Group marketing for artists

We had our second meeting on Sunday. We now have 9 artists that have decided to pool our time and resources to get aggressive with our self promotion. Not only do we have a very diverse range of art, we have a very diverse skill set and contact base. I could never do this on my own! My studio mates and I have been struggling to get things off the ground with 3 of us.

The goals for this week are:
decide on a group name, one that defines what we are doing and that is search engine friendly.
Research local venues that support and encourage art shows, like local coffee houses and restaurants
Laying out a promo piece that includes printed material and a CD with additional images and information.

I am very interested in following up on corporate sales. It seems that articles geared at helping artists in the marketplace talk a lot about corporate sales, directly to corporate curators, through art advisors, and online. I am hoping to find resources at the local library or at the local university libraries. So far my online searches aren't producing much. There are large online galleries that sale primarily to large corporations but they don't make it easy for artists to submit material to be considered.

Outside of research this week, I am going to work on SEO for the Carter Building Alliance website and my own. One of our members presented some great articles on SEO and I found a few new ideas that I hadn't thought about before.

Marketing is a very large undertaking and very time consuming. I've always felt overwhelmed and not gotten very far along before I 'find something better' to do! Now I can take it one step at a time, one day at a time, and know that I am accountable to the group that is eager to hear what I learn and to share their new gained knowledge.


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First Friday at the Carter Building in August

A big part of pulling together a marketing plan is defining yourself as a business. We started the process this winter with new studio space, a name, and a logo. Our business goals weren't quite so well defined; we could do this to make money, or maybe this,...should definitely do that...You know how it goes. I got swallowed up in tax season, Lee had to finish the school year at the same time she and the girls were adjusting to Jeremy's long distance commute, and Tunde has been relocating to Boone. And have I mentioned the record heat?! Very debilitating!

While the heat continues to rage, I think we're starting to adjust to it. My house is still 89 degrees inside most days but I don't seem to feel it as much. Only problem is when my arms stick to my art work! Tunde finished his move this weekend; it's going to be hard to have him out of town but I think the stress level will be reduced and he'll get back to painting more and things will be right with the world. And now we have 2 art markets to focus on!

Lee's girls are getting restless, it's time for school to start back! We are using the time constructively while trying to keep them occupied. Yesterday we tore the whole studio apart. Tunde took most of his painting supplies, just leaving little bits of himself behind and since we moved into the space in a hurry in Febuary, things have never been properly put away. We literally pulled everything into the middle of the floor and started fresh: paper's in one place, the screws and nails are sorted, the office supplies are put away....and all the wrappers and trash are thrown away! We added 10 feet of surface work space! And we made room for a 4th person. I love the way the floor space is opened up again, there is breathing room and the sun seems to shine brighter. Today we are going to re-hang the walls and finish getting things in place for First Friday.

Now, we should be able to focus on defining our goals. We have started a group within the Carter Building to pool our time and resources. We met Sunday for the first time and brainstormed. First order of business is research. It's great, some one is tackling galleries, corporate sales, online galleries, promotion/proposals and then we have our next meeting scheduled - a very important next step. It will serve to keep us accountable!

Time for Daisy to take me for a walk. Did I mention the heat!!



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Location:Glenwood South, Raleigh

Getting ready for August First Friday

The temperature reached 103! I'm sitting on my porch with two fans blowing hot air on me- feels cooler out here than my sunroom studio. No A/C this summer so it's 91 in the rest of the house!

Enough complaining; I'm getting a lot done work wise, it's too hot to be moving around. I got the class schedule updated for upcoming fall classes: check out www.cbaraleigh.com for the latest. I polished up my resume and started applying for web design jobs; it's amazing what they expect for an entry level job! There's always hope! Today I finally got the kinks out of my website-little things that have been driving me crazy. And the conference website should be finished! That was fun and I learned a lot and I got to work with some great people.

I haven't gotten as much done for my upcoming show as I'd hoped this week, it's too humid to color photographs without ruining them. I hope to get a least one more finished this weekend and then I get to photograph them; tungston lights ought to be a real joy right now! My show is Faces of Nature at Local Color Gallery, 20 Glenwood Ave on August 5th from 6-9.

This week is going to be another hot one so I plan to pour all my energy into marketing projects: brochure for corporate dealers, gallery submissions and our freelance web design. Plus I've got to color, photograph, matt & frame!

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Location:Raleigh

Mural is installed on The Carter Building

 

 

We had a grand time! Thanks to everybody that worked so hard: Tunde Afolayan, Lee Ball, Bill  Beatty, Donna Belt, Rick Bennett, Allen Clapp, Steve Coad, Karen Latta Cain, Greg, and Susan Jones.

And Special Thanks to all those from the community that participated in the painting.

Working on a large project like this has pulled us together and we are learning from each other. The building community is starting to get real excited so the sky’s the limit, nothing is impossible! If you google Raleigh, my dream city, the Carter Building pops up from multiple sources.

For more images, visit www.cbaraleigh.com.

Carter Building Community Mural Big Success

We had a great time at The Carter Building yesterday painting a community mural. At least 50 joined us during the day – we actually finished early! The weather was great and did I say we had a lot of fun?!

You can see additional pictures at www.cbaraleigh.com and www.simplyphotosnc.com.

We also had a great turnout for our First Friday musician, Lightnin’ Wells. He’s great and had everyone movin’.

Since I’ve been so involved in the marketing of these events, I wanted to go up to people and ask how they heard about the events!

This week will be busy; I start teaching summer camp in another week. Please let the heat stay away!!

Community Palette Mural at the Carter Building

In April we had our first event at the Carter Building, ArtSpeaks, with Lope Maz Diaz leading the group. We had a small turnout but were rewarded with individual critiques. I learned a lot and had a good time with my fellow tenants as well as 2 guests.

I’ve spent the last few days submitting our next event to local calendars – this is a very time consuming task! I hope it pays off in the end.

 

This event should be great fun and if the celebrities we have invited participate, it should be even better!

Tax season is over…

Actually it’s been over for a while but life hasn’t slowed down much. I am so used to keeping my work life and my art life compartmentalized that this year’s overlapping has been quite a challenge. On April 16th I left work early to give a talk at an artist seminar, then back to taxes (except the tornado got in the way) and on the 17th The Carter Building had it’s kickoff ArtSpeaks event that I left work early for. It felt goodto be able to say “look at the time, I get to go be an artist now”.

I was very unsure about the talk at the VAE Business of Being an Artist seminar. I was asked to talk about my studio experience, specifically the choice of working in a group. So what’s the first thing I do, I take my studio mates with me to help with the presentation – I wasn’t scared anymore! It felt very natural to introduce my mentor, Tunde and my supporter, Lee. We are all aware of the positive aspects of sharing a space but putting them into words was beneficial. I started out in a studio space that was all mine. The other tenants in the building were friendly but we didn’t have much of a connection. I was very unsure of myself and had hoped that working around creative people would bring me out of my shell. The landlord’s wife was a rather unpleasant person to be around and I found myself hiding, not using my space to work in as I’d intended but solely as a place to exhibit First Fridays, which I hadn’t intended. I made it through 11 months before I bailed – the experience was a learning experience, one I hope never to repeat!

I found 3 other women on craigslist that wanted to share a space; we found one in the Carter Building. The chemistry was a little off, 2 left and 2 of us are still together. Over the course of that year, we learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t about living with artists! The most obvious benefit is splitting the cost. At first, this was all I was interested in. Now that’s only a small part of the equation.

• Friendship has been the  greatest. We’re all artists and artists are quirky people – we understand each other! It’s the first time in  my life that I’ve felt there was a group of people that truly understood me! And the nice thing about that is we sense the ups and downs and know what to do to help each other out.
• We each have an area of expertise. When you’re brainstorming, there can be a tendency to skip ideas if you don’t have the necessary skills to follow that path. I can now appreciate the true value of brainstorming because nothing seems impossible… there is always someone that knows how to go about a task or knows someone who does! It’s beautiful!!
• Energy. It’s so easy to take ideas and put them on the back burner because you just don’t have the time or energy to deal with it at the moment. It’s amazing how much energy you can find when someone wants to help!

I could go on with specific examples but they all fall under the above. Sharing expenses is a great starting point but the community of artists is the best result!

Tax season is over. I’ll miss my ‘number crunching’ friends but my 40 week vacation will be over before I know it so I need to tackle the garden, paint a pansy, and head out to a meeting with my art friends!