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Kickoff Event Transcript

JANE PRESTON: Thanks, Dee, and welcome, everyone, to the public launch kickoff for the upgraded CreativeGround.

JANE PRESTON: We believe that a land acknowledgment is a first and necessary step to reconciliation and repair. We also believe that it is our responsibility not to perpetuate the erasure of peoples. Therefore as committed allies and as artists, New England Foundation for the Arts wishes to acknowledge that the NEFA office is on the traditional lapds of the Massachusetts and Wampanoag peoples.

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We'd also like to acknowledge the many traditional lands which our staff live and work and the lands where all of you are joining us across the region. We encourage you to know and to recognize the Indigenous caretakers of these lands. We honor these Indigenous ancestors past, present, and future and recognize their continued existence and contributions to society.

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We also acknowledge those of you whose ancestors did not come to this land by choice. Let's take a brief moment of silence to honor and reflect in the deep history of this land and its people.

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(Silence).

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>> JANE PRESTON: Thank you for joining us this afternoon. I'm Jane Preston. I use she/her pronouns and I'm deputy director for programs at NEFA and I'm here joining you today. I will note that CreativeGround that we're celebrating today, CreativeGround celebrates the creatives in the geographic region that is now known as New England.

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The site uses colonial boundaries and place names for what is all Indigenous land. There is land acknowledgment and resource pages about land acknowledgment and about the Indigenous inhabitants and keepers of New England on the CreativeGround website. And we invite you to explore that.

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We are really excited to be at this relaunch milestone. This is NEFA's CreativeGround is our primary tool for connecting with the region's creative sector. And it also serves across our grant programs. So I want to acknowledge the dedicated work of NEFA's creative economy team in getting us to this day. Congratulations and thank you.

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And also big thanks to our communications team and all of the staff across NEFA who work with our New England programs and constituents. Also thanks to our wonderful partners. The New England State art Agencies and many other supporters. And now I'll turn it over to Dee Schneidman NEFA's director of creative economy. She'll take us away on the kickoff.

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>> DEE SCHNEIDMAN: Thank you so much, Jane. I'm excited to add my welcome. Deep breath. It has been a challenging time for the world and especially for our creative sector. A large part of the core DNA of the creative economy is connection. And more than that, in-person connection. So after a long period of hibernation, our creative community is slowly reopening its doors.

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We, too, have been in a long process of planning and planting seeds and we are ready for harvest time. We hope that the new CreativeGround opens many doors for you both online and offline inviting you to make new connections whether with collaborators or community partners or funders or opportunities to conversations and to a stronger, more resilient New England creative economy.

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We are all in this together.

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Let's watch our new video

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>> DEE SCHNEIDMAN: Was that a fun exciting video? Thank you so much. I don't seem to be able to get back to the PowerPoint. Thank you. CreativeGround originally launched in 2014 and in March of this year we officially relaunched a completely reimagined and technically overhauled platform.

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It was a soft launch to beta testers with existing users to beta test it with existing users and partners. The CreativeGround team believes that data is not antithetical to creativity that wielded in responsible and responsive ways, data can advocate for support, build community, and build knowledge for a thriving ecosystem. Your feedback as we've made changes to CreativeGround have been invaluable in making the data better represent the creative sector.

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I'm going to show you a few of the pieces of the site that we are most excited about. Ah-ha.  As I mentioned, we've had a complete redesign.

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The site now meets AA accessibility standards and has a rounded, bright, welcoming aesthetic.

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I'll show you quickly as I scroll down the home page lots of places to feature profiles and share news and curated searches in a visual way.

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I'm going to use my handy back-to-the-top arrow on the page to show you the search page.

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Search has been streamlined.

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Users can search by key word in this box in the top left.

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Or select from the search filters.

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As you can see, the results did refresh themselves as I checked a box to see all the types of distribution entities that we have within the database.

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I can view my results in a list or a map.

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And I have new sort options as well.

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Including profile score.

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Profile score is also new.

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Profiles now have private scores that indicate their robustness and recent updates.

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We provide the profile owners guidance for maximizing their score.

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And of course as you can see that helps searchers see which profiles are most active.

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Only a profile owner can see that profile's score.

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And the profiles themselves have a new look.

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Improved navigation makes contacting, editing, claiming, and sharing the profiles easy.

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And as a I scroll down the profile to see the different sections, I can navigate around using the hyperlinks in the navigation bar at the top.

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Profile owners can add new disciplines, activities, and special designations to their profiles and even change their profile status to "on hiatus" when taking a creative break from -- excuse me.

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A break from creative work.

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This hides them in search results.

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The site now has an API or an application programming interface to allow partners to integrate CreativeGround profiles into another website and we have a new blog that will share stories about the new creative community.

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CreativeGround is the only regional arts and culture directory in the United States.

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Part of what makes CreativeGround so unique is that it is a user-maintained database and platform that lets creatives and those that partner with them express what they do in their own words while maintaining a taxonomy that lets us apply that learning to research analysis and getting insights as a whole.

