...but we fell short, and we ran out of money.

Actually, this international community convened in Vienna, and they talked about Grand Rapids as a place where great things could happen, and they said yes. That's freakin' awesome.

And as one does when they come across such a big personal realization, I gave the guys at Foo Camp a call on a Friday and said I couldn't make it. And on Monday, I quit my job.

Rick asked the really simple question - "hey, what would the opposite of a film festival be?" Out of that came a 10-slide keynote deck with the title "An Art Prize." And that was the beginning of ArtPrize.

And there was a lot of learning that went into that whole project and a lot of resources -- so we decided we were going to spend a fair amount of time and dissect all the things we had done wrong, and what we had an inkling was going right. We spent time to learn.

I don't really like the conversation I hear our community talking about around failure -- I believe that we're framing it incorrectly.

"I keep track of my material costs, but I don't track my hours because it would be really depressing." *cue laughter*

"Meeting other people whose work I love is maybe the most rewarding thing about participating in book fairs and zine fairs."

"One of the things about riso to me that is so exciting is how limited it is."

"The community of people using these machines for arts making exists but it's pretty small. There are probably a couple hundred around the world which sounds like a lot but when you think about how big the world is it's not that huge."

"My goal is to stay small and hopefully someday transition to the point where I'm not really printing for other people, because it's incredibly stressful, and more just working on my own projects."

"It's kind of a weird mix of the archaic and fantastical because it all happens automatically inside this really boring looking machine."

Work hard before it becomes hard work. Get ahead of the work before it becomes hard work.

Attitude, peers and mentors, I think are three components to a creative education.

Be open about what you don't know.

Everybody is growing. Everybody is learning. Those people who are out in front of you that you are comparing yourself to, feeling like you're not catching up or you're not getting there, they've got some more years on you. But they are still learning and they're still growing as well...So be hungry to catch them, but don't be down comparing your beginning to somebody else's middle.

You've got to be positive...I think there is a little bit too much celebration of failure, I think we need to learn from failure. But we need to celebrate success.

We just can't assume that technology will fix all of the country's problems.

I really like the idea of designers changing the world, but I'd really just like to see them change San Francisco.

These people need help, not Apple watches.

If you follow your dreams, you will end up eating popsicles with David Suzuki

You can really break the world down into two types of people. Those who don’t mind going through customs and those who do.

With the numbers game, you bless each encounter with the quality of low stakes. Whatever may happen may happen.

The hunch is what gets you out the door, but the discovery is wilder than you could imagine.

Do things for others and watch how much others do for you.