April 30, 2025 • 16 mins
If you're a fan of fantasy, science fiction or comic art, the Mandel Fanfest is for you! Find out what's in store and how you can hob-nob with artists, writers and other superfans. With Fanfest organizer Erik Marquez.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(10:29:46):
Welcome to the City Center podcast from
West Palm Beach, Florida. I'm Jerry
Marcela. If you're a fan of fantasy,
comic art or role-playing games, stand
by. Mandel Public Library has something
special for you. It's coming up next on
the City Center podcast.
[Music]
(10:30:09):
And joining us today is Eric Marcus, in
charge of the Technology and Innovation
Center at the Mandel
Public Library. Eric, welcome.
Thank you very much.
Okay, before we get into talking about
the FanFest, I find it fascinating. We've
just been talking a few minutes
off-camera about your background. Tell us
a little bit about yourself.
So, I went to art school, Kansas City Art
(10:30:29):
Institute, private art school. And I
graduated in 02, and then I moved from
the Midwest there. I'm actually from El
Paso, Texas. I went to school Midwest.
And then I came here. My
wife is from Florida, Miami.
So we moved back here, and we have been
freelancing since then as artists. That's
where we met in art school. And we have
(10:30:50):
our kids, our three kids, and
we've been homeschooling them.
We moved to West Palm Beach, and then a
couple years later we started
homeschooling. And we happened to come
across, because we moved close to here.
We've found the Mandel Library. And from
all the cities we've lived in, all the
travels and stuff, the
Mandel Library was amazing.
(10:31:10):
There are so many amazing libraries
around the country, obviously. But the
Mandel Library is just, it was amazing.
So, the third floor is the kids' floor.
As a freelancer, we would take our kids
to the third floor, and they're reading,
and they're playing, and
they're doing their projects.
And then I'm working on my stuff with my
sketchbooks and all that, you know?
You mentioned you're an
artist. What sort of art do you do?
Okay, so I studied. I graduated, ended up
(10:31:31):
focusing on illustration, which is
children's books, comic books, animation.
And so I did my
internship with DC Comics.
Wow.
So I got to work on, I mean, it was
amazing. This was around the time, this
was right before September 11th,
actually, was my internship. And so I got
to work on a lot of comic books at the
(10:31:51):
time. That was when the Halle Berry
Catwoman movie was coming out.
I got to work on some of that stuff.
There was a lot of stuff where Stan Lee
was doing stuff with DC Comics, the guy,
the big guy, the big name at Marvel. He
was one of the creators. He was doing
stuff with DC Comics. I got to work with
some of that project.
Wow.
And it was great. The bat titles and the
cartoon network. It was a lot of that. So
(10:32:12):
my focus was a lot of that. And then
after that, I went more of the
independent route. So I did a lot of
other independent books. I worked on
William Shatner's, some of the, he wrote
some of the sci-fi novels.
And this was after Star Trek stuff, I
think. And so I was part of the team
where we kind of translated that into
comic books and comic book format. It was
great. William Shatner's
(10:32:33):
stuff, Vincent Price's estate,
the corner of Brian biography comic, the
Taylor Swift one. It was
a lot of different things.
So you're perfectly positioned to really
be at home in a fan fest art, comic art
type of event, which really brings us to,
okay, so what exactly
is the Mandel Fan Fest?
(10:32:54):
So the Mandel Fan Fest is going to be May
24th, 12 to 4, a one day, just a very
concentrated event. It's
basically a mini comic con.
What's a comic con?
A comic convention, comic book
convention. And we use the word comic
con, but now it's expanded to all fandom,
right? Even though it's still comic con.
(10:33:17):
But we have people who are going to be
script writers and people who are
collecting toys and songs.
So it's that whole general thing. But
basically that's what that is. It's a day
for fans of all kinds of genres to
celebrate at that event with the vendors
and the events and the
panelists and stuff like that.
That's really neat. Well, it's
interesting to see how the conventions
(10:33:38):
have morphed and changed over the years.
