Feb SFTA- community building

creating

Camron of We are all One (www.weareallone.tv) spoke on the block party last August.  The blogosphere, rss feeds huffington post…color of change…online petitions.

social chameleon. myspace — 6 degrees of separation…pandora, algorithm.  applying to social activism

-communicating ideals and how you hope to achieve them. have a ten point plan. ideals. philosophy. sticking to it! not wavering. making sure we don’t do what hurts the cause

-keeping elected officials in check

-being active in something important to them

-internet feeds. collecting snapshots of what’s happening.  have courage!

-harnessing good news locally!  giving people options of what to tune in to

-working for good corporations rather than Coca-Cola

-community as aresource

-developing a big community network instead of people being so guarded

-policing of sharing of news

-not sharing internet lists, etc. ownership of info…committing to supporting each other

-taking the next step!

-story of freedom parkway. were getting ready to build big expressway through that community.  community took a stand. several politicians got together on how they wouldn’t let that happen.  DOT never pulled it off the table.  community had to protest and go to jail…lay on the street to get them to really listen and get the compromise of freedom parkway.

-who is the state?  supposed to be the people.. media is supposed to relay this information

-importance of persistence

-alon. we are all one. drop dead gorgeous…using fashion to let people know about sex trade. atlanta is biggest portal for sex trade in the world

-operating in solidarity

-Atlanta.  self-centered nature.  different people interested in different things.  hard to get community wrapped around one project.  people thinking someone else will take care of something

-state being segregated

-groups of people together and having community leaders

-people who put keeping up with Joneses above helping out.  those people may be helpful because of influences

-who’s dumbing down society.  capitalists vs. government…privatization  ”politics is the shadow of big business”  IF you want to change something, changing the shadow won’t do anything

-for many people, it’s not cool to be active in community

-knowing who in your social circle really cared

-testing where people are right now.

-everyone rise up party ’06.  reinstating activism in hip-hop.  people doing shows, not going to rallies, etc.  every sunday for two months meeting at space.  like stone soup.  within circle had every resource needed.  hard to use parking lt at 5 spot.  fear etc.  speaking to business owners.  go straight to the source

-party to remind people that we are connected.  focus on similarities

-momentum is difficult to maintain without clear objectives.  takes a lot!

-creating ability to go bigger…google, etc.

-lohas: lifestyles of health and sustainability.  emerging demographic…exhausting campaign but great to restoring faith in people and activism

-see examples of where things went well…different ways to lead

- Chomsky. explains how social movements occurred.  manufacturing consent

-Dr. King was successful because there was also a large support base.  became mouthpiece.  lived his principles.  when one embodies a principle, it encourages other to do the same.  everyone becomes more heroic.  when people require something, someone steps up.  leadership is staying the course.  ensuring accountability of members, etc.

-organic fest in dunbar park…garden in west end

-some leaders have a gift that resonates…like Obama represents a synthesis

-people holding group together.  doing the work.  sacrificing to do good work

-Mikuak Rai, one common unity in DC

-city budget, budget from people to enable these things

-when people feel supported, they’ll support others

-consider bi-monthly sfta

-Michael Powell…son of Colin…deregulated media so you can have oversaturation in any market

-American Blackout, Cynthia Mckinney

-career role modeling.  step before mentorship

-Johnathon pro-tools course.  8 week workshop

-Saturday.  more party vibe. mixer

-set event  on waao

-getting out of thinking of Atlanta as platform to the world.

-ability to make connections because of technology

-any artform can be learned by understanding principles

- discussed where poor and wealthy artistically, great contacts, skills/resources needed

WHAT’S GOING ON!!

Time for SFTA…this month’s topic is community building. We’ll be at Wonderroot on Saturday from 1-4pm. You can RSVP with a comment. Also, check out all the amazing things SFTA participants have going on!!!

CONGRATS to Tracie and the launching of her line!!!

We are happy to announce the official launch of our web site NAUGO at www.naugo.com

Visit and support our web site today. YES YOU CAN afford to be original in NAUGO gear including T-Shirts and Accessories for Women and Men.

