I handed in an application for the Small Grants and Artist Enhancement Grant to Mount Pleasant House. I was surprised to learn I was the only one to hand it into that location the day before the deadline of April 21, 2010! I find out about the selection results end of May.

Here’s an excerpt of my proposal:

This Small Grants application is applied with the Artist Enhancement Grant for the creation and promotion of 60 original art pieces for the online and touring “Craftivism Art Show” on Artistrun.org. This exhibition leverages from the success of promoting the “Twitter/Art+Social Media” exhibit at the Diane Farris Gallery on Artistrun.org and its social networks, where Liza J. Lee is one of the exhibiting artists for her “Craftivist Art Tiles” made from recycled blog posts from Artistrun.org and non-toxic to low-toxic materials, including organic beeswax for the health benefits of the producer and consumer. The show examines how social media is changing the practice of artists who use it to share feedback and promote their artwork, organize shows and produce art collaboratively. Diane Farris (art dealer over 25 years experience) is also a strong supporter of sustainability, which is the theme of the “Craftivism Art Show”.

The “Craftivism Art Show” is centered around ideas of subversive structures and networks, which engage various social issues about communities-of-care and intimacy versus immediate publicity: including anti-consumerism, slow time, geo-social networking, environmentalism and sustainability. Artists are encouraged to incorporate organic materials and fair-trade products, as well as the utilization of vintage, thrift and repurposed goods in order to minimize waste and promote reuse in their art. Dr. Lycia Trouton, Co-Founder of Artistrun.org and Pioneer of “Craftivism Art”

Where and How will the Project Take Place

The Mount Pleasant neighbourhood would benefit from the audience development and community engagement for 20 to 60 Mount Pleasant artists online on Artistrun.org and social media in the online and touring “Craftivism Art Show” in Mount Pleasant.

For the “Craftivism Art Show” Liza J. Lee, Artist/Co-founder of Artistrun.org (promoting Mount Pleasant artists since 2005) will write and post the artist call for submission, with a selection fee of $5 per submission (maximum 3 submissions per artist). Once artists have submitted their finished art and bio for the “Craftivism Art Show”, Liza J. Lee will scan the original art works and post low-resolution images along with the artist bios (maximum 150 words each) on Artistrun.org. Liza can promote to the Artistrun.org email list with over 900 local addresses, 4000 Twitter followers, 1700 Facebook Friends mostly Vancouverites, Artistrun.org Facebook Group and cross-promote with the Drift Facebook Group. Liza is also one of the exhibiting artists. (The Small Grants and Artist Enhancement Grant are funded by Vancouver Foundation.)

© 2010 ArtConverge (ISSN 1918-9273‏)

I am one of 44 artists at the “Twitter/Art+Social Media Show” at Diane Farris Gallery. This show examines how social media is changing the practice of artists who use it to share feedback and promote their artwork, organize shows and produce art collaboratively. The show runs April 1 to May 1. The reception on April 1, 2010 from 6pm to 8 pm (1590 West 7th Avenue, Vancouver, BC) was a great success. Over 300 people attended the event and there was a lot of Twitter activity! Here are a couple of interesting stats about Twitter which shows how prolific it has become:

1. Social networking now accounts for 11 percent of all time spent online in the US.
2. In January 2010, there were more than 1.2 billion tweets per month, averaging almost 40 million tweets per day.

I’m also in the Steve Tan video on the “Twitter/Art+Social Media” reception, explaining how social media is helping artists to promote themselves online and develop their audience. My art announcements are distributed instantaneously to over 4000 Twitter Followers and to over 1600 Facebook Friends. You can now use Ping.fm to simultaneously broadcast to all your social media platforms.

Twitter/Art+Social Media from Steve Tan on Vimeo.

ENDNOTES:
Link to Vancouver Sun article:
http://www.vancouversun.com/story_print.html?id=2750083&sponsor

Link to The Province article:
http://www.theprovince.com/story_print.html?id=2751994&sponsor

Link to Courier article:
http://www2.canada.com/vancouvercourier/news/artsandentertainment/story.html?id=fb0201b7-2545-45f0-b9b5-e18ef00de615#ixzz0jOs0kNpQ

Diane Farris Supports “One World”

I talked to Diane Farris who is in support of the “One World” Art Show & Haiti Fundraiser” at Science World on May 1, 2010. Over one million people are homeless in Haiti and many are living in tarp camps. Sean Penn reported live on CNN at one of the camps that the situation is getting worse by the day as people have no place to go with the heavy rains and increasing violence.

Diane introduced me as the “infamous ubiquitous blogger” from Artistrun.org to one of the artists who is interested in donating a painting. She also connected me to Adrienne Carr, former Leader of the Green Party of British Columbia and current Deputy Leader of the Green Party of Canada who was enthusiastic about attending the upcoming event, involving 60 exhibiting artists and over 40 donations from artists and local businesses.

If you are at all interested in donating towards the “One World” fundraiser, please call Monika Blichar at 604-999-6177. 100% of all silent auction proceeds will be going towards Haiti relief. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Liza J. Lee is the Co-founder and Blogger for Artistrun ArtConverge. She is also one of the artists at the Twitter/Art+Social Media Show April 1 to May 1, 2010 at Diane Farris Gallery.

© 2010 ArtConverge (ISSN 1918-9273‏)