Tiny Orchestra, Big Sound
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Tiny Orchestra, Big Sound 〰️
It’s a smol world.
Part dinner party, part concert, part gallery event. The Sheldon Gala is a posh night of feasts for all the senses. And this year, a “tiny orchestra” was providing the backdrop to an otherworldly evening.
The annual Gala at The Sheldon is always a treat to work on. In the past, the visuals for the Gala had mostly revolved around imagery of the featured act, with 1 or 2 key images. But this year, I had another idea. What if we made things a bit less literal? What if we did a whole DIY photo shoot with dozens of photo options? What if I obtained an entire orchestra of teenie tiny cute little musical instruments and props? What then??
Lots of little props for our DIY photo shoot to make it feel like a cute l’il vintage-inspired party.
2022 was the year the The Sheldon came back. Not that it really went away per se, but an in-person concert venue wasn’t exactly the place to be during all the uNpReCeDeNtEd TiMeZ. After a couple years of lockdowns, shutdowns, canceled shows and generally a cultural shift to never-in-person-ever, the upcoming Gala at The Sheldon was more than a party. It felt like coming back to life. Real life. We, The Sheldon and everyone else were ready for one thing: a party.
So the concept of this Gala, featuring “tiny orchestra” Pink Martini, was just… fun. A mish mash of everything from the past and present that makes life delightful. I wanted the Gala materials convey PARTY with a little bit of vintage falir (like, remember when things were fun???) to get everyone back in the mood. Back to what matters, which is being together with other people.
We took (probably way too many) photos with (probably way too many) little props. We figured if we were excited about what we were doing, others would feel that about he work.
The Many Mini Photos
A few examples of the DIY concept photos for the Gala, taken with my phone and a flashlight (and lots of little props)
On “set” with Haley setting up a shot, and another shot I was setting up in the office.
The Final Product
Using our photos as a base, along with copywriter Hannah Koberstein’s otherworldly, poetic words, Haley got started on creating a suite of beautiful goodies to lead up to the event. With custom type, and a perfectly 1960’s-esque flair, she perfectly married all the elements of this concept together. Between the 3 of us, we were able to create something really wonderful, and turn a small project into something strange, weird, artistic, and best of all, a joy to make.
Event poster, photography, playbill and invitation. Design and photography by Haley Hoffman, who also used her phone and a flashlight and all our mini props for photos!
The Big Event
Though we were working only on visual direction for posters, save-the-dates and invitations, we wanted to make sure the planning committee for the Gala had some direction and inspiration for the event itself. I put together a quick guide for them to help inspire ideas for decor, centerpieces, color palette and even fashion. The Sheldon team then ran with that inspiration and made the event as memorable, playful and quirky as the visuals we created.
Excerpts from the event-planning guide I created to get the planning committees creative juices flowing.
Images from the actual Gala, featuring decor, props and even some more mini-instruments! inspired by our concept and photography.
Nothing feels better than to come up with a weird concept, have it chosen, create it with hard work and resourcefulness — then see it come to full fruition at a real-life, in-person event. The night was a smashing success, and I loved that I got to have a part in creating a magical, make-believe little world, just for one night.
Credits
Client
The Sheldon Concert Hall and Art Galleries
Agency
Paradowski Creative
Creative Direction
Terri Mitchell
Tyson Foersterling
Design and Photography
Haley Hoffman
Terri Mitchell
Copy
Hannah Koberstein