I have the privilege of saying that I
went to the first one of the very first
comic cons in New York City back in 1975.
Wow.
Okay. And it was exactly the kind of
thing where you went there and everyone
was just into the comic art and the books
and the idea of people walking around in
(10:33:59):
costume and the vibe that you get at
modern comic cons or conventions.
That wasn't there. We were just into the
magazine. You have a first issue of that.
I got to have that. So we were sort of
dealing in that. So it's really expanded
and it's really for everybody.
Yeah, I love that. I love that. I have
seen pictures of some of the first comic
(10:34:20):
cons and stuff. You're right. Like in New
York, I remember seeing some photos of
that. And I mean, you're right. Just the
visuals you get from that. How much it's
grown is amazing. It's a whole community.
Oh, it's a great feeling now.
So this is going to be for everyone who's
involved in the fantasy science fiction
genres. Well, I don't want to jump
(10:34:40):
forward. Science fiction. Is
it a part of what we're doing?
Definitely. Oh, definitely. So yeah. And
movies. Movies. Anything that's going to
be any kind of that you can have some
kind of fan following to, it's going to
be there. And that's the people we're
welcoming. Anybody who has any kind of
love of any fandom to show up there.
So once you show up there, what kind of
things can people expect to see? So we'll
(10:35:01):
have a bunch of photo ops for sure. I
know the 501st is going to be there,
which is basically for those who don't
know. The 501st is
the Star Wars community.
They're a nonprofit. They're amazing.
They're at all these big events. Then
being a nonprofit, they do all this for
free. They show up in the costume and all
the Star Wars garb. And they do their
photo shoot their photo ops with people.
(10:35:23):
And they're walking around making the
event exciting. I mean, they have a huge
following. They're really friendly
people. They're awesome. So they're going
to be there. We have photo opportunities.
Aside from that, we'll have the different
panelists. We'll have artists, local
artists. And it's a good amount of stuff.
It's not just like you said, it's not
just like somebody who does comic books.
It's somebody who does comic books. It's
other people who are going to be doing
different kinds of sculptures and
(10:35:46):
writers. And it's a variety of things.
Because I want it to be a variety of
things. I don't want somebody to feel
excluded. I want the idea to be that
everybody's going to go in there for
that. That they get to
celebrate what they love doing.
And even if it's not like maybe I don't
have somebody, a panelist or an artist
that's specifying to the thing I love,
you're going to meet people. And you're
going to find somebody who does Dungeons
(10:36:07):
and Dragons stuff more and this and that.
So that's the idea. I
want it to be inviting.
Now you've mentioned panelists. What sort
of panelists are you
going to have for this?
So we have five panelists lined up. And
again, I really love that variety of it.
It's going to be... So Nicki's going to
be doing the Disney talk.
So she's called "Diz Nicki".
So she does like... I mean she knows the
(10:36:29):
ins and outs of the parks. She knows the
ins and outs of how to do things. How to
kind of help yourself and make it a
smoother day. A lot of marketing stuff. A
lot of pin trading. Just really specific
Disney details. She's
really cool with that.
So people are always like... That's
really super useful. I mean how many
times you would really wish you had
(10:36:50):
somebody you had that really down on how
to get around Disney World.
Yeah I know. And this is like a guided
tour. Wow. Definitely. And then I have
Freddy who's going to be doing the
sculptures. He's a local artist who does
a bunch of like
different little characters.
And so he sells them. You'll see him at
different events. So he does a bunch of
different characters. Like he's going to
be premiering some little snails that
(10:37:12):
he's created. Very sci-fi-esque. Right?
And he'll do a lot of sci-fi stuff for
like steampunk characters. So like robots
and snails. Some rabbits. Different
things like that. So it's really
colorful. Very textural.
It's like an art exhibit then. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. It can be. But with that idea
of leaning towards the fandom stuff.
