book and I'll let you know if they haven't all gone already!
Please spread the word. More promotions to follow!
Thank you to everyone who shared the page, offered encouragement and supported the project!
I know many more of you are on the way! It's been nearly two weeks and it feels like I'm only just getting started! Was such a busy time at Stamsund International Theatre festival when the project launched but many good things came out of that. Like meeting this character who has offered to help me sell the book!
I've added a sample of the UpTrees booklet, 'A Short Introduction to Climbing Trees', as a downloadable PDF at the bottom of the funding page for your perusal.
Please keep sharing the project and encouraging people to buy the book! We'll get there!
