Dire Need zine
Dire Need zine
Dire Need Zine is a Milwaukee-based publication with the goal of showcasing underground artwork, music and poetry and more. Co-run by Mary Hansen and Vieve Growel, the zine was launched around this time last year. Over the four features they’ve had, Dire Need Zine have interviewed creative folks of many kinds whether they be a band, filmmaker, photographer, comedian or small business owner; their last issue was in October and had a Halloween theme.
Hansen explains that the idea came from her desire to get back into the art and music scene after some time away from it, saying, “I wanted an excuse to get out more; I was really into the music scene in high school but as I got older, I branched away from it. I just wanted a sense of community again and thought that it’d be really cool to do a zine that features artists that I know, and it’s also a good excuse to talk to musicians who I look up to and think are so great.”
She began talking to Growel about launching a creative endeavor and Dire Need Zine was soon born. “Mary did the first one on her own; she had a network of people to interview and she made the artwork for it, and I remember looking at it--thinking that it was something that I really want to be a part of,” Growel recalls. “It was made with a lot of love and creativity.”
Physical Copy
The name occurred to Hansen because she liked the sound of it, but it resonated with the focus of the zine as well. “It coincides with the fact that there is a real need for culture and having a physical copy of something that showcases art and music and poetry,” she said.
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They aim to make it as easy as possible for folks to submit their artwork; rather than gathering submissions through emails, Dire Need Zine utilizes a simple Google Form and allows people globally to submit their work. Growel assures, “We always make sure we highlight local artists.”
Each issue typically features interviews from two to four artists. Their third issue was their first one interviewing a global artist, Mot Vlad from Romania. “We often get a lot of submissions so it’s hard to choose which ones go in the zine,” Hansen said. “We want to be accessible but also have to anticipate our own materials and needs.”
Hansen and Growel have been taking the winter to work on personal projects including a short film Growel wrote and directed titled “Oh, Rats!” “With our last issue, we had a lot of printing and shipping problems, and it ended up costing a lot of money,” Hansen explains. “We had to take time to figure that out, and then on top of that, I wanted to reevaluate our look.”
Dire Need Zine hopes to start back up soon and have a new issue out over the summer. They are potentially going the digital route moving forward since it is more time and cost effective, although they would still include sporadic handmade details. “There’s only two of us so it’s not easy to make as much as I wish we could,” Hansen said. “As we move along we definitely want to talk to more musicians, more poets and more small business owners.”
“I want to shout out our friends Enzo Ray Daniel and Violet Alizabeth for all the advice and creative input that they’ve given us,” Growel concluded. “It’s so cool that people who are so talented and passionate have helped us succeed. It’s really inspiring.”
Visit Dire Need Zine’s Linktree here.
