Lecture/Exhibition attendance: Social Media & Crowd-funding for Creatives - Stephanie Tatoiu

On January 31st, 2014, I attended the Social Media & Crowd-funding event at CDM. It was hosted by Jessica King and Julie Keck, and I feel like I learned a lot out of what they discussed. The workshop worked especially well for me because as an independent creative, I want to learn more about how to get connected with “the crowd” and discover how to sell what I offer as an artist and an animator. The two speakers had raised over 300,000 dollars for indie projects of their own with crowd funding, and while I currently don’t have an indie project as a goal, their speech on becoming connected with social media really impacted me.  They deliberated on how to correctly gain an audience with my work, and how to not alienate or push away someone from what I have to offer. I found this really vital because there are many times where I wish I knew how to share my work without scaring away potential fans or friends.  I especially related to them when they mentioned Twitter and Tumblr as main websites where one may gather an audience through social media. They mentioned how not every artist or film maker or designer needs a presence on every social platform. It all depends on where I think I can flourish the best. According to the discussion we had, I feel that my place is especially on YouTube and Tumblr (YouTube for my animation, because their website is clearly video based, and Tumblr for art, shorter animations, and GIFs, because it’s more visual than textual, in my personal opinion). Twitter can also be used to promote my work, as well as encourage and interact with other artists. Helping other people with their work is a good idea too, because often times, those people will be there give help in return. The workshop has inspired me to continue doing my best with my work and to create an audience that I can connect with and depend on.