Lumbre Media pulled together 5 key strategies from our recent conversation at Artist Industry Night hosted by @artscouncilindy—swipe through the carousel to check them out! These takeaways will help you build a stronger, more authentic online presence whether you’re a small business owner or a creative.
✨ Pro Tip: Save this post to refer back to later when you’re planning your social strategy.
Creating Cultures and Practices for Racial Equity is a toolkit that can be used to make strategic and equitable decisions in assessing existing or proposed policies, practices, plans, programs, grant-making, contracting, budgets, and more.
How to use this Toolkit
In order to develop racial equity policies, practices, and culture in your arts organization, we recommend following four sequential steps, listed in the chart below. Each step has corresponding curated tools and primes.
Racial Equity Tools & Primes
Step 1: Aim for Racial Equity Outcomes and Impact. Get clear about the specific internal and/or external outcomes and impacts that you’d like to work towards in your organization. Organizational Equity Impacts and Outcomes Assessment. This tool can help you pause and envision what racial equity could look and feel like in your organization. It includes a list of specific possible impacts or outcomes for different areas of your organization’s work.
Step 2: Use Choice Points to Counteract Racial Inequities. Identify specific decision-making opportunities where you can consciously apply a race lens. Choice Points Criteria and Selection Worksheet. This tool provides a set of five criteria for identifying, prioritizing, and selecting choice points in your work.
Step 3: Use Equity Primes. This provides you an immediate prompt or short-term visual reminder to center racial equity and BIPOC. Race Forward Equity Prime. This is a beautiful poster you can pull out, print, and post in your workspace to remind you to pay attention to racial equity considerations. DreamYard Equity Prime. Co-developed by staff at DreamYard, an arts organization in the Bronx, NY, this visual reminder helps redirect attention to racial equity dynamics.
Step 4: Use a Racial Equity Tool to generate creative strategies and tactics. This helps you analyze institutional racism and its root causes, generate solutions, assess impacts, and develop strategies and actions. There are lots of different types of tools. You can use one from this Toolbox, from other sources, or create your own. Use the tool for building generative and creative space to develop new ideas and actions.
Social media is a tool many creatives and artists use to share work, promote collaborations and features, and connect with clients. Our friends at Fractured Atlas share some basics – always worth reviewing.
For many artists, Instagram is the social media site where you spend the bulk of your time. It is a visual platform that allows you to post images with captions, stories that disappear after 24 hours, Reels (which are similar to TikToks), longer videos on IGTV, and even livestreams. You can even have a webstore on Instagram. We’ve seen artists conduct sales, performances, and interviews using Instagram. For more of an introduction, check out our social media basics and our coverage of different social media platforms for artists.
Headshots are great for grant applications, promotion materials, and when your pieces and art is shared.
The following photographers are super at headshots and love working with creatives. Reach out to them and be sure to share that the Indy Arts Council sent you!
Indy Arts Council invests in artists and arts organizations to nurture and foster a thriving arts scene that helps build stronger neighborhoods and ultimately enhances the quality of life for all Indianapolis residents. We invite all eligible applicants to apply for a grant opportunity.
These grant programs fall into two categories: Grants for Individuals and Grants for Organizations.
GRANTS FOR INDIVIDUALS
GRANTS FOR ORGANIZATIONS
Artsy.net contributor Ariela Gittlen looks at web platforms from an artist’s perspective, and finds good solutions for a range of artist-specific web needs. Whether you want options for displaying and selling your work online, or easy ways to generate content for your website (via Dropbox!); maybe you’re looking for new ways to use Adobe Creative Cloud, or even just looking for a company to host your gallery, here are some good options to consider.
The Alliance for Artist Residencies is a national organization serving artists and the various artist residency programs around the country. This site is a valuable resource to learn about different opportunities for residencies, but also offers a wide variety of “tips” for artists who are wanting to learn more about how residences work, how to find the right one for you, how to apply and get them funded!
ACT Insurance is a company that specializes in insurance for artists, crafters, and tradespeople, focusing on the needs of both artists in the studio, and artists showing their work at fairs and festivals. They offer quick short-term policies that provide a certificate of insurance for art fairs and shows that require one, with a quick, easy online application and approval. They also offer annual policies for working artists that cover general & product liability, business & personal property, and personal & advertising injury coverage. Their show policies start at $49, the monthly price is available at $24, and annual policies start at $279.
The Arts Council of Indianapolis collaborated with Gener8tor to create a series of professional development webinars. This one shares best practices and tips for filing taxes after the unusual year that was 2020. The presenter also covers tips for record keeping that will be helpful moving forward as freelancers and small business owners.
Discover new arts events, creative opportunities, and cultural experiences, and explore Indy’s vibrant arts scene all in one place. Explore is the most comprehensive online resource for the arts in Indianapolis.
Explore offers the largest database of arts organizations in the city, featuring events, festivals, classes, workshops, fundraisers, jobs, auditions, venues, and public art. Updated daily, Explore provides access for both Hoosiers and tourists to find out the latest information on the city’s unique exhibitions, performances, programs, and more.
Find out the latest ways you can be paid and/or have your work featured – the Artist Opportunities newsletter has it all. Sign up today!
The Arts Council of Indianapolis hosted a free conversation with some of Indy’s top arts and culture journalists. Learn how they choose the stories they cover, how to promote your own projects, and how to prepare for an interview.
Panelists included: