Another common way to find employment as an artist is through personal or professional connections, or networks. Forming relationships with other artists/those in artistic fields, whether in person or online, will be helpful to your career, and to your artistic work. Building community works best when you share your knowledge and the resources you have available, as well as asking others for help.
Check at your local library or community center for community groups for artists.
A class can also be a good way to meet other artists in your area or online.
If you take watercolor classes, you’ll meet a lot of other people who are also working to improve their skills in the same medium as you. Find friends you can grow with!
A lot of workshops have mailing lists, social media presence, and or groups that continue after the workshop is over. Make sure to join these as well! That way you’ll know when the next class is you can stretch that motivation from the experience into the future.
Find classes at your local community college, on SkillShare, on Udemy, through local art groups and businesses, or with online programs through other artists.
Local art fairs and shows can introduce you to local artists. Attending an opening in your local art community and fostering conversations with other artists is a great start.
Art shows are where you can let the weird out, and find other people who are weird like you.
Of course being a vendor or performer at a show is equally fun, and I recommend doing this as well. I’ve made most of my artist friends by chatting up the artist in the booth next to mine at a show.
Don’t discount the value of experiencing things in person. Showing up is important.
Traveling to creative events can be a good way to get in touch with an art community that may not have its roots in a city near you.
Comic cons, designer cons, surface design trade shows, educational conferences and the like may require a bit of effort to get to, but the people you meet there are serious about their craft.
Have you seen the attention to detail that goes into costume design at comic cons? Impressive.
These groups are usually hyper-specific, and if you find a yearly event that you fit squarely into, don’t hesitate to grab the opportunity to go. These are the places where you can meet people who understand you and your craft.
You can also learn so much behind-the-scenes details about operating a creative business, straight from the mouths of people who are currently running creative businesses!
If you’re willing to travel (or you live in a city where these communities exist or tour in) you can find your perfect niche art community and keep in touch with your new friends online and at every con celebration afterwards.
Galleries do more than host art shows. They also offer studio space for artists to work. These studio spaces are either rented by local artists, or awarded to them for a duration of time, or given to artists in exchange for work. Sometimes it’s referred to as studio space, sometimes called a “residency.”
I highly suggest attending any open studio event you see. The people you meet will be dedicated artists — the perfect people to make friends with if you are also committed to your creativity!
If you’re anxious or shy about showing up solo, I want to remind you that nobody is judging you. Everyone was welcoming to me and many other people showed up alone too.
Sources: Evolve Artist; A Cup of Cloudy
Facebook groups or other social media communities can be a great way to meet local artists and artists from around the world. They allow you to interact with highly established artists and peers. Of course with this access comes some drawbacks. Someone may seem well qualified, but really have very little to offer you. So be thoughtful about their impact on you and your art.
I’ve been a part of Facebook groups for artists, artistpreneurs, hobbyists, and creatives, and that’s been really nice. It’s motivating to see what other people are making. When I pick up my phone just to scroll, I immediately see creative people doing their thing. Sometimes it makes me put down my phone and start painting! Also, it feels good to cheer them on, and get cheered on too. Even from strangers
Instagram is a great place to connect with individual artists, and I’ve made a few cherished internet friends there. Commenting on their posts, following along with their journey, answering questions and asking advice can quickly turn into an online friendship. I notice artists who create in the same style often connect more easily because they genuinely love each other’s work.
You can also join groups on other sites like DeviantArt, DoodleAddicts, MeWe, Reddit, and more.
There are tons of online outlets for community!
Most people spend a lot of time on social media — myself included, a lot more than I’d like to admit. So why don’t we fill our news feed with art and artists?
I’d say about 75% of the people I follow are people that I don’t actually know in person, they’re just creatives who inspire me. When I open up Instagram, I want to be catapulted into the wider art community that motivates and challenges me. I want to
Surround yourself, digitally and physically, with artists and creators. You’ll start to feel like a part of the movement in no time.
Sources: Evolve Artist; A Cup of Cloudy
Arts Administrators of Color Network (AAC) is a service organization that focuses on networking and community building through the arts. We are advocates who continue to fight for equity in the arts through collaborations, forums, and outlets that provide a voice for arts administrators and artists of color where there may not be one.
Through online and in-person workshops led by professional artists, Community Building Art Works builds connected communities where veterans and civilians share creative expression, mutual understanding and support. Our art and poetry workshops have reached tens of thousands of service members, veterans, military family members, caregivers, and healthcare workers. CBAW encourages the use of arts as a tool for narration, self-care and socialization for those struggling with emotional and physical injuries caused by trauma.
CUNY Cultural Corps provides opportunities for CUNY students to work in the City’s arts and cultural sector. Modeled after the CUNY Service Corps, Cultural Corps provides students with paid work experience in arts and cultural institutions, creating a pipeline for students to have successful careers, while diversifying NYC’s cultural institutions. Partnering institutions include non-profit cultural organizations involved in the visual, literary and performing arts as well as public-oriented science and humanities institutions including zoos, botanical gardens and historic and preservation societies.
Local Learning began as the National Task Force for Folk Arts in Education during a 1993 national roundtable at the National Endowment for the Arts. Today, we serve a network of hundreds of people interested in engaging young people and citizens with their own traditional culture and with the local culture and folklore of their families, regions, and the larger world. We are folklorists, folk artists, and educators of many stripes. We work in public agencies, nonprofit organizations, schools, universities, museums, community centers, libraries, and out-of-school education settings.
POWarts, the Professional Organization for Women in the Arts, is a nationally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2008 to champion the professional lives of female-identifying individuals in the business of the visual arts. Through an active calendar of educational programming, the collection and distribution of employment, diversity and equality-related data, and industry standardization initiatives, POWarts promotes community, collegiality, and collaboration and strives towards the professional advancement of our members, the creation of healthier workplaces, and a more equitable and diverse arts industry.
Young Professionals in the Arts NYC (YPA NYC) was founded in 2015. It is a New York-based networking organization founded to foster connections and creativity within the art professional community. The group is aimed at those who work in the arts and cultural field such as galleries, museums, theaters, auction houses, cultural centers or any other professional capacities within the arts (although not artists or students). YPA unites the powerful minds that keep the arts moving forward by offering monthly events that expand experiences and ignite meaningful conversations centered on working in the arts. We believe there is strength in collaboration, communication, and shared experiences and aim to form a more positive, more inclusive New York arts community.
