Amsterdam, the place to be today!

[By Orling Dominguez, 2019 symposium correspondent, in Amsterdam]

The day finally arrived! Once a year, urban sketchers from around the world gather at one location to spend four days sketching the host city of the Urban Sketchers Symposium, and to shared a common interest, our love for drawing. Our host city this year is the incredible city of Amsterdam and I don’t think my drawings will ever completely capture the beauty of this city. Every corner is “a must” to sketch.

The day started very early at the symposium venue, the Zuiderkerk, with the help of our fantastic team of local volunteers. The coordination of this team amazed me by how quickly they filled up more than 600 goodie bags for our instructors and participants. Record time! Red bags everywhere, pack with great products from our sponsors.

The staff was very diligent at moving things around, not only putting together the goodie bags, but also placing chairs, setting up the registrations desk and fine tuning the last details for the opening. Art supply vendors and sponsors were also busy setting up at the mezzanine of the Zuiderkerk. 

At around 10:00 am, instructors started to arrive for the staff briefing with Amber Sausen, USk President and Peggy Wong, Events Director. The most recommended suggestion of the day was: drink water, lots! Yes, I was a hot day in Amsterdam, but the excitement of the opening day balanced it all.

It was not even 1:00pm when people started gathering outside the venue. There was a lot of anticipation and excitement, sketchers sketching sketchers sketching, old participants meeting first time attendees, and just catching up while waiting for registration to open at 3:00 o’clock.

In the meantime, while participants were drawing outside and lining up at the door, Gail, one of our local hosts, had a briefing with the volunteers, outlining the registration process and guidelines to follow during the days ahead. if you are in Amsterdam, you can spot our volunteers by their red t-shirts. Please, say hello! They are very helpful and friendly!

 The doors for registration finally opened and all I could see was happy faces and a lot of camaraderie; despite the heat, people were just energized by each other and building new friendships in the line.

Once registration was completed, Amber led the welcoming words and introduced our local hosts, Ruud and Gail. The hosts of the past nine symposiums were also called to the stage, and the hosts of the first five had the opportunity to share their experience about organizing this event. Also, some data about this year’s symposium was shared: 47 countries are represented, 200+ attendees signed up for lectures, and 550+ signed up for workshops. 

After a long day, it was time to relax and draw among old and new friends at the organized “Drink and Draw” at a local café, the AmstelHoeck. It was packed with participants inside and outside, it didn’t matter where you were, everybody was drawing. After all, that’s what we are here for, right?

A great first day… looking forward to tomorrow!