SPECIAL events are a wonderful mix of art and science.
The creative soul of the event designer divines how to blend color, texture and shape to fashion settings ranging from summer gardens to Moroccan bazaars. How do designers do it? They probably couldn't tell you. It's a special sensitivity to how art elements evoke emotion.
But events need the hardheaded types along with the artistic types. Ignore the rules of physics and the most beautiful tent will topple over — evoking an entirely different emotion!
Publishing a magazine is a mix of art and science, too. For this, our annual “Catered Arts” issue, the theme of our cover story came to us in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. The supermarket across the street from our office, part of a mainstream chain, offering more and more items in its line of organic foods — that was a hint. Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck announcing that he was going to serve an organic menu at the Oscar ball in February — that was a thunderbolt. Assistant editor Christine Landry looks at how the “green” movement has been gaining ground in catering, from where caterers source food to how they make less mess at the event itself. Turn to page 32 to learn more.
This month's “Rental Essentials,” which looks at the debate over online versus printed catalogues, shows there is no one “best” way to showcase rental inventory. Everyone we interviewed agrees that online ordering is here to stay, and three-fourths of you post prices online. But is the print catalogue dead? Not on your life, some rental pros tell us. Turn to page 47 to read the whole story.
In e-mail surveys over the past two months, we've been asking you to tell us what you think about everything from the topics we cover to the length of the articles we publish. My thanks to so many readers who took the time to share their thoughts. (In fact, our research department told me they were surprised by how many responses Special Events Magazine pulled in in comparison with the surveys done by other magazines. I told them it was simply more evidence that special event professionals are passionate about every aspect of what they do.)
Much as I'd like to think I know my readers very well, your responses taught me things I didn't know. I have tended to focus on big-budget events with the thought that everyone can learn something from events with such a broad scope. (And besides, these events are usually gorgeous to look at.) But many of you told us that you want examples of terrific events on tight budgets, too, so we'll be pursuing those stories as well.
All the recommendations you have so generously shared with us dictate what we publish in Special Events. And you'll see tangible evidence of that next month, when our redesign makes its debut with our June issue. Watch for it — you inspired it.