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CreativeGround is not a transactional website.

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It is a reciprocal platform. The more it is used and shared the more effective it is for everyone.

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We have received feedback from users on updating activities and services offered, disciplines, and more practical realities that have evolved out of a shifting landscape.

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Averaging 3500 to 4,000 site visits per month.

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We've heard success stories of folks making meaningful connections through the site.  some quotes from our journeys we show on the home page.

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Another way to spotlight different profiles.

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What I see in these quotes is that CreativeGround helps to reduce isolation and is a tool to see and be seen.

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We invite everyone to submit their stories.

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This kickoff event is the beginning of a year-long invitation to engage in community building and cross promotion with the platform.

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The CreativeGround team at NEFA will supply promotional materials, host webinars, opportunities for exchange, and more.

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Your continued feedback and sharing the resource with your networks is crucial for making CreativeGround the best tool possible for supporting a thriving New England creative economy.

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We could not have gotten to this point without our partners.

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This include our internal partners at NEFA who use CreativeGround as a hub to support grant.

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Applicants and panelists which allows the creative economy team to build on those areas where NEFA provides monetary support and work to serve the entire breadth of the creative sector.

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A hearty thank you to all our partners. As the official arts and culture directory for New England and a resource to many community-building partners.

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We thought you'd like to hear how CreativeGround is nourishing the region with a journey around the ground.

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We begin in Connecticut.

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>> TAMARA DIMITRI: Is it my turn to join in?

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If you can advance to my first slide.

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Okay I'm using a bit of the CreativeGround color in my background.

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My name is Tamara Dimitri and I'm with the Connecticut Office of the Arts which we are a state office within the Department of Economic and Community Development.

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It's great to be here today.

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I'm very excited for the wonderful introduction.

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I come to you today from Mohegan lands and I want to thank Jane for the early land acknowledgments in her presentation.

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So today to just get started, I'm going to keep our presentation brief because I know we're touching on all of the New England states.

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But I wanted to give you a quick overview of a couple different ways that we will be utilizing creative grounds. So if you can advance to the next slide.

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Okay.

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So going onto a couple of different visuals here in my slide, this is it.

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I'm not going to take you on a deeper tour today.

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We'll save that deeper tour for another time.

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But two of the things that we will be doing here in Connecticut is we are currently working with our IT team to tap into the CreativeGround directory and to pull datapoints out where we will utilize a Connecticut artist registry that will live and breathe within our own Connecticut Office of the Arts website.

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So this is something that will be coming soon.

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We don't have an exact date yet.

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We're still working with our IT team to actually pinpoint our timeline.

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But I do want to just make sure that those of you out there across Connecticut today or tuning into the webinar are aware we have our own registry.

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Again, that will live and breathe on our own website.

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And it will have a little bit of a unique look.

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CreativeGround is something we still want to ensure that everybody kind of pulls back to the mothership, if you might call it that.

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You've got the parent and child kind of relationship here.

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But it's really exciting that we will be able to tap into this resource.

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The other project we're engaged in is the Arts and Economic Prosperity 6 study.

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Dee may talk about this later in the presentation, but it is a study that is carried out by the Americans for the Arts.

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And it is one of the biggest and best sort of asset mapping projects where we are able to tap into datapoints and really get to know the impact of the arts sector and the creative economy.

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So utilizing CreativeGround is a great resource to be able to get to know more of the arts organizations, the culture entities, and everything else that might be across Connecticut.

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So again, I'm just sharing these two projects briefly and we'll move onto the next state.

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Thank you, Dee.

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>> DEE SCHNEIDMAN: Thank you so much, Tamara.

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This is our fun fact about Maine.

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As we welcome our colleagues from Maine.

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>> RYAN LEIGHTON: Hello.

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Hi.

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My name is Ryan Leighton.

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I'm the communications director at the Maine Arts Commission.

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We are an independent state agency and we're part of six other agencies in the Cultural Affairs Council in Maine.

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And we are excited to be here.

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This has been a long time coming.

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Knowing the energy and the blood and the sweat that Dee and the rest of her colleagues have done to get this new launch out there has been incredible.

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So we're going to share our screen really quick and talk about how we're -- how we've been using CreativeGround and some of the handy tools that we've been finding out about as well as integrating it into our own website.

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So I'm going to share the screen right now.

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Okay.

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So what you see is our lovely website.

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And we have a teaching artist roster.

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We're going to show it to you.

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It's a monstrosity.

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The reason I say that, it's been kicking around since the early web 1.0 days.

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As you see, we have a sprawling list.

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We have a lot of teaching artists in the state.

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They travel around the state doing residencies.

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We like to hook them up with school districts and everything, but we have a sprawling list right here.

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And then we have their profiles.

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This is, like, all old tables and HTML.

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It's just -- it's kind of clunky and we needed an update.

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And one of the things we are excited to introduce that we're going to be working on is integrating the engine of CreativeGround into our website.

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And that's hopefully going to happen pretty soon.

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And the beauty about the CreativeGround profiles is that it's self-populating.

