by kiki

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN BEGINS! 

Yes, folks, we’re now down to the final HOURS in our Kickstarter campaign.  The pledges are still rolling in, one right after another, and words such as “delighted” and “surprised” just do not do the movement justice.

We are floored by the outpour of love for HERB & DOROTHY 50×50, especially in these final moments of the campaign.  Over six hundred of you have come together to give an amount so grand…and there’s just no stopping you!

We at HERB & DOROTHY Headquarters are admittedly sleepy but elated, each new day renewing our faith in art and in the power of community.

And of course, we believe in Herb and Dorothy.

Did you know that next year, Herb and Dorothy celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary?  “50″ seems to be a special, magical number, doesn’t it?  It’s everywhere: in the Vogel 50X50 Collection, the title of the follow-up film, this campaign, and the Vogels’ love story.

And with just 50 hours to go in our campaign, we’re getting ready to count down the final hours to make this crazy challenge a reality.

Keep spreading the word, and let’s finish strong!  We make a great team, you and us.

THANK YOU!

by KiKi

WE DID IT!  We reached our goal!  Thanks to an unbelievable amount of support from around the world in the last three days, we’ve passed our ambitious goal of $55,000!

Just take a look at the graph above.  As you can see, in the second half of our campaign our progress slowed down significantly – we hardly moved some days which had us shaking in our boots, to be completely honest – and then…BOOM!  Our supporters came alive.

Oh, how you came together and created movement!

We’re both astonished and AMAZED.  THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts.  (What is even more moving is that you’re still pledging!  We just passed $60,000!)

This Kickstarter campaign has been a truly moving, life-altering experience for all of us here at HERB & DOROTHY Headquarters.

We’ll definitely write about that experience, but before we get ahead of ourselves, we have to complete the campaign!  In our final 4 days, let’s continue to fire up our Facebook and Twitter communities, write blog posts about the campaign, and keep spreading the word!

And on Saturday, November 5th, we’ll REALLY CELEBRATE!

We love you all!  Thank you.

by KiKi

New York City as seen from Herb & Dorothy Headquarters in Brooklyn

Over the weekend, besides the heaping amount of October snow in New York City, we received a tremendous amount of support from our friends in Japan.

Megumi being Japanese, of course, there’s a swelling sense of pride felt by the Japanese people that one of their own has created a touching English-language film like HERB & DOROTHY, adored by fans around the world, receiving award after award.  Many Japanese dream of expressing themselves outside of their country, and Megumi serves as an inspiration, an example of what’s possible if you fully commit yourself to your dream.

Today however, we’re especially moved by the outpour of love and support from Japan, for we all watched in horror as the earthquake, tsunami and reactor accident crippled the nation in March (and still continues today).  Our close friends, relatives, co-workers, students, and peers in Japan are trying to rebuild the economy, the lost cities, their lives, their morale.

Frankly, art is likely one of the last things on the minds of the Japanese, and yet, they have so generously given to our Kickstarter campaign.  HERB & DOROTHY is a widely loved documentary in Japan, and many, many people are wishing and waiting for the follow-up.

This past March, “hope” was temporarily lost, and in the seven months since is slowly being reborn through, to name a few things, art and connection.  There’s no doubt that Herb and Dorothy Vogel have touched a deep chord in the Japanese people, and the Japanese want to give back through this campaign.

We’re so grateful for each and every pledge that comes in, not just from Japan but all over the world.  We see each of your names, and wonder where you are and how you must have felt as you decided to support us.  And we’re touched.

We thank you deeply, and know that we can, in these final 5 days, reach our goal!

Thank you so much, from all of us at Herb & Dorothy Headquarters.

It’ll all be over this weekend.  Let’s give this all we have!

by kiki

With just 9 days left in our Kickstarter campaign, we’re both anxious and grateful.

Anxious about reaching our goal of $55,000 (we’re currently at $35,921), as we really don’t want to disappoint those who have supported us.  And grateful, of course, for every hard-earned dollar that is being offered to our cause.

Everyday we say to all of you…Thank you.

Today, we’d like to share a post published over at the heartful Art Aligned, where the wonderful Kate Watson interviews Megumi about HERB & DOROTHY, and about this campaign.

We hope you’ll go over for a read, as Kate truly is the epitome of generosity.  Every post, every tweet, every Facebook message is one real person showing us their passion.

And with that, we’re moved to continue on.

Just 9 days left!  We can do this together.

Artist Robert Barry on how a work is presented:

There’s no top or bottom.  How you decide to hang it, that’s up to you.  And it’s part of that whole scheme about leaving a lot of the decision up to the person that’s in charge of it at that time.

 

(Robert Barry’s work from the video clip)

How a work is presented, where it’s presented, when it’s presented, is very important in terms of its ultimate meaning and how it starts it’s journey in the outside world.

Be sure to check out the video clip from HERB & DOROTHY 50X50 HERE.