It's the day after Thanksgiving, and I must draw attention to a great upcoming event. On Dec. 2-3, MSU and Williamston Theatre will be hosting a reading of Barbara Ehrenreich’s bestseller Nickel and Dimed. I remember hearing about this book when it first came out about 10 years ago.
This event shows us that art can be transformative in terms of social justice. It's part of MSU's year of Work, Community and the Human Condition through the Lens of the Arts. I'll be highlighting events as part of the theme year on this blog, but you can find out even more at the MSU Arts and Culture website.
So support local theatre and the arts and get your tickets today to the reading of Nickel and Dimed. Tickets are more than a nickel and dime, but worth the money for those who are thinking about our economy.
What are you reading these days?
Friday, November 26, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Not so silent auctions: Selling art via videos
Last week I learned about Val's Art Diary, which features episodes of artist/painter/video editor Valentina Trevino. Each episode on her YouTube channel documents her process of creating a painting - with a heavy dose of her personality. She then sells the painting to the highest bidder online painting together with a longer-version "the making of" video. I'm sure that this business model is not without controversy in the arts community, but Val's take is that this is a modern "silent auction."
Here's a sample of Val's Art Diary from a Thanksgiving-themed post (almost that time of year again):
It's a thrill to see an artist use social media to great success. Val's innovative business model seems to be working well for her. She has sold more than 49 paintings using this business model, and she credits YouTube for helping to make that happen. I watched several of the painting videos, and here are some of the best practices I took away from her videos:
1. If you are developing a video diary of yourself, you should know how to shoot and edit video. I wondered (and still wonder) at some points if Val is doing all of the video work (from what I read, she appears to be).
2. Val is also comfortable in front of the camera. She's attractive, cute, optimistic, helpful, and she loves to talk.
3. Maintenance is half of the battle. If you are committed to doing a video diary for your marketing purposes, you have to keep churning out content (Val even did some shooting on vacation). Then you have to be prepared for the comments - good, bad and everything in between.
4. Make sure your blog and product is easily searchable. Val has capitalized on good branding and SEO by matching her website, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube accounts, and others too.
5. Find a fun and unique way to sell your product. I would imagine that some customers love the painting, and some love even more that they receive the "making of" videos - it makes it more of an interactive personalized product. It's like a beautiful white paper on video!
I think this business model has great potential for special artists like Val in many different media: photography, sculpture, crafts, etc. But it also has great possibility for other commodities and services, such as real estate (imagine a great agent who is also a fun videographer!), cooking (imagine a video of a meal complete with "how to" and then you can bid for personal time with the chef to cook that meal!), and membership services (imagine video career tips tied in with larger service purchases, like bidding on access to career workshops). The sky's the limit!
Kudos to Val for finding a unique way to share her art with the world.
Here's a sample of Val's Art Diary from a Thanksgiving-themed post (almost that time of year again):
It's a thrill to see an artist use social media to great success. Val's innovative business model seems to be working well for her. She has sold more than 49 paintings using this business model, and she credits YouTube for helping to make that happen. I watched several of the painting videos, and here are some of the best practices I took away from her videos:
1. If you are developing a video diary of yourself, you should know how to shoot and edit video. I wondered (and still wonder) at some points if Val is doing all of the video work (from what I read, she appears to be).
2. Val is also comfortable in front of the camera. She's attractive, cute, optimistic, helpful, and she loves to talk.
3. Maintenance is half of the battle. If you are committed to doing a video diary for your marketing purposes, you have to keep churning out content (Val even did some shooting on vacation). Then you have to be prepared for the comments - good, bad and everything in between.
4. Make sure your blog and product is easily searchable. Val has capitalized on good branding and SEO by matching her website, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube accounts, and others too.
5. Find a fun and unique way to sell your product. I would imagine that some customers love the painting, and some love even more that they receive the "making of" videos - it makes it more of an interactive personalized product. It's like a beautiful white paper on video!
I think this business model has great potential for special artists like Val in many different media: photography, sculpture, crafts, etc. But it also has great possibility for other commodities and services, such as real estate (imagine a great agent who is also a fun videographer!), cooking (imagine a video of a meal complete with "how to" and then you can bid for personal time with the chef to cook that meal!), and membership services (imagine video career tips tied in with larger service purchases, like bidding on access to career workshops). The sky's the limit!
Kudos to Val for finding a unique way to share her art with the world.
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