Right? Exactly. Another panelist would be
(10:37:34):
Sarah. She would be doing supernatural
building. Like world building kind of a
thing. It sounds really exciting. That's
the one that I'm really super curious
about too. Because just like the whole
supernatural realm.
You know? It's awesome.
So is there a big video game sort of vibe
or like a sim game playing kind of thing
going on? So we won't have too much video
game. I don't think I have a vendor or
(10:37:57):
anything that's specific to that. Yeah.
But like we will have a lot of well there
will be a lot of like the board games.
You know like you mentioned D&D. Right.
As far as video game in this year it's
not as big. But that's not because I
don't want it to be. That's just kind of
like we didn't get as many yet. But
there's always that potential for next
year. I would love that. Sure. I would
love that. So there's that. And then
(10:38:17):
Derek is going to be another writer. I
think he's doing a screenwriting 101.
Which is very important because there are
a lot of us creative people. And this is
my constant mission is to have people
outside of just even fan fest in the TIC.
The idea is that we're sitting there with
projects that we probably should have
(10:38:38):
already been building on. And as a
creative person you know you put your
projects on the side and life takes over.
Yeah. Screenwriting 101 is a good one
because you get to kind of if you have
already started something but you put it
on pause show up to the 101 anyway. Warm
up again. If you've never but you've
always had that idea in your head and
needs to grow then show up to that for
that reason. Get the ball rolling. So
(10:39:00):
he's going to be
doing a screenwriting 101.
So can you say that part of the goal or
the vibe of the entire event is to be
inspirational to get people creative.
Without a doubt for sure on the audience
side on the patron side on the community
side I want them to show up and just have
a great day of this. But on the other
(10:39:20):
side which is where I always am mentally
is the creating side. I'm always
producing creating something.
And there are a lot of us and that's like
I said that's my personal mission is to
have people realize with these kinds of
events with the room we have in the
library with all these resources people
who want to create maybe so I mean how
(10:39:41):
many conversations I've had I can't tell
you where somebody says I want to go to
art school but I can afford it.
I actually had this kid come in a little
while ago a week ago and he was like
saying how he's trying to you know their
family business to try to get out of
debt. He says I'm trying to get out of
family debt so that I can get into my
student debt. That's not the right
mentality. No no no. There are so many
(10:40:02):
resources. I mean the T.I.C. is free.
Everything that I everything that I ever
used in the art school
which our school is not cheap.
No everything there is in the T.I.C. for
free for people to use. Not only do I
mean hardware but the software to have
creative suite I have toon boom I have
Maya with blender. Yeah let's let's talk
(10:40:23):
about that. Let's let's paint a picture.
Tell us about the T.I.C. and what's
available for folks in the room. So
anything that's digital arts is that
room. Anybody that's in any in other
words the arts you just put a digital
spin. So if you're a painter you can
digital paint. If you're a sculpture you can three-dimensional.
If you're a sculptor you can 3D sculpt.
If you're an animator 2D traditional we
can do that there digitally and we can 3D
(10:40:45):
animate as well. If you're a sound
recorder if you're a singer we go in
there and record you. If you need a mix
engineer we have Ableton Audacity. I mean
I have the MIDI the beat maker. You can
you can mix in my room. This is for all
the audio artists. You can mix all the
way to the point of mastering. I don't
have the acoustics for mastering. But I
mean to get to that point alone for free.
(10:41:06):
Yeah. You know studios are expensive.
I have a 3D printer there so somebody can
essentially 3D sculpt their own character
or we could 3D scan what they've sculpted
and then we 3D print. We can do a
maquette of something.
So essentially the room is almost like a
nursery for creative people. Yes. If
(10:41:27):
you're if you're a musician if you're a
singer you can give them a start. Yes.
You have the equipment and the know and
the know how to do that.
If they're artists if they are you know
of any sort of creative you know
environment you can give them tools to at
least get started and to explore that.