Please share the good news with friends and family!

Thanks,
Tracie Greene Daniels and Lambert Greene Jr.

SUPPORT GREAT ART!
I’m in the ArtHouse Co-op Sketchbook show, “Everybody We Know” and I’m inviting you to come out and enjoy a great night of art. I’ve participated in a show with this gallery before and it was really cool to see all the sketchbooks in all their varieties. This is a traveling show, unfortunately I won’t be traveling too, but that mean if it’s coming to your city you can check out my art. Listed below are the exhibition dates and locations (these are one night only shows, so once it’s gone it’s gone). The opening/kick off of the tour is this Friday, Feb. 27 from 7-10pm at ArtHouse Gallery in the Castleberry Hill area in Atlanta. If you’d like a sneak peak you can check out my book here or here.

Thanks for your support and I hope to see you there.
Hugs Angie

p.s. Tell all your friends!!

TOOLS FOR ADVANCEMENT
Cultural Odyssey and The LOVE Project
Master Workshop for Professionals and Emerging Artists

Creating New Performance

with Rhodessa Jones and Idris Ackamoor
Sat 3/7 10am – 1pm @ 7 Stages Theatre
PWYC; Suggested Min $15; Value $50

“Creating New Performance” is a theater workshop for professional, aspiring and closet performers. The class is an introduction to the performance style and training processes of Cultural Odyssey’s Co-Artistic Directors, Rhodessa Jones and Idris Ackamoor. The workshop will utilize sound and movement exercises as the beginning of a creative exploration that includes theater games, memory exercises, autobiographical musings, storytelling and musical rhythm changes. At the end of the workshop participants will perform a five to ten minute mini-performance created during the process. In addition, participants will receive information regarding “personal survival strategies for performing artists”.

About the show:
7 Stages & Cultural Odyssey presents: The Love Project
Created by Pearl Cleage, Zaron Burnett, Rhodessa Jones & Idris Ackamoor
Directed and performed by Rhodessa Jones & Idris Ackamoor
02/25/2009 – 03/08/2009 Thurs – Sat 8pm; Sun 5pm; Matinees Sat 2/28 2pm & Thurs 3/5 10am

You don’t start a love story. One day you look around, and it’s started all around you.” With song, dance and storytelling, internationally acclaimed artists Rhodessa Jones and Idris Ackamoor detail the love story they’ve found themselves living after decades on the road. Partnerships, politics, history, family, and food – whatever your favorite lovesong, you can sing along in this show.

January SFTA

This month’s focus was marketing and development.  Though we had a small turnout, the discussion was motivational and information.  Kim Huynh and Anana Parris-Harris both gave presentations on marketing.  We discussed marketing techniques, guerilla marketing, and stages of marketing.  Below you can find more detailed information about the last session!  The next SFTA will be, as usual, on the last Saturday of the month from 1pm to 4pm at Wonderroot in Atlanta.  If you have any particular subjects you’re interested in discussing–feel free to leave a comment here!

- we browsed the top marketing terms of 2008 and specifically discussed the terms: social networking, intergration, core competency, this is how we roll, customer retention, organic marketing

-Kim gave us a presentation of her agency, Nomad Marketing Agency

-grassroots marketing…finding meaning. don’t do things conventional.

-can lose sense of humanity through the internet; people can craft a persona that is not entirely their own

-culture of short attention spans

-pros and cons of internet vs. talking to people

-for freelance artists, lack of strong clientele and having people know what you do

-culture of people. In gallery shows, the accompanying music often takes precedence and people look without discussing and really interacting. Art shows should not be presented in a party-like atmosphere.  The art should be seen as being valuable enough to be able to stand on its own.  We also spoke on some visual artists and others who have high visibility in the Atlanta arts scene and what are some of the things they do that keep their product original and sellable.

-what are people purchasing?

-poor marketing and poor culture=poor sales

-art shows having their own spotlight.