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People can update all themselves and they offer so many filters and flexibility.

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This is just an artist rendering.

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But we are hoping that our website would look something like this.

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Dee, please don't get angry, but this is -- we thought it might look like as we integrate it into our website.

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It's going to be a huge improvement for us once we do that.

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Because I think we're going to have a lot more enthusiasm from the teaching artists that want to be a part of our roster now that we have this lovely, robust search engine in CreativeGround.

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I'm going to turn it over to my colleague Martha Piscuskas.

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She's going to talk about a couple of the teaching artists with us today.

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>> MARTHA PISCUSKAS: Hi, everybody.

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Yes.

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I'm hoping that Laurie Downey and Gretchen Berg can join us on this panel.

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I'm sorry, I sort of have to lean in because there's a dog under my chair.

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I don't want to move the chair.

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And I invited Laurie and Gretchen here, thank you for coming, to talk about how you see using CreativeGround and the ways -- the various ways that you are -- you have profiles.

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So go for it.

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And we'll move around your sites as you talk.

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>> LAURIE DOWNEY: Okay.

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I guess, can you hear me?

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I guess I'll start.

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My name is Laurie Downey, and I am half of Local Stories Project.

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Gretchen Berg is the other half.

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We do an integrated arts project for public elementary schools in Maine.

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Been doing it for about 20 years.

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And we work mostly in rural elementary schools.

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So it's just a quick thumbnail of our process before we talk about, you know, promoting it.

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We start out by helping teachers partner with local experts and historical societies.

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In order to research their town's history.

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Once they've gotten that research done, we come in -- Gretchen and I come in for a residency.

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And we work with the students -- sorry?

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We work with the students to do -- I do a permanent mural with them and Gretchen comes up with a performance, a physical performance piece.

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So these images you're seeing are kind of parts of the process.

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We do that third piece there is a project journal.

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That's what the students use.

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They do drawings and take notes.

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So at the end of the process, we have this permanent mural and a performance piece and we present it to the community in a big, fabulous unveiling and performance.

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So now I think Gretchen is going to talk a little bit about a specific project, our most recent one.

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>> GRETCHEN BERG: Yeah.

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So all the schools in Maine were very hybrid or zero for a couple years.

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So when it was time to get back, they really wanted to make sure to do a real community-building event.

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And so it's because of this listing we had, the Maine Arts Commission listing that the middle school contacted us and we did a big project that was all about life with COVID.

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The town came.

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It was the first gathering of grownups in the building for two years.

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And it was -- we work a lot from word of mouth.

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But this is one that actually worked on this laptop.

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It happened.

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So we work a lot in rural Maine.

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And in islands and ready to go other places too.

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So, hey.

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Give us a call.

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>> DEE SCHNEIDMAN: Thank you so much for sharing your experience, your lived experience, your active artist creative experience.

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Of course the data wonk in me is so excited about -- I want to ask you more questions about the relationship with the schools. But, of course, we're focusing on CreativeGround.

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So thank you.

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I'll come back to you later with more questions.

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So we are ready to go to our next state which is Massachusetts.

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>> DAWN HEINEN: Good afternoon.

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My name is Dawn Heinen.

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I'm from the Mass Cultural Council.

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I'm the digital communications manager.

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And what I'm excited to share with you today or about CreativeGround is not coming from a programmatic level but a higher communications angle.

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So you can go to the first slide.

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So CreativeGround broadens our reach as a state arts agency.

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We work to provide a vibrant and diverse cultural sector.

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It's not as diverse as the center so it's great to have this robust platform to draw upon and share with others.

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Part of our mission is to partner with you artists, communities, and organizations to advance the power of culture across Massachusetts.

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And CreativeGround is a fantastic, robust tool to help us access more and more kinds of people and organizations fuelling the creative economy.

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Next slide, please.

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So how does our agencies -- I'm sorry.

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I'm used to talk about a state level.

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Not a regional level.

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How we use CreativeGround as a state agency, we are grateful to have a place to refer a number of requests to this site.

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I want to find a collaborator.

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Whether it's a teaching artist, someone to do a public art project.

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Maybe you don't know who you don't know in your own town or adjacent town.

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CreativeGround is a resource for that.

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I want to create an arts database and for my community/organization.

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CreativeGround is a hub not only at the regional level and state level, but there are a number of community pages that dig into profiles by geographic or by disciplinary filters. That's a handy thing people can go off of

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For Massachusetts, space is a real need.

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Maybe that's true in all cases, but we especially have the unmet need and we see that through our web analytics when folks are searching.

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We have a place to send them through CreativeGround.

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So as an agency ourselves, we use CreativeGround in a couple of ways.

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One is we share grant opportunities.

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So by being part of the CreativeGround fam, there are data exports that we can run as a state partner and let you know about opportunities that might relate to you.

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Again, from a geographic reach, from a disciplinary reach.

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It's a good way to continue to connect with folks that aren't directly in our database.

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And we also like to amplify a list of venues.

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We have a blog called ArtSake and the second-most visited is around space.

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There's a lovely set of functions that I think we're looking to dig into deeper to get more and more folks represented.

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And I'm going to show you what that looks like briefly.

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Whoa.

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There we go.

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So I'm on the CreativeGround home page -- can you see me?

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No.

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I did the wrong thing.

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Thank you for your patience.

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On the CreativeGround home page, you start at the top and there's a sort of welcoming grounding contextual graphic.

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Beneath it there's a place for searching.

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And there's a couple places where you can hone in on your search.

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One of those is to add an activity.

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So if you select venue rental, you can hit search and see the whole region.

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Or if you knew you wanted a state, you could select the state.

00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:02.000

So here I selected venue rental for Massachusetts.

00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:07.000

I get to a results page that has about 137 records.

00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:12.000

And a couple of them are the ones you would expect.

00:31:12.000 --> 00:31:14.000

There's the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy.

00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:19.000

Some you expect to see.

00:31:19.000 --> 00:31:21.000

But one of the lovely things about the platform is it's a bit of an equalizer.

00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:24.000

If you have a platform -- I'm sorry.

00:31:24.000 --> 00:31:27.000

If you have a profile, you can be found.

00:31:27.000 --> 00:31:30.000

So for example, Launch Space.

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:50.000

I hadn't heard of Launch Space befor CreativeGround.

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:53.000

It seems like a really engaged business that's open to renting to artists. When you go to a profile and go a little further down to the venue for rent details, you can see that this space located in Orange, Massachusetts, has a venue fee range that goes from $35 to $1,000.

00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:55.000

That's a broad range of potential ways to partner or engage with that space.

00:31:55.000 --> 00:32:02.000

So that's pretty attractive.

00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:15.000

Another nice feature of the venue piece in CreativeGround are the venue accessibility fields.

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:18.000

There are a handful of kind of higher-level touchpoints around accessibility not only physically and through programmatic needs but the accommodations they can make for audience members.

00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:19.000

So check it out, create a profile.

00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:20.000

Especially a venue profile.

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:23.000

You could get extra money.

00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:24.000

Thanks for being part of this today.

00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:25.000

>> DEE SCHNEIDMAN: Thank you so much, Dawn.

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:28.000

I love the incentivizing.

00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:30.000

So smart.

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:37.000

Such a strong communications and technologies person.

00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:46.000

So we stay in Massachusetts, but we go out to Western Mass.

00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:56.000

ArtsHub is our first community partner who has used our API to integrate CreativeGround profiles right into their website.

00:32:56.000 --> 00:32:58.000

I'd like to welcome Lisa Davol.

00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:03.000

(Silence).

00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:04.000

>> MORGANNA BECKER: Lisa, you are muted.

00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:06.000

>> LISA DAVOL: Thank you.

00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:11.000

Hello, everyone.

00:33:11.000 --> 00:33:29.000

I'm from the Creative Economy Network the ArtsHub.

00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:31.000

And we have been trying as a group for so many years to have a local space for our region, a hub for artists to come to post things they need, to find resources, and to see who's working in our region here in Western Mass.

00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:36.000

And several groups have tried to do this.

00:33:36.000 --> 00:33:50.000

But it's very expensive to maintain your own database and create your own database.

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:55.000

And it was really the sticking point of not being able to move forward.

00:33:55.000 --> 00:34:05.000

So CreativeGround really was the missing link for our dreams to come true.

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:08.000

Our site includes grant opportunities, job opportunities, Facebook, and online communities like where to find everything in one spot.

00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:12.000

But it really all centers around this artist directory.

00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:17.000

And without that, it was not robust.

00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:22.000

So we were able to use the new API.

00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:25.000

Our great team of Ron and East worked with Dee.

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:26.000

There was a lot of back and forth, a lot of figuring things out.

00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:27.000

But we made it happen.

00:34:27.000 --> 00:34:31.000

So we scraped calendars.

00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:34.000

We pulled in local resources.

00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:38.000

Everything in one place.

00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:41.000

And it was really the sustainable solution for us.

00:34:41.000 --> 00:34:43.000

It would not happen without CreativeGround.

00:34:43.000 --> 00:34:45.000

It's tested.

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:47.000

It's been refined over many years.

00:34:47.000 --> 00:34:50.000

It's well funded.

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:55.000

We can pull in just Western Mass profiles.

00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:58.000

And in turn, our artists get exposure throughout New England.

00:34:58.000 --> 00:35:04.000

So we're really trying to boost up the engagement.

00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:09.000

Like if we get more profiles, it's better for CreativeGround because they get more profiles.

00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:10.000

And it really helps everybody with data, who's working where.

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:18.000

It helps NEFA advocate for our sector.

00:35:18.000 --> 00:35:25.000

And it's free.

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.000

And this is just another graphic of you create a profile and we promote you in Western Mass and you also get found all over the place.

00:35:29.000 --> 00:35:31.000

And then I'll show you the website.

00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:33.000

Okay.

00:35:33.000 --> 00:35:37.000

Here's our home page.

00:35:37.000 --> 00:35:43.000

There's a welcome article.

00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:45.000

There's opportunities, a few directories of our local cultural councils.

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:47.000

And then we can have profiles here.

00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:50.000

If you're in a rush, you can type something in here.

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:52.000

There's events.

00:35:52.000 --> 00:36:02.000

You can connect with people.

00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:09.000

These home pages, the home page scrolls different highlighted articles of interest and profiles.

00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:13.000

If you want to be a featured article, you have to have a CreativeGround profile.

00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:30.000

And also when you scroll, we just randomly pull in highlighted profiles.

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.000

Again, if you want to be one of these quick home page highlighted profiles, you need to be on CreativeGround and you need to have a high score which means you have to have great information, you have to have good pictures and then we'll pull you in.

00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:38.000

And then there's a link to check more profiles out.

00:36:38.000 --> 00:36:49.000

There's all these other places to find information.

00:36:49.000 --> 00:36:54.000

We've got a calendar and then at the bottom, how do I create my -- there's all these how do I do this, how do I do that.

00:36:54.000 --> 00:36:56.000

And one of them is how do I get my profile on the site.

00:36:56.000 --> 00:36:59.000

And then we talk about CreativeGround.

00:36:59.000 --> 00:37:00.000

And why it's important and why it matters.

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:03.000

This is where you need -- to be.

00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:13.000

And then when you click here, you go to CreativeGround and can create your profile.

00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:15.000

I will go back to the home page and let's say -- all right.

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:17.000

Yeah, these profiles -- all right.

00:37:17.000 --> 00:37:19.000

We'll click on a profile.

00:37:19.000 --> 00:37:23.000

Let's click on Justin.

00:37:23.000 --> 00:37:24.000

And then it pulls in -- you could click to read more.

00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:27.000

It pulls in everything about Justin.

00:37:27.000 --> 00:37:36.000

It shows his pictures.

00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:40.000

It shows, you know, all the other categories.

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:45.000

And then you can actually go to CreativeGround from here.

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:46.000

Like the actual profile and then you can see other things.

00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:50.000

Someone said -- oh.

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:52.000

Someone said something to me, but I didn't have a chance to read it.

00:37:52.000 --> 00:37:59.000

Yeah.

00:37:59.000 --> 00:38:03.000

And then there's, like, space and it's really -- it was really the answer for us.

00:38:03.000 --> 00:38:08.000

And we are so -- we just launched pretty much the beginning of the year.

00:38:08.000 --> 00:38:09.000

We're trying to get engagement now, trying to get people to sign up.

00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:11.000

It's a win.

00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:13.000

It's a real win.

00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:17.000

So thank you, CreativeGround.

00:38:17.000 --> 00:38:19.000

And thank you for the new API, because we're just thrilled.

00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:21.000

>> DEE SCHNEIDMAN: Thank you so much, Lisa.

00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:30.000

It's a huge win for us as well.

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:35.000

This is, you know, seeing it and your efforts in real life allows others to see how they might use the API as well.

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:36.000

You know, this sort of mutual benefit that Lisa described.

00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:37.000

And visualized so beautifully.

00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:40.000

You've been wonderful partners to work with.

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:54.000

So thank you so much.

00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:56.000

And next we are going to New Hampshire.

00:38:56.000 --> 00:38:58.000

>> GINNIE LUPI: Hello, everyone.

00:38:58.000 --> 00:39:05.000

This is Ginnie Lupi.

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:30.000

We are thrilled to be with you today for the launch of CreativeGround 2.0.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:39.000

Whenever we get a request from a school, health care facility, local arts commission, community organization, library or business for an artist or arts organization, we refer them to CreativeGround because it is the resource for finding artists and organizations who will fit the needs of the entity that's making the ask.

00:39:39.000 --> 00:39:44.000

One of the ways that we use CreativeGround is to host our juried artist rosters.

00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:55.000

And what I'm going to do is I'm going to show you how we access our artist rosters.

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.000

So the first thing I'm going to do is go to the search button at the top of the screen in that top menu.

00:39:59.000 --> 00:40:05.000

And then in the left-hand side bar, I'm going to click on special designations.

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.000

The third bullet down is State Arts Agency artists.

00:40:09.000 --> 00:40:11.000

And then the state rosters will open.

00:40:11.000 --> 00:40:20.000

And I'm going to choose our three.

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:27.000

We have an arts and health care roster, an arts education teaching artist roster, and a traditional arts roster.

00:40:27.000 --> 00:40:30.000

After I've clicked those, you can see that 83 profiles have popped up.

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:38.000

And these are really wonderful, wonderful profiles.

00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:51.000

Very robust, very strong, lots of really good information.

00:40:51.000 --> 00:40:56.000

About these artists so that whoever is looking for artists will get a clear, full picture of who this person is, what kind of art they make, and the experience that they've had.

00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:59.000

And so I'm just going to click on one here.

00:40:59.000 --> 00:41:02.000

I'm going to click on Anne Jenson.

00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:07.000

Anne is an Abinaki storyteller.

00:41:07.000 --> 00:41:12.000

And she is on our traditional arts roster.

00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:18.000

And her profile, again, is very comprehensive.

00:41:18.000 --> 00:41:24.000

Lots of really good visuals that give us a good idea of her energy and her style.

00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:29.000

Very good information on who she's worked with and her affiliations and accomplishments.

00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:34.000

And so this is what we love to see.

00:41:34.000 --> 00:41:38.000

Another is Theo Martey.

00:41:38.000 --> 00:41:41.000

Theo is our current New Hampshire artist laureate.

00:41:41.000 --> 00:41:47.000

And his profile is again filled with excellent information.

00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:58.000

Theo hails from Ghana and his art form is traditional West African drumming and dance.

00:41:58.000 --> 00:42:10.000

And he's got lots of extra content here, a lot of video which is very, very important for what he does.

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:13.000

And just like Anne, terrific visuals that show his art form, his energy, and enthusiasm.

00:42:13.000 --> 00:42:18.000

And we'll show you one more profile.

00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:23.000

This is Pontine Theatre from Portsmouth.

00:42:23.000 --> 00:42:24.000

They are on our arts in health roster.

00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:39.000

This two

00:42:39.000 --> 00:42:48.000

Person group does a lot of work with nursing homes, senior centers, and they perform works that they have written themselves that often are about New Hampshire history.

00:42:48.000 --> 00:42:54.000

And they do it with puppets and really incredible props.

00:42:54.000 --> 00:43:04.000

Greg gathers, one person in the duo creates all of these himself.

00:43:04.000 --> 00:43:06.000

And then he and Marguerite work together to create these incredible plays.

00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:19.000

Again, strong visuals.

00:43:19.000 --> 00:43:27.000

Lots of wonderful information about what they do and how they do it so that anyone coming to this profile can get a really good idea about who they are.

00:43:27.000 --> 00:43:35.000

So we hope that you will tell everyone you know about CreativeGround and encourage them to create a profile if they haven't already.

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:40.000

Thanks.

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:43.000

>> DEE SCHNEIDMAN: Thank you so much to our beautiful partners in New Hampshire.

00:43:43.000 --> 00:43:55.000

And we go next to Rhode Island.

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.000

Welcome their new executive director at the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Lynne McCormack.

00:43:59.000 --> 00:44:04.000

>> LYNNE MCCORMACK: Thank you Dee and Jane for such an amazing tool for all of us to use.

00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:10.000

The new design is absolutely gorgeous and we are thrilled to be part of this.

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:17.000

Rhode Island has 2,150 artists and organizations on the roster.

00:44:17.000 --> 00:44:34.000

And we use it much like all of the other state agencies and the way they've explained things.

00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:51.000

Our traditional and folk artists use the site quite heavily and it's a great way for artists who don't have access to creating their own website to actually get out -- to get their name out into the community and be seen and be booked.

00:44:51.000 --> 00:45:10.000

And so that's one of the most exciting things about this is we really use it as a platform to send festivals to and folks putting together programs to show people who are available and have done a lot of work.

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:15.000

We have a new teaching artist that just joined our roster, and I'm really excited that Dawn Spears a Rhode Island artist will be doing a presentation after we get through this state roundup and I'm going to actually defer the time for Rhode Island to Dawn.

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:22.000

And she will be doing a presentation about the way that she's using the site and the way it's serving her.

00:45:22.000 --> 00:45:24.000

So I'm going to pass it onto Vermont.

00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:30.000

>> DEE SCHNEIDMAN: Thank you, Lynne.

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:32.000

Welcome, Vermont.

00:45:32.000 --> 00:45:34.000

>> CATHERINE CRAWLEY: Good afternoon, New England.

00:45:34.000 --> 00:45:35.000

I'm Catherine Crawley.

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:38.000

I use she/her pronouns.

00:45:38.000 --> 00:45:47.000

I'm the communications director at the Vermont Arts Council.

00:45:47.000 --> 00:45:54.000

And I'm joining you from unceded land of the Abenaki.

00:45:54.000 --> 00:46:02.000

I'm excited to share a few ways we use this new and improved platform and its great potential.

00:46:02.000 --> 00:46:10.000

First I'm going to focus on the communications side of things as that's my focus.

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:13.000

We found CreativeGround really helpful in spotlighting artists, arts organizations, or creative businesses each month in our e-newsletter.

00:46:13.000 --> 00:46:37.000

Next slide, please.

00:46:37.000 --> 00:46:38.000

On this slide I'm showing the masthead for our e-newsletter called Artmail and the September spotlight, this is artist Sarah-Lee Terrat who is an illustrator and toy design maker who also helped brand Ben & Jerry's which I'm sure many of you know about Ben & Jerry's, fine Vermont brand.

00:46:38.000 --> 00:46:47.000

Next slide, please.

00:46:47.000 --> 00:46:51.000

The next slide shows our CreativeGround spotlight on zigzag which is an art and literary magazine in Addison County.

00:46:51.000 --> 00:46:56.000

Next slide.

00:46:56.000 --> 00:47:06.000

We've also highlighted Sandglass Theater in Putney, Vermont.

00:47:06.000 --> 00:47:08.000

This shows a screenshot of Sandglass Theater which is a company specializing in puppetry and acting.

00:47:08.000 --> 00:47:18.000

Next slide, please.

00:47:18.000 --> 00:47:26.000

We've also featured Wunderle's Big Top Adventures and this shows that spotlight.

00:47:26.000 --> 00:47:37.000

It offers world-class programming. This is an image of founder and actor Troy Wunderle.

00:47:37.000 --> 00:47:42.000

We include a link to view the full CreativeGround profile, a link to create your own listing, as well as a link to a tool box of tips to help you create a strong profile.

00:47:42.000 --> 00:47:47.000

So these are profiles that have high scores in Vermont.

00:47:47.000 --> 00:47:52.000

More thoroughly and thoughtfully the fields are filled out, the higher the score will be.

00:47:52.000 --> 00:48:04.000

The higher the score, the more visible the profile will be in the search results.

00:48:04.000 --> 00:48:06.000

That means a profile picture, detailed description, media pieces, maybe images or videos, contact information, links, and all of this is very updated.

00:48:06.000 --> 00:48:09.000

So profile scores aren't shown.

00:48:09.000 --> 00:48:14.000

It's something that's on the back end that manages can see.

00:48:14.000 --> 00:48:24.000

Next slide, please.

00:48:24.000 --> 00:48:29.000

Aside from showing the CreativeGround profiles in our newsletters, we also encourage artist who is are participating in our grant seeker workshops to create a profile on CreativeGround.

00:48:29.000 --> 00:48:34.000

So for example, our artist development grants and our creation grants.

00:48:34.000 --> 00:48:37.000

On this slide is an image of the web page for our artist development grants.

00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:41.000

And the next slide -- next slide, please.

00:48:41.000 --> 00:48:51.000

Our creation grants.

00:48:51.000 --> 00:48:56.000

On the grant-making side, our grant managers use CreativeGround as a tool to look up artists, to share it as a resource with folks who are trying to find artists.

00:48:56.000 --> 00:49:11.000

The filter tool is a great way to look for artists in specific disciplines.

00:49:11.000 --> 00:49:13.000

The directory gives a great overview of artists especially profiles that are robust, because they include samples of work, background, links to websites as well as references.

00:49:13.000 --> 00:49:16.000

And the next slide, please.

00:49:16.000 --> 00:49:24.000

This slide shows the art directory on our website.

00:49:24.000 --> 00:49:29.000

Some of our Vermont artists and organizations can click on links to create a listing or to filter for Vermont artists and creative businesses.

00:49:29.000 --> 00:49:35.000

Next slide, please.

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:38.000

And this slide shows the directory in action filtered for Vermont.

00:49:38.000 --> 00:49:42.000

So that concludes my presentation.

00:49:42.000 --> 00:49:43.000

Thank you and thanks to NEFA's leadership.

00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:48.000

>> DEE SCHNEIDMAN: Thank you so much, Catherine.

00:49:48.000 --> 00:50:06.000

What a wide range of ways that you're really expressing.

00:50:06.000 --> 00:50:13.000

I hope everyone is getting the message here that when you create a CreativeGround profile, it's used in a lot of different ways by our partners, both state and local and also a very important region-wide partner in Northeast Indigenous Arts Alliance.

00:50:13.000 --> 00:50:21.000

There are 43 profiles with the designation of Native American artist on CreativeGround.

00:50:21.000 --> 00:50:22.000

This is processed through our partnership with the Northeast Indigenous Arts Alliance.

00:50:23.000 --> 00:50:25.000

>> Hello, friends.

00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:33.000

I am Dawn Spears.

00:50:33.000 --> 00:50:41.000

I am joining in today from the homelands of my tribal nation here in Rhode Island.

00:50:41.000 --> 00:50:52.000

Northeast Indigenous Arts Alliance was established to support the Indigenous communities here in New England and the Northeast.

00:50:52.000 --> 00:50:59.000

Strengthening and supporting the Northeast Indigenous artist community that will promote, protect, preserve, and continue the artistic vitality in the region.

00:50:59.000 --> 00:51:06.000

Really increase the visibility of Native arts.

00:51:06.000 --> 00:51:16.000

For the Native American Arts Community, one of our greatest challenges is our connection to resources.

00:51:16.000 --> 00:51:20.000

In a means for the creative sector to be corrected to us.

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:22.000

CreativeGround supports that and fills the void needed.

00:51:22.000 --> 00:51:23.000

CreativeGround supports the Native Arts Community.

00:51:26.000 --> 00:51:31.000

Tribes in New England maintain a rich, vibrant culture.

00:51:31.000 --> 00:51:38.000

One that we would like to see represented at more regional events.

00:51:38.000 --> 00:51:46.000

Challenges that most would not even know how to begin to identify and locate an artist.

00:51:46.000 --> 00:51:53.000

When you land on the home page for CreativeGround, you can quickly see the search capabilities.

00:51:53.000 --> 00:51:55.000

For Native American art, type in Native American in the search field.

00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:57.000

A lot of entries will come up.

00:51:57.000 --> 00:52:01.000

470 here.

00:52:01.000 --> 00:52:06.000

My suggestion is that you refine your search.

00:52:06.000 --> 00:52:11.000

Narrow it down by state and medium.

00:52:11.000 --> 00:52:17.000

By refining my search, I narrowed down from 470 to 10 results.

00:52:17.000 --> 00:52:26.000

I selected Massachusetts as my state and then I selected Native American artist designation.

00:52:26.000 --> 00:52:31.000

This is a special designation and it means that the artist met the needed requirements to be in this area.

00:52:31.000 --> 00:52:33.000

Also note that there is a map option.

00:52:33.000 --> 00:52:37.000

The map option is great.

00:52:37.000 --> 00:52:44.000

It gives you an overview of where the artists are located geographically.

00:52:44.000 --> 00:52:52.000

This is a great option if you have geographic logistics to consider.

00:52:52.000 --> 00:52:59.000

To further refine your search, if you notice on the side bar, there is a whole bunch of categories.

00:52:59.000 --> 00:53:06.000

Scroll through them and pick out what will best meet your requirements.

00:53:06.000 --> 00:53:10.000

For me I wanted a basket maker, so I searched basket weaving.

00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:13.000

And Theresa came up.

00:53:13.000 --> 00:53:18.000

Teresa is an artist that is in Maine.

00:53:18.000 --> 00:53:28.000

She is a master basket weaver and known nationally for her work.

00:53:28.000 --> 00:53:38.000

But if this search process is too cumbersome, please be aware that if you scroll to the bottom of the home page, you can find a create direct access.

00:53:38.000 --> 00:53:48.000

There's a resource there for land acknowledgments and there is a direct link to Native American artists.

00:53:48.000 --> 00:53:51.000

If you click on that link, you are immediately connected to 43 artists.

00:53:51.000 --> 00:53:57.000

I wanted to be sure to highlight a few artists here.

00:53:57.000 --> 00:53:58.000

My first spotlight is one of our traditional -- one of our local, traditional drum groups.

00:53:58.000 --> 00:54:00.000

Black Brooks Singers.

00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:06.000

They're based in Massachusetts.

00:54:06.000 --> 00:54:12.000

You can find their profile on CreativeGround if you're looking for a drum or you're looking for Native singers.

00:54:12.000 --> 00:54:14.000

Another profile that I want to spotlight is Julia Martin.

00:54:14.000 --> 00:54:20.000

Julia Martin is a Wampanoag.

00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:27.000

She is based in Vermont and she is known for her twine woven bags.

00:54:27.000 --> 00:54:34.000

But she also makes beautiful museum-quality collectible art.

00:54:34.000 --> 00:54:40.000

And last but not least, I want to highlight Tomaquog Museum.

00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:41.000

The only Indigenous owned and operated museum in the state.

00:54:41.000 --> 00:54:43.000

And she is in southern Rhode Island.

00:54:43.000 --> 00:54:44.000

Excuse me.

00:54:44.000 --> 00:54:59.000

They are in southern Rhode Island.

00:54:59.000 --> 00:55:06.000

I hope you found this quick share helpful of how CreativeGround gets you better connected to our regional Native arts community.

00:55:06.000 --> 00:55:09.000

>> DEE SCHNEIDMAN: Thank you so much for that beautiful video, Dawn.

00:55:09.000 --> 00:55:14.000

Helping to bring us home here.

00:55:14.000 --> 00:55:25.000

So you got a sense of all the partners and how they're using CreativeGround.

00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:27.000

And of course, whether you're rooted in the New England creative community or are cultivating relationships, we invite you to dig into the dynamic directory.

00:55:27.000 --> 00:55:30.000

CreativeGround connects you with creative New England.

00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:36.000

We have lots of resources to help you do that.

00:55:36.000 --> 00:55:41.000

On the site and at your own pace, there is a promo tool kit.

00:55:41.000 --> 00:55:52.000

To start activating your own network to participate in CreativeGround.

00:55:52.000 --> 00:55:56.000

There is user help with profile score tips, dig in as personalized pages, and FAQs with how-to videos.

00:55:56.000 --> 00:56:05.000

So much guidance you won't know what to do with it all.

00:56:05.000 --> 00:56:16.000

And of course, our upcoming webinars and support to share with you to help guide you in real time together as well.

00:56:16.000 --> 00:56:18.000

We encourage you to join us for an upcoming webinar, the first one is a train the trainers workshop where we'll teach you everything you need to know to run your own creative workshop.

00:56:18.000 --> 00:56:22.000

CreativeGround workshop.

00:56:22.000 --> 00:56:28.000

And help activate your network to participate.

00:56:28.000 --> 00:56:32.000

As you saw, the more the site is used, the better it is.

00:56:32.000 --> 