More Community, Please?

When I started The Abundant Artist, it was an exploration of the idea that the starving artist is nothing more than a myth that artists self-perpetuate. It’s easier to believe that being an artist inherently means being poor, or bad at business.

Since then, however, I’ve met a lot of artists who are pretty good at business. They’re artists who have turned their passion into their work and have left the day job far behind. They have invaluable information to share.

One of the things that has been amazing to me is that there are thousands of artists online desperately seeking to connect with the information that these artists have, and yet only a handful of people who are sharing that information in any sort of useful, studied way.

There are various art forums around the Web, many of them with a marketing section attached, like some sort of afterthought – but where are the places that artists can go to really study and get feedback on their business? Where’s the community of business-minded creatives?

Can I Bring Together A Stronger Community?

For the past year (plus a little), I’ve been bringing business savvy artists to the Abundant Artist blog through interviews. They’ve shared their information, but because of the limited nature of blogging, there can’t be a lot of discussion back and forth on the ideas discussed there. Blog comments only go so far as a discussion and learning forum.

Ever since I had a discussion with Carol from one  of my first group coaching programs I’ve wanted to bring an online community together for artists that would enable artists to get the training that they need to succeed online, as well as create a place where those who are really serious about learning how to sell art online can gather to discuss what works and what doesn’t.

I’m nearly done with the bare bones of this new part of The Abundant Artist and I can’t wait to show it to all of you. I just have a few questions:

If you were going to be a part of a community of artists focused on learning to sell art online, what kinds of things would you expect from the site? What would you want to learn right away? What would you want to learn down the road?

Tagged as: community, featured, selling art online