Yes. Every single tool is in there. It's
I show up there every day and it is the
(10:41:47):
whole it's what I took for granted as an
artist during art school. I mean I had my
studio there. I can show up at 2 in the
morning and I would I'd work 2 in the
morning and go to bed and I'd wait.
I took it for granted. You just there you
show up whatever. Now that I graduated
and I no longer had that access you miss
it. And then I find that room in the
library and then they
say hey come work here.
So I can't tell you every day I wake up.
(10:42:09):
I'm just like I love it. I love being in
work. I love it. It's not. It's just me
playing. It's a great deal. I love it.
And and so it's not like I just want to
keep that for myself. I want other local
artists and I am I'm in the art scene and
we have all these local artists that we
talked to etc. And I love that feeling. I
want all of them and even the ones who
aren't local practicing artists people
(10:42:29):
who have just been sitting there thinking
they're not an artist. That's not true.
You are come here and look at the tools.
Are there any fees or costs involved with
all free as long as you have a library
card there for the
Mandel library. It's free.
Fantastic. Okay. So let's jump back to
talking about fanfests. No. No. It was
really important to talk about that. What
a great resource. Yes. That's available
(10:42:50):
to really nurture creativity and budding
artists can can actually go in practice.
Their first real steps there and that's
that's a fantastic service. It's a
fantastic thing to do. But at at at
Fanfest. You know we've talked a little
bit about you know some of the things
that are going to be there. I know there
are parents going is this going to be a kid's job?
(10:43:10):
It's a friendly sort of environment.
Definitely it is. Oh it is. Before I do
that let me mention the fifth panelist.
Oh yes please. Mayo Mallie. Mayo Mallie
is coming to us through art
life through Sibelay's projects.
I love art life. Just again talking about
the arts and the city and stuff. The
stuff that comes out of there is amazing.
Anyway so Mayo Mallie is one of the five
artists. And May's going to be doing. May
(10:43:32):
actually did the the all the decals that
we have in the elevator in the library
that they did all the illustrations and
stuff. That's May's work.
So May's going to have a table there and
one of the panelists basically on the on
the creation of their characters and the
process of that. So that's going to be a
really cool talk in the sense of again if
I'm an artist that's kind
of getting that ball rolling.
I get to hear this other artist May
(10:43:53):
talking about that process and the
struggles and how to kind of get over
those slums and stuff. So that's going to
relate to a lot of people. So definitely
that'd be a good one to come to it.
And so anyway jumping back to like you
said is definitely going to be a family
friendly event. We want to
keep it open to everybody.
I just yeah it's it's for everyone. You
(10:44:13):
can have kids in there. They're going to
be things for for for children to see and
enjoy and maybe even spark their own
creativity. Yes definitely. I want that
to happen. Yeah that's fantastic. So OK.
So our dates again are May 24th.
The event is open to the public from 12
to 4 Saturday May 24th. OK. So come on
down Mandel Public Library. You can get
(10:44:35):
get that. And where can we find more
information about it.
So the link is going to be it's just
W.P.B. dot org slash Mandel Fan Fest. And
that has all the information. We have
pictures from last year's kind of trial
run event which was fun. Yeah.
And a lot of people was really good. And
then all the information is there. We'll
have all the artists up there and the
vendors and the panelists and stuff.
(10:44:57):
And we haven't covered yet. No. No I
think I mean I'm sure there is a lot.
Yeah. Can I think of any at the moment.
Maybe not. The most important thing is to
have people come on down. See what's
going on there. Enjoy the library. Enjoy
what's happening at Mandel Public Library
and enjoy the
creativity that is available.
And it's a free event for the public.
(10:45:19):
Free event for the public. OK. So we'll
get that all covered. Eric Marquez. Thank
you so much for your time. We appreciate
you being here and everything you're
doing for the library and for the people
of West Palm Beach. Thank you
very much. I love being here.
And thank you for joining us today. If
you're interested in learning more about
the Mandel Fan Fest 2025 just check out
the library pages on the city website at
(10:45:39):
W.P.B. dot org. The city center podcast
is a production of the city of West Palm
Beach Communications Department.
I'm Jerry Marcello.
We'll see you next time.
Welcome to the City Center podcast from
West Palm Beach, Florida. I'm Jerry
Marcela. If you're a fan of fantasy,
comic art or role-playing games, stand
by. Mandel Public Library has something
special for you. It's coming up next on
the City Center podcast.
[Music]
(10:30:09):
And joining us today is Eric Marcus, in
charge of the Technology and Innovation
Center at the Mandel
Public Library. Eric, welcome.
Thank you very much.
Okay, before we get into talking about
the FanFest, I find it fascinating. We've
just been talking a few minutes
off-camera about your background. Tell us
a little bit about yourself.
So, I went to art school, Kansas City Art
(10:30:29):
Institute, private art school. And I
graduated in 02, and then I moved from
the Midwest there. I'm actually from El
Paso, Texas. I went to school Midwest.
And then I came here. My
wife is from Florida, Miami.
So we moved back here, and we have been
freelancing since then as artists. That's
where we met in art school. And we have
(10:30:50):
our kids, our three kids, and
we've been homeschooling them.
We moved to West Palm Beach, and then a
couple years later we started
homeschooling. And we happened to come
across, because we moved close to here.
We've found the Mandel Library. And from
all the cities we've lived in, all the
travels and stuff, the
Mandel Library was amazing.
(10:31:10):
There are so many amazing libraries
around the country, obviously. But the
Mandel Library is just, it was amazing.
So, the third floor is the kids' floor.
As a freelancer, we would take our kids
to the third floor, and they're reading,
and they're playing, and
they're doing their projects.
And then I'm working on my stuff with my
sketchbooks and all that, you know?
You mentioned you're an
artist. What sort of art do you do?
Okay, so I studied. I graduated, ended up
(10:31:31):
focusing on illustration, which is
children's books, comic books, animation.
And so I did my
internship with DC Comics.
Wow.
So I got to work on, I mean, it was
amazing. This was around the time, this
was right before September 11th,
actually, was my internship. And so I got
to work on a lot of comic books at the
(10:31:51):
time. That was when the Halle Berry
Catwoman movie was coming out.
I got to work on some of that stuff.
There was a lot of stuff where Stan Lee
was doing stuff with DC Comics, the guy,
the big guy, the big name at Marvel. He
was one of the creators. He was doing
stuff with DC Comics. I got to work with
some of that project.
Wow.
And it was great. The bat titles and the
cartoon network. It was a lot of that. So
(10:32:12):
my focus was a lot of that. And then
after that, I went more of the
independent route. So I did a lot of
other independent books. I worked on
William Shatner's, some of the, he wrote
some of the sci-fi novels.
And this was after Star Trek stuff, I
think. And so I was part of the team
where we kind of translated that into
comic books and comic book format. It was
great. William Shatner's
(10:32:33):
stuff, Vincent Price's estate,
the corner of Brian biography comic, the
Taylor Swift one. It was
a lot of different things.
So you're perfectly positioned to really
be at home in a fan fest art, comic art
type of event, which really brings us to,
okay, so what exactly
is the Mandel Fan Fest?
(10:32:54):
So the Mandel Fan Fest is going to be May
24th, 12 to 4, a one day, just a very
concentrated event. It's
basically a mini comic con.
What's a comic con?
A comic convention, comic book
convention. And we use the word comic
con, but now it's expanded to all fandom,
right? Even though it's still comic con.
(10:33:17):
But we have people who are going to be
script writers and people who are
collecting toys and songs.
So it's that whole general thing. But
basically that's what that is. It's a day
for fans of all kinds of genres to
celebrate at that event with the vendors
and the events and the
panelists and stuff like that.
That's really neat. Well, it's
interesting to see how the conventions
(10:33:38):
have morphed and changed over the years.
I have the privilege of saying that I
went to the first one of the very first
comic cons in New York City back in 1975.
Wow.
Okay. And it was exactly the kind of
thing where you went there and everyone
was just into the comic art and the books
and the idea of people walking around in
(10:33:59):
costume and the vibe that you get at
modern comic cons or conventions.
That wasn't there. We were just into the
magazine. You have a first issue of that.
I got to have that. So we were sort of
dealing in that. So it's really expanded
and it's really for everybody.
Yeah, I love that. I love that. I have
seen pictures of some of the first comic
(10:34:20):
cons and stuff. You're right. Like in New
York, I remember seeing some photos of
that. And I mean, you're right. Just the
visuals you get from that. How much it's
grown is amazing. It's a whole community.
Oh, it's a great feeling now.
So this is going to be for everyone who's
involved in the fantasy science fiction
genres. Well, I don't want to jump
(10:34:40):
forward. Science fiction. Is
it a part of what we're doing?
Definitely. Oh, definitely. So yeah. And
movies. Movies. Anything that's going to
be any kind of that you can have some
kind of fan following to, it's going to
be there. And that's the people we're
welcoming. Anybody who has any kind of
love of any fandom to show up there.
So once you show up there, what kind of
things can people expect to see? So we'll
(10:35:01):
have a bunch of photo ops for sure. I
know the 501st is going to be there,
which is basically for those who don't
know. The 501st is
the Star Wars community.
They're a nonprofit. They're amazing.
They're at all these big events. Then
being a nonprofit, they do all this for
free. They show up in the costume and all
the Star Wars garb. And they do their
photo shoot their photo ops with people.
(10:35:23):
And they're walking around making the
event exciting. I mean, they have a huge
following. They're really friendly
people. They're awesome. So they're going
to be there. We have photo opportunities.
Aside from that, we'll have the different
panelists. We'll have artists, local
artists. And it's a good amount of stuff.
It's not just like you said, it's not
just like somebody who does comic books.
It's somebody who does comic books. It's
other people who are going to be doing
different kinds of sculptures and
(10:35:46):
writers. And it's a variety of things.
Because I want it to be a variety of
things. I don't want somebody to feel
excluded. I want the idea to be that
everybody's going to go in there for
that. That they get to
celebrate what they love doing.
And even if it's not like maybe I don't
have somebody, a panelist or an artist
that's specifying to the thing I love,
you're going to meet people. And you're
going to find somebody who does Dungeons
(10:36:07):
and Dragons stuff more and this and that.
So that's the idea. I
want it to be inviting.
Now you've mentioned panelists. What sort
of panelists are you
going to have for this?
So we have five panelists lined up. And
again, I really love that variety of it.
It's going to be... So Nicki's going to
be doing the Disney talk.
So she's called "Diz Nicki".
So she does like... I mean she knows the
(10:36:29):
ins and outs of the parks. She knows the
ins and outs of how to do things. How to
kind of help yourself and make it a
smoother day. A lot of marketing stuff. A
lot of pin trading. Just really specific
Disney details. She's
really cool with that.
So people are always like... That's
really super useful. I mean how many
times you would really wish you had
(10:36:50):
somebody you had that really down on how
to get around Disney World.
Yeah I know. And this is like a guided
tour. Wow. Definitely. And then I have
Freddy who's going to be doing the
sculptures. He's a local artist who does
a bunch of like
different little characters.
And so he sells them. You'll see him at
different events. So he does a bunch of
different characters. Like he's going to
be premiering some little snails that
(10:37:12):
he's created. Very sci-fi-esque. Right?
And he'll do a lot of sci-fi stuff for
like steampunk characters. So like robots
and snails. Some rabbits. Different
things like that. So it's really
colorful. Very textural.
It's like an art exhibit then. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. It can be. But with that idea
of leaning towards the fandom stuff.
Right? Exactly. Another panelist would be
(10:37:34):
Sarah. She would be doing supernatural
building. Like world building kind of a
thing. It sounds really exciting. That's
the one that I'm really super curious
about too. Because just like the whole
supernatural realm.
