Opportunity
The Annual Cork Street Exhibition for Charity
Entries still being taken, discount if you enter by the end of May. First stage selection is by digital image, second stage requires delivery & collection in person in London.
Studios available soon
The Second Floor Studios group is expanding. Building work is progressing on the second floor and Matthew is taking names for the waiting list. More info here: http://www.secondfloor.co.uk/
SFSA is also a member of the National Federation of Artists' Studio Providers, which I didn't even know existed! Interesting.
Podcasts
Two recommendations that have had some excellent articles the last few weeks. If you don't already follow them you should. :)
Tony Moffitt's Art World
Joanne Mattera Art Blog
Art Funding
Did you know the Arts Council England published an article Action on Recession? It's short but addresses the £4million cut in arts funding and what grant systems are now available for artists. If you're an artist working with the public or for the public check it out.
Social Networking
The Art Newspaper has an article about why museums should be on Facebook. I find this fascinating (and do agree). But it begs the question of how we all use Facebook, and how to use it without being just promoters. Do you use Facebook? How? (and I do mean that last question! I loathe Facebook and am still trying to understand how it can work for me as an artist.)
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Posts
4 comments:
Tina, I do use Facebook a little for promoting myself as an artist, but I use it more just for interacting with far-away friends. I discovered on my Webstats that FB is cited twice as a site where my Website can be linked to. To me, that ain't bad!
I use FB to keep in touch with friends and family, though I avoided it for years. Like Mark, I get hits on my site coming from FB folks. I found your post intriguing because I have been debating on whether or not I would keep my FB page private, or open it up to buyers as well.
More often than not, my repeat buyers are the ones that have a chance to get to know me a little. So I am leaning toward using FB as another networking opportunity.
People want to know what is going on in the mind of the artists, and this is one way for them to do that.
Tina, there are a couple of ways you can use Facebook. First, you can set up a page for your business, and get people to sign up as "fans". You can promote your artwork, shows, etc on there. You can also have a personal profile and use it to let your customers know more about you personally (although you do this very well on Twitter) or you can keep it more to connecting with long-lost friends (who might become customers).
You can also use services like Ping to post the same message on Twitter and Facebook if you wanted. Personally, I use Twitter for more business related stuff, making business connections, providing information, etc.; I use Facebook for personal connections with people I know socially so I rarely post the same message on both. You do such a great job on Twitter and with your blog that I think you should give Facebook a shot - especially a page for The Cycling Artist. If it isn't working for you, you can always delete it, but I think you'll find it is another way to get the word out about your and your art work.
Good luck!
Great discussion regarding FB. I did a "fansite" for my work but found that the whole business thing inevitably trickles down to the general friend list anyway..
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