A NEW IDEA
In the past month, I've come to understand and appreciate the potential of the STEEM blockchain when it comes to building a meaningful audience for artists, and it got me thinking about what I could do to help the artists in my local area that struggle to gain exposure. If I could do so in a way that would help enrich the Steemit community with their great work at the same time, all the better.
My first thought was just to share what I know about Steem to some of my artist friends, and try to get them onto the platform and earning for themselves. Much to my chagrin, I was not very successful. Because I have not been on Steemit very long, I do not have enough of a demonstrable incentive to show them how Steemit can be worth their time. I realize that I need something tangible to give them, to show them the value of the Steem blockchain.
WHAT AM I DOING?
I have decided to start the Amazing Local Artist Spotlight, a monthly curation series where I will feature a local artist from my community (with their permission of course), who is not currently on Steemit.
In the post, I will conduct interviews with the artists, possibly even a podcast, display their art in whatever medium it may be, and link all of their social media & store information so that anyone can check out more of the artist's work and maybe even buy something!
Then, because it's the right thing to do and because I want them to join us here on Steemit, I am going to withdraw the SBD from the post to an exchange, transfer it back into fiat and give it to the artist! In this way, I hope to be able to fairly reward them for their time and talent and demonstrate the power of the blockchain to them at the same time.
Hopefully seeing the real money paid out to them for their work will convince them to give Steemit a try. In the interest of transparency, I am going to figure out a way to document this, but I'm not entirely sure how that will work.
WHY AM I DOING THIS?
In my current employ as the manager of a small, rural community local arts nonprofit, I run into a certain pervasive misconception that rural communities have nothing to offer, in terms of arts culture, to the larger community or region as a whole. People who live in cities become accustomed to having a smorgasbord of world-class art at their fingertips. Because of this, there tends to be a disconnection in their understanding of where all this art originates from.
For artists, finding a space in which to showcase their art to the world initially can be incredibly difficult, especially in a large city where there is a saturation of creative people all around competing for the same space. Because of this, many emerging artists are forced to look for alternative platforms on which to display their talents. This might mean finding smaller, less well-known galleries, festivals, venues, and markets. Quite often, these artists find those opportunities in smaller communities where there is a better chance to be seen and build some momentum.
Therefore, it tends to be the smaller communities, rather than the larger cities, where much of this talent is first being developed, honed, and showcased. In essence, rural communities and their arts organizations act as the crucible necessary to develop skilled artists that may later go on to bigger success in the city.
HOW YOU CAN HELP!
You can do so much to help these artists make the world a more beautiful place by simply UPVOTING and RESTEEMING. It takes nearly zero effort for you, and the more rewards the post gets, the more money the artists will receive; it's that simple!
If all goes well, I should have the first installment finished in the next week, so stay tuned. Thanks!
If this is successful, I would like to increase the frequency to bi-weekly instead of monthly, as well as eventually expanding submissions to include artists who are already on Steemit but perhaps do not have a large following. However, for the moment, due to time constraints, I'm going to focus on encouraging artists that I think would bring a great value to the platform to give it a shot.
(All the sources for the pictures in this post can be found by clicking the images themselves.)
This post was edited with HastyMarkup!