You know? It's awesome.
So is there a big video game sort of vibe
or like a sim game playing kind of thing
going on? So we won't have too much video
game. I don't think I have a vendor or
(10:37:57):
anything that's specific to that. Yeah.
But like we will have a lot of well there
will be a lot of like the board games.
You know like you mentioned D&D. Right.
As far as video game in this year it's
not as big. But that's not because I
don't want it to be. That's just kind of
like we didn't get as many yet. But
there's always that potential for next
year. I would love that. Sure. I would
love that. So there's that. And then
(10:38:17):
Derek is going to be another writer. I
think he's doing a screenwriting 101.
Which is very important because there are
a lot of us creative people. And this is
my constant mission is to have people
outside of just even fan fest in the TIC.
The idea is that we're sitting there with
projects that we probably should have
(10:38:38):
already been building on. And as a
creative person you know you put your
projects on the side and life takes over.
Yeah. Screenwriting 101 is a good one
because you get to kind of if you have
already started something but you put it
on pause show up to the 101 anyway. Warm
up again. If you've never but you've
always had that idea in your head and
needs to grow then show up to that for
that reason. Get the ball rolling. So
(10:39:00):
he's going to be
doing a screenwriting 101.
So can you say that part of the goal or
the vibe of the entire event is to be
inspirational to get people creative.
Without a doubt for sure on the audience
side on the patron side on the community
side I want them to show up and just have
a great day of this. But on the other
(10:39:20):
side which is where I always am mentally
is the creating side. I'm always
producing creating something.
And there are a lot of us and that's like
I said that's my personal mission is to
have people realize with these kinds of
events with the room we have in the
library with all these resources people
who want to create maybe so I mean how
(10:39:41):
many conversations I've had I can't tell
you where somebody says I want to go to
art school but I can afford it.
I actually had this kid come in a little
while ago a week ago and he was like
saying how he's trying to you know their
family business to try to get out of
debt. He says I'm trying to get out of
family debt so that I can get into my
student debt. That's not the right
mentality. No no no. There are so many
(10:40:02):
resources. I mean the T.I.C. is free.
Everything that I everything that I ever
used in the art school
which our school is not cheap.
No everything there is in the T.I.C. for
free for people to use. Not only do I
mean hardware but the software to have
creative suite I have toon boom I have
Maya with blender. Yeah let's let's talk
(10:40:23):
about that. Let's let's paint a picture.
Tell us about the T.I.C. and what's
available for folks in the room. So
anything that's digital arts is that
room. Anybody that's in any in other
words the arts you just put a digital
spin. So if you're a painter you can
digital paint. If you're a sculpture you can three-dimensional.
If you're a sculptor you can 3D sculpt.
If you're an animator 2D traditional we
can do that there digitally and we can 3D
(10:40:45):
animate as well. If you're a sound
recorder if you're a singer we go in
there and record you. If you need a mix
engineer we have Ableton Audacity. I mean
I have the MIDI the beat maker. You can
you can mix in my room. This is for all
the audio artists. You can mix all the
way to the point of mastering. I don't
have the acoustics for mastering. But I
mean to get to that point alone for free.
(10:41:06):
Yeah. You know studios are expensive.
I have a 3D printer there so somebody can
essentially 3D sculpt their own character
or we could 3D scan what they've sculpted
and then we 3D print. We can do a
maquette of something.
So essentially the room is almost like a
nursery for creative people. Yes. If
(10:41:27):
you're if you're a musician if you're a
singer you can give them a start. Yes.
You have the equipment and the know and
the know how to do that.
If they're artists if they are you know
of any sort of creative you know
environment you can give them tools to at
least get started and to explore that.
Yes. Every single tool is in there. It's
I show up there every day and it is the
(10:41:47):
whole it's what I took for granted as an
artist during art school. I mean I had my
studio there. I can show up at 2 in the
morning and I would I'd work 2 in the
morning and go to bed and I'd wait.