-people are more prone to purchase a product from a mainstream artist than independent ones

-using friends to spark other’s interests: hype people

-word of mouth can be good or bad

-get paid for what you love doing

-being grassroots and taking it to the next level

-brand and market research

-communication

-Anana Parris-Harris of AfriSalsa gave a presentation on the four stages of success from a business person’s standpoint.  She also spoke on not being a ‘schizophrenic artist’…sometimes we do things that others want us to do and that can create a rift between our natural skills and interests and those things we already know we want to avoid!  seek support, etc. in order to avoid creating a divide within your artist self

-cause-based marketing: smaller avenue than traditional marketing (t.v., radio)

-personal speed bumps can affect ability to market one’s own product

-challenge: knowing what needs to be done but still learning 
(e.g. life experience) 

-something that helps on a personal and entrepeneurial level is to be consistent as an artist

-know long-term what you want your product to be.  know what you want to do so you don’t do things you don’t want to, so you don’t become a ‘schizophrenic artist’

4 business growth stages

idea:existence, preliminary talks, minimum activity, planning

survival:minimum activity, basic internal structure, resource gathering/attracting

success:profit generating, maximum planned activity, implemented plans being regularly reviewed, maturity (many owners stop in this phase)

maturity: ventures 2 and 3, investments

goal: franchise brands and be public

The first step is to develop a cash cow venture based on a sellable product

parents can be schizophrenic: alternately sayong ‘get a job’ and ‘do what you love’

-making sure brand was right for first five years–money not a priority at this stage, brand was a focus

American Legacy Foundation (behind Truth campaign)…took leading agencies in five demographics before coming up with name (truth) and brought them together for a week (asian, black, hispanic, lgbt, white)

-had money and knowledge

-don’t burn your bridges with your marketer

-do work inside to overcome obstacles!

Pics from Roundtable #1

STRAIGHT FROM THE ART GETS MONTHLY!!

Hey everyone…if you happen to come across this… Straight from the Art will soon be expanding into a monthly format. That’s right! Come at your own volition, but we will be at WonderRoot every last Saturday of the month. We’ll try out at three-hour stint, since last month we went well past the delegated two-hour. The theme for the next SFTA roundtable (which will be on January 31st, time TBD) will be MARKETING and DEVELOPMENT.   If you have any input or have a speaker in mind that could be particularly helpful, please let me know! Also, if you’re interested in coming, you can RSVP by posting a comment on this update. I’ll be posting more specific info in the near future!

GREAT EVENT FOR THIS SUNDAY!

AnnGee’s list

So I finally checked out AnnGee’s site and got a chance to see some fantastic artwork!  The link is below…

http://flyingtangerine.blogspot.com

 She’s also sent some interesting e-mails about upcoming events that she is participating in and great resources available, so I’m posting them here for the world to see, or anyone who journeys across this .com  I will work towards setting up a calendar of all our upcoming events so they can be easily accessed by everyone. 

Artadia http://www.artadia.org/forartists

The Foundation Center http://foundationcenter.org/atlanta

f you are out there looking for an alternative to the blah blah blah on the radio please direct your dials to WRFG 89.3. This is a great station and I’ve found the programs that this station provides to be diverse and a wealth of information about events in and around Atlanta as well as the world.

WRFG is a community radio station which means it asks its listening audience to make donations and contributions to keep the programs on the air and the station functioning. All of the talented program hosts and djs are volunteers who hand pick the music and topics often featuring local musicians and active community members. Amazing, right!

WRFG is having their 16th Annual Silent Auction Sunday, December 7, 2008 from 4-7pm at the Inman Park Trolley Barn (963 Edgewood Ave) near the Edgewood Marta Station. By attending, you contribute $15 for food, drink, music and FUN!!

I started listening to this station about a year ago and it is one of the few radio stations I actually look forward to starting and ending my day with. I love listening to this station and I donated a drawing, Deep in the Heart, for the silent auction.

I hope you’re able to come out and enjoy some winter revelry for a good cause.

Wow! Two shows in one month. If you’d rather not spend the dough on Sunday, Dec. 7th at the WRFG Silent Auction at the Inman Park Trolley Barn, please come out to Young Blood Gallery and Boutique Saturday, Dec.6th from 7-10pm (it’s free people). The gallery is next door to the Highland Inn. There are only two parking spaces in front of the gallery, which are hard to get in and out of anyway, so I’d suggest parking on the streets off N. Highland, like Blue Ridge Ave. I hope to see you there!!!

Artists of the Month

Home Show – Saturday, December 6th, 7:00 – 10:00

“Leaving Home”                                                                   Tim Boyd	Each December, Young Blood hosts a group show with a theme that alternates between “Home” and “Seasons”.  The theme for this year is “Home”.  Forty local artists will be showing all types of work and every piece will be sold for $200 or less!
“Orphanage”                                                                     Eric Trimble	The opening reception takes place on December 6th, from 7:00 to 10:00.
“Maeby”                                                                      Natalie Osten	Participating artists:   Wes Cummings           Tae Lee Truett Dietz                  Megan Kimber Tim Boyd                      Mike Germon Travis Theus                Lael Pastore Morgan Hayes             Kelly Teasley Shonda Smith               Caleb Faw Ryan Coleman              Jessica Gonacha Shawn Richardson       Jessica Blankenship Philip Jones                   Jenny Dayton Paige Adair                    Jennifer Morris Nathan Phaneuf            Jason Palmer Natalie Osten                Cristina Vidal Michael Swann             Greg Bordreau Leah Pettway                Diane Koss Damian Bradley           Corinne Kornder Megan Blackburn        Angela Giles Andrea Sanders            Adam Slight Aaron Hitchcock         Eric Trimble Joe Tsambiras               Dorothy Stucki Eric Elliot                      Becky Furey

Roundtable (One) Notes

Discussion point one: What is your niche and how did you discover it?

-There are not enough hours in the day.  Anyone know a good underground market with hours for sale?

-It’s important to stick to our expressive culture rather than reflecting artistically what is not ours

“We’re trying to be the bamboo when we’re really the pine…”

-Many artists that are looking to showcase what they do and need support and empowerment

-Delivery matters!

-Many times we appreciate others’ artistry more than our own

-Artists must know the difference between imitation and mimicry; be sure to take things a step further

-Don’t get stuck in a niche

-Event planning as an artform

-Dance (art) as common denominator

-Your niche flows freely through and makes “you” move out of the way

-Use what you have been given

-Should we hold our artists accountable?

-What are the goals for your art?

-Using more creative marketing methods for “aware”.

-Not creating categories

-People are continually changing

-Audience can be empty vessels

-Making revolutionary music, we usually don’t expect support

-“negative music is inspiration for “positive” art

-Passion behind what you do

-Art is in the power of the viewer and their perception

 

Discussion Point Two:

What is art?  Does abstract art count? 

 

Discussion Point Three:

Will the digital age support or destroy art?

 

Discussion Point Four:

What are your consistent or reliable forms of inspiration?

Blockages and misguided inspiration

Parallels and perspectives

Spirituality fuels inspiration—helps to reach back

Strong core. Delivery

Social surroundings

Missing gaps of “enjoyment” emotions

Getting attention vs. hittin it

Find similar space between socioculturally aware and gun banging music love

Infrastructure within organization

Creating mass impact necessitates more inspiration

WonderRoot 11.22.08

Straight from the Art is a roundtable integrating artists from different disciplines, across the experience spectrum.  SFTA’s aim is to create an ongoing dialogue and a collaborative force that will support and enhance the arts.  Any input or questions will be greatly appreciated.  For participants, anything you want to add to the site concerning who you are, what you do, your products, etc.  is totally welcomed and encouraged.  Thanks to the wonderful participants of the first Straight from the Art roundtable.  I’m posting a synopsis of what we spoke on, and as we are now all contributors to this site, you are welcome to expand upon the notes as you see fit.  For any other viewers that may be passing through, we’d love to read your reactions and comments.