Around the 'Ground - Round II, Part III

Posted 1/17/24

The art of collaboration is one that continues to fuel CreativeGround’s success and it’s all thanks to our partners and their unique insight. Here’s our next installment of the Around the ‘Ground series where we spotlight our partnerships a few at a time. Check out our Q&A below with members of the Steering Committee of the ArtsHub of Western Massachusetts: Justin Beatty, Dee Boyle-Clapp (Director of the Arts Extension Service, UMass Amherst), and Fungai Tichawangana, (Chief Digital Marketer, ArtistDynamix).

 

What's one situation or setting where you shared CreativeGround with a constituent?

Justin: I spoke at the Oxbow Gallery in Easthampton in November and shared Creative Ground with several artists present as well as the current president of the gallery. The fact that this is a free resource that can be used to promote one’s own work makes participation invaluable. 

Do you use CreativeGround in your own work? If so, how?

Dee: The ArtsHub works in close partnership with NEFA and has made CreativeGround the backbone of the ArtsHub site. We fully embraced CreativeGround as a key resource and our artist directory.  We work to expand the number of artist profiles on the site, believing that a rising tide lifts all boats, so the more profiles and people utilizing CreativeGround, the more the creative community gets seen, the more people come out, the more the creative economy can grow.  

Fungai: This partnership has worked for the ArtsHub and CreativeGround, as NEFA has shown, our traffic is driving significant numbers of visitors to CreativeGround.

Justin: I use CG to promote my own work and to seek out opportunities to collaborate with other artists.

What's your favorite feature of the new site?

Justin: The fact that you can see who other artists are in a genre. My favorite feature is the searchable database, it has helped me find artists to invite to events.

Fungai: CG has useful videos on how to use the platform. These are both very informative and a great resource for the arts community.

NEFA frequently gets requests from people outside of New England for a searchable directory like CreativeGround. Why do you think it's important for us to have this unique resource in our region?

Dee: The ArtsHub works to support the region’s creative economy, so in addition to our own arts calendar, we feature a rotation of area artists pulled directly from CreativeGround, so a visitor unfamiliar with a visual artist, craftsperson, or performer can be introduced to them, follow the links to learn more about the artists and their work before they make their travel plans or purchase event tickets. 

Image courtesy of ArtsHub Western MA

In case you missed it, our next API directory partners have just launched! METransArt and Mosaic Lowell are using CreativeGround as their directories as well, and we look forward to checking in with them soon about how it’s going. Thank you to all our partners for their continued support!