STRETCH GOALS:

£5000 - DOOM Piano Upgrades

We will restore the DOOM Piano to a playable, permanently exhibit ready state. At the moment, it has broken pedals, copper tape peeling off the hammers, and a broken IPAC. We have an alternative material planned to make more durable hammers.

£7000 - GAMES VS. ART: THE DECIDER

We will host a wrestling match to decide, once and for all, whether or not videogames are ART.

(Wooden Feral Vector ornaments by Katy Marshall)

What IS Feral Vector?

Feral Vector is a yearly aggregation of things we think are important and new. It’s centred on games, but deliberately keeps that broad so it can change and adapt. We find new things, and old ones that are under-appreciated. Uncommon voices often have the most important and interesting things to share.

Feral Vector is not like any other games event. As well as talks and games, you’ll also find outdoor space, installations, natural light, many teas, LARPs, poetry, zines, guided walks, weird controllers, lino printing, nail art, tattoos, and whatever other ways this community have found to explore play and games.

It was started by David Hayward in 2012, and is collectively run by Feral Sett, a group of eleven who volunteer to make sure everything happens (Amran, Beck, Cel, David, Devlin, Eli, Jim, Kriss, Pax, Shi, and Siobhan). Of course, there are other people who volunteer and make stuff organically for the programme too.

What will crowdfunding cover?

Venue hire. We can’t sell tickets without venues, and we can’t pay for those without money. Our funding goal covers total venue hire. That’s all we’re asking, but if we go over that goal, we have plans for that too. There are stretch goals to announce.

Why crowdfunding?

For the past three years the biggest costs of Feral Vector have been covered by patronage, with very generous people giving between £1,000 and £4,500 each to make sure it can happen (since 2016, the minimum total patronage we’ve run FV with is £3,500). For various reasons, patronage has worked very well with Feral Vector, but it can be inconsistent year to year. Crowdfunding can increase sustainability by splitting the load, giving more people who want to help Feral Vector the opportunity to.

In seven years of running, commercial sponsorship has never once covered the major costs of Feral Vector. We do have a few sponsors, and we’re grateful for their support, but it only provides a fraction of the overall budget. Sheridans, Boneloaf and the BFI help us do things like buy tea for everyone, have a little hardware to show things on, or pay for a speaker to travel.

There’s never any headlining commercial sponsor though. The further we get from such a thing, the better the programme becomes. We feel free to put who and whatever we want on stage. Crowdfunding can give us more creative freedom by keeping Feral Vector independent.

Needing to find upfront support puts FV in a precarious situation every year, so we’d like to split that load further with your help.

An Endorsement:

"It is my conviction that some of the worst places on the planet happen to be videogame events. Expos, festivals, whatever. Unfortunately my job as a person who makes videogames gives me occasion to be in these odious places and, as I stumble, bewildered and dehydrated through endless halls of violent pornography I often find myself wishing I was in Hebden Bridge at Feral Vector instead."
- Richard Hogg, Artist, h099.com