Networking

In Albuquerque, two Artists’ Town Hall meetings in the past month have had packed houses, full of the city’s deep well of creatives urgently looking for ways to make a difference in a world of angsty uncertainty. 100+ artists gathered December 12 to work together to identify routes for community and individual action.

Creative folks have a special and incredibly important role in, and power to affect, social change. While the actual levers of political power may be in the wrong hands at the moment, artists and creatives have immense social and cultural power. Yes, this means you! YOU have power to reach hearts and minds, often in ways that politicians and campaigners cannot, and never will be able to.

Guest Blogger Jessica Boudreaux shares: “If a person feels annoyed, frustrated or put out by you sending a genial and to-the-point email asking about an opening slot on a show, then they’re probably not someone who would be very fun to work with anyway. Or their Mercury is in their asshole’s retrograde that day.”

Facilitating connections between other people makes you a valuable member of business and society, which will eventually, theoretically, and if you believe in karma, pay off.

Guest Blogger Judy Miller Silverman says: “I am trying to save you from that fate of wasted time and money and full-tilt depression. Go DIY before you DIE. You are not alone in having the proverbial doors slammed in your face while trying to build your project.”

I’m stuck in a cycle of jobs I don’t care about and feeling I never have the time to really develop my creative work to the point that I think I could actually make money from it.

Even those among us within the music community can feel like outsiders to another niche. When you’re a lone artist out on the lookout for collaborators, it can feel like the world is dead-set against you.

Networking sounds business-y AF, and therefore fundamentally inapplicable to those of us in creative occupational fields. Right? Aren’t we artists precisely to avoid this kind of selling out to the Man and “kissing ass in order to get a job”?

I’ve learned a lot more about business and marketing from running the label than I did anywhere else, and most recently I’ve picked up some publicity tips. It’s not all traditional, but it’s what’s worked best for me. Love or hate it, here it is.

The quality of the work is either there, or it isn’t, and no amount of resume padding is going to change that

After my first solo biennial exhibit of interactive installation (EXPERIENCE, 2000), I started giving artist talks—as many as I could.

I’ve followed a lot of advice on how to “grow an audience.” How to “build a fanbase.” Sounds weird to me—like gardening or carpentry tips.

It’s usually just a matter of opening my mouth and saying those words “I’m a writer,” or more often, “I’m trying to be a writer.”

I can execute my WHOLE social media plan (not including blogging) in about four hours per week and we have a really decent growth on all platforms.

And yadda yadda yadda, Le Chat Lunatique ends up in Kazakhstan, eating caviar for breakfast and getting interviewed in the Guns & Roses Bar.