I took it for granted. You just there you
show up whatever. Now that I graduated
and I no longer had that access you miss
it. And then I find that room in the
library and then they
say hey come work here.
So I can't tell you every day I wake up.
(10:42:09):
I'm just like I love it. I love being in
work. I love it. It's not. It's just me
playing. It's a great deal. I love it.
And and so it's not like I just want to
keep that for myself. I want other local
artists and I am I'm in the art scene and
we have all these local artists that we
talked to etc. And I love that feeling. I
want all of them and even the ones who
aren't local practicing artists people
(10:42:29):
who have just been sitting there thinking
they're not an artist. That's not true.
You are come here and look at the tools.
Are there any fees or costs involved with
all free as long as you have a library
card there for the
Mandel library. It's free.
Fantastic. Okay. So let's jump back to
talking about fanfests. No. No. It was
really important to talk about that. What
a great resource. Yes. That's available
(10:42:50):
to really nurture creativity and budding
artists can can actually go in practice.
Their first real steps there and that's
that's a fantastic service. It's a
fantastic thing to do. But at at at
Fanfest. You know we've talked a little
bit about you know some of the things
that are going to be there. I know there
are parents going is this going to be a kid's job?
(10:43:10):
It's a friendly sort of environment.
Definitely it is. Oh it is. Before I do
that let me mention the fifth panelist.
Oh yes please. Mayo Mallie. Mayo Mallie
is coming to us through art
life through Sibelay's projects.
I love art life. Just again talking about
the arts and the city and stuff. The
stuff that comes out of there is amazing.
Anyway so Mayo Mallie is one of the five
artists. And May's going to be doing. May
(10:43:32):
actually did the the all the decals that
we have in the elevator in the library
that they did all the illustrations and
stuff. That's May's work.
So May's going to have a table there and
one of the panelists basically on the on
the creation of their characters and the
process of that. So that's going to be a
really cool talk in the sense of again if
I'm an artist that's kind
of getting that ball rolling.
I get to hear this other artist May
(10:43:53):
talking about that process and the
struggles and how to kind of get over
those slums and stuff. So that's going to
relate to a lot of people. So definitely
that'd be a good one to come to it.
And so anyway jumping back to like you
said is definitely going to be a family
friendly event. We want to
keep it open to everybody.
I just yeah it's it's for everyone. You
(10:44:13):
can have kids in there. They're going to
be things for for for children to see and
enjoy and maybe even spark their own
creativity. Yes definitely. I want that
to happen. Yeah that's fantastic. So OK.
So our dates again are May 24th.
The event is open to the public from 12
to 4 Saturday May 24th. OK. So come on
down Mandel Public Library. You can get
(10:44:35):
get that. And where can we find more
information about it.
So the link is going to be it's just
W.P.B. dot org slash Mandel Fan Fest. And
that has all the information. We have
pictures from last year's kind of trial
run event which was fun. Yeah.
And a lot of people was really good. And
then all the information is there. We'll
have all the artists up there and the
vendors and the panelists and stuff.
(10:44:57):
And we haven't covered yet. No. No I
think I mean I'm sure there is a lot.
Yeah. Can I think of any at the moment.
Maybe not. The most important thing is to
have people come on down. See what's
going on there. Enjoy the library. Enjoy
what's happening at Mandel Public Library
and enjoy the
creativity that is available.
And it's a free event for the public.
(10:45:19):
Free event for the public. OK. So we'll
get that all covered. Eric Marquez. Thank
you so much for your time. We appreciate
you being here and everything you're
doing for the library and for the people
of West Palm Beach. Thank you
very much. I love being here.
And thank you for joining us today. If
you're interested in learning more about
the Mandel Fan Fest 2025 just check out
the library pages on the city website at
(10:45:39):
W.P.B. dot org. The city center podcast
is a production of the city of West Palm
Beach Communications Department.
I'm Jerry Marcello.
We'll see you next time.
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