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Help us wish a very happy THIRD birthday to CreativeGround! We've made a lot of growth since launch - much of it in just the past year. Read on for our year in review as well as upcoming opportunities, helpful hints, and the return of our "On the Ground" blog series!
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| From our launch party all the way back in 2014! Photo credit Sancho Maulion. |
What we've been up to...
We've added new users and welcomed many new types of businesses and institutions to the New England creative economy:
- Nearly 60,000 visitors to the site and over 2,250 hours of use in the past year.
- Over 670 new profile creations and 225 existing profiles claimed by users.
- Eleven new ways to classify your creative work, including an institution business type for Makerspaces and LGBTQ communities under populations served.
- An enhanced advanced search that allows users to search for profiles by both primary and additional disciplines at once.
We visited all six New England states last year, working closely with you, our users, gave us inspiration for ways to continue improving the site:
- 12 office hours and workshops allowed us to get up close and personal with your needs.
- Three webinars hosted, including ones for teaching artists, organizations and creative businesses, and better visibility in search results for everyone.
- Exhibited or presented at 17 events including New England Library Association Conference and New England Museum Association Conference.
- Distributed thousands of postcards across New England to match unmanaged profiles with their rightful owners.
We supported the NEFA Creatives Count survey of creative workers whose needs and activities will now be incorporated into an upcoming research study:
- Over 1,200 people responded to NEFA's Creatives Count survey.
- Over 300 new profiles are being added to CreativeGround as a result!
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It's been a busy three years. Find out where we're going next... Photo credit Sancho Maulion.
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What's in store...
Year Three was very good to us... but we're even more excited about what's to come in Year Four! We're working on new features and fields, allowing you to share more about your creative enterprise and proudly display the arts communities you belong to. We're also using your feedback to help guide major enhancements of core site functions, making features like our Search and Explore pages even more powerful.
As always, we're planning plenty of travel throughout the year, and this year we hope to reach more of you than ever before. With your help we can bring the team to your community! Reach out to [email protected] to get an event started in your locale this spring.
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Regional Opportunities
- Vermont Arts Council
- Rhode Island Teaching Artist Center
- New Hampshire State Council on the Arts
Read NEFA's
opportunities blog post, including grant deadlines, auditions, job listings, and information about the Artist-In-Residence program through the Metropolitan Area Planning Council.
National opportunities
- South Arts, one of NEFA's sister regional arts organizations, is planning their annual Performing Arts Exchange:
- Deadline to propose a workshop: 2.24.17
- Submit an application for a juried showcase: 3.23.17
- The National Endowment for the Arts has upcoming deadlines for grant programs that serve individual artists and cultural organizations:
- How to Do Creative Placemaking, a free publication of the NEA, is available to download online. The action-oriented guide includes instructional and thought-provoking case studies and essays from today's leading thinkers in creative placemaking.
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CreativeGround is filled with eye-catching profiles, but this collection of artists, creative businesses, and cultural nonprofits really grabbed our attention for their work in honor of undeserved, marginalized, or otherwise vulnerable communities. Click on the images above to view these engaging profiles and maybe get some inspiration for building your own...
We feature profiles on the CreativeGround homepage and about page. Discover what makes a profile worthy of being featured (and eligible for grant opportunities). Check out these helpful tips!
Images provided courtesy of the artists
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| ON THE CREATIVEGROUND BLOG |
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Inaugural Thrive! Conference in 2016
. Photo courtesy of Culture SECT.
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Communities Exchange (CCX) in New London, Connecticut, this June, CreativeGround is talking to creative businesses, nonprofits, and individuals from across Mystic Country. We started off by getting in touch with the CCX's local host, the
Southeastern Connecticut Cultural Coalition (Culture SECT), to find out more about the creative economy of the area and what exactly makes Southeast Connecticut so unique. Read the blog post
here.
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Show Your Connections: How to use the "I Have Worked With..." field.
Why add connections?
Just like LinkedIn, potential collaborators want to see who you've been working with. It shows you're active in the creative community and helps increase your trustworthiness. You'll also appear in keyword search results for connected profiles, which means more opportunities to be seen!
Connecting to another profile...
Adding a connection with an existing profile is easy!
- In the EDIT view, simply scroll down to the "I Have Worked With..." dropdown and expand the section by clicking on it.
- If your connection already has a profile on CreativeGround, start typing the name in the "Profile Name" field. Results from the site will start to autofill!
- If you don't see the profile you're looking for right away, try a couple different variations. If no profile comes up, enter the name of your connection in the "Alternate Name" section.
Building Relationships!
Detail the nature of your relationship to this connection by filling out the "Relationship Date" and "Relationship Description." The best the descriptions are succinct and clear.
Your relationship with some connections may extend beyond just one month. In this case, we recommend using the description to explain the nature of your relationship. Use the "Relationship Date" field to indicate when you started working with this connection.
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- Register today to join New England leaders at the Creative Communities Exchange in New London, Connecticut this June to exchange ideas, build our network, and share actionable tools to strengthen our communities through arts and culture. Learn about creative economy initiatives from throughout New England.
- Check NEFA's website for upcoming grant deadlines, applications, and guidelines.
- NEFA is seeking a new Salesforce and IT Administrator. For a job description and to apply, visit NEFA's employment page.
- Join the NEFA mailing list to receive organizational updates!
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UPDATE OR CREATE YOUR PROFILE!
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There's no time like the present to get working on your CreativeGround profile. Read our detailed instructions on how to get started updating or creating your profile here.
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ABOUT
CREATIVEGROUND
A project of NEFA, CreativeGround is brought to you through ongoing partnerships with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, the Maine Arts Commission, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, and the Vermont Arts Council.
Learn more.
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