An Online Ceramics Festival. Coming Soon. All Online!
You get to Attend Workshops, Talks, and Q&As from:
MORE INFO COMING SOON
Browse the Stalls of our Virtual Makers Market:
Got a Problem? Ask our Clay Doctors.
Why are we organizing The Ceramics Congress?
Hey, my name’s Joshua, and I run The Ceramic School.
And it’s my great pleasure to organize this event for the ceramics community.
This is an Online Ceramics Festival like no other!
Inside you will find…
- The Ceramics Community! It’s an amazing weekend for connecting with the worldwide ceramics community. (We will also be having open discussions, games, and some challenges to win prizes)
- 72-hours of Workshops & Q&A’s from World-Famous Ceramic Artists – watch their masterclasses, and then jump on stage and ask them questions face to face.
- An Online Exhibition & Artist Meet & Greet focusing on Australian Ceramicists.
- Clay Doctors – we have 16 experts taking your questions and trying to fix problems that you may have.
- Virtual Makers Market – we will be having a two hour session on Saturday/Sunday where you can browse and buy pottery from our artists virtual booths – organized & curated by Chanakarn Semachai (Punch)
- Vendors / Expo Booths – for product demos, Q&As, discounts and special offers from your favourite ceramics companies.
When I started this online ceramics conference in 2018, it was because I simply couldn’t afford to fly my family out to a large ceramics conference in the USA… I couldn’t take the time off work, I couldn’t afford the flights, or the hotels, or the food… But I didn’t want to miss out on the amazing ceramics content being shared, and I wanted to meet and talk with my clay idols.
I think many of us here have the same issues with attending live events. And like many of us here today, I have always tried to do absolutely everything myself… But especially over the last two years, when most of us have been forced to hide inside, and be alone, this is one of the most valuable lessons I have learned this year: You need the support of your friends, and of the community. We are stronger when we are connected, and the ceramics community is the most open and supportive group of people I know.
And it’s amazing that we can all come together, from all walks of life, and create this online conference, and combat the big problems in the pottery world at the moment. You see, going to art fairs, workshops, and demos in real life are all amazing… You meet new people, learn new techniques, and most of all, have fun with old and new friends. But traditional ceramics conferences across the world are very restrictive in terms of who can join in and consume the information…
They are physically at one location.
Which you normally have to fly to.
This excludes a whole lot of people.
- Ceramic artists from around the globe miss out on the opportunity to talk about their passion and share their knowledge.
- Aspiring potters who are too far away miss out on learning new techniques and ideas.
- Parents who can’t leave their children at home miss out.
- Ceramic Students who can’t afford a ticket miss out.
- People in time-intensive jobs who can’t get away from work miss out.
- Pottery companies who can’t show off their latest products because of expensive booth fees miss out.
And even if you can take time off work, find a babysitter, book a hotel, book a flight or a train, drive for hours, pay for meals out…
On top of that, ceramics conferences normally charge an expensive entry fee for you to enter (usually a couple hundred dollars!)
This also excludes a ton of people who want simply cannot afford to attend…
and so even more potters miss out on learning something new and being inspired by something different.
It comes as no surprise that there are some big problems with real-life conferences around the world. Conferences are significant contributors to CO2 emissions, pollution, and wasted food and water.
- The average conference attendee produces over 170 kilograms (375 lbs) of CO2 emissions per day.
- At a conference with 5,000 people, almost half (41%) of rubbish will go directly to landfill. (This is despite recycling and composting program efforts.)
- A three-day conference for 1,000 people creates on average 5,670 kilograms (12,500 lbs) of waste.
Well, imagine if you could attend a ceramics conference without traveling?
What if you could have the world’s top ceramic artists come to you, instead of you going to them?
What if we could cut out the venues, the travel, the expense?
What if you could join in the discussions and workshops and share your own experiences?
We believe that real learning comes from joining in and taking part.
We believe that you can learn something new from anyone, and your own experience and your own personal insight will benefit others if you have the possibility to share.
We believe there should be no secrets in ceramics.
These are the ideas that lead us to create The Ceramics Congress.
We have all the same features and energy of real-life events, but online.
You get to see amazing potters host inspiring talks/demonstrations…
You get to have the fun and excitement of being surrounded by other like-minded potters.
But, in a way that’s accessible as possible.
And, instead of charging a super expensive entry fee to cover the venue, the food, the staff, etc… We only charge you a small entry fee to help cover the costs of running our online software.
- You get to attend the conference at a very affordable rate.
- You get to see world-famous Ceramic Artists talk about their passion and share their insights.
- You get to network with other like-minded potters from around the world, all from the comfort of your own home.
- You get to see the latest and greatest pottery related products from famous pottery companies from around the world.
- And, you have the opportunity to buy the workshop replays at 95% off.
- We split this revenue with our speakers so that they get paid.
As you can see, it’s our aim is to Educate, Inspire and Inform people about ceramics.
We want as many people as possible, including the general public, to be able to see, and be inspired by, these great demo’s and talks (which are normally held behind closed doors)
We believe that this is the future of ceramics conferences.
- The Main Stage – for workshops, talks and demos.
- Group Sessions – for open round-table discussions, Q&A’s and Clay Doctors, and group workshops.
- One-to-One Networking, for spontaneous video chats with random potters from around the world.
- Online Expo Booths – full of your favorite pottery companies giving live product demos and discounts, and answering your questions.
So far, we have helped just under 100k people from around the world view ceramic-based workshops from potters they wouldn’t normally be able to… and we’ve paid out over $100,000 to our speakers.
Sound good?
I hope to see you there.
Cheers,
Josh
Joshua Collinson
Founder of The Ceramics Congress
Explore our Virtual Exhibition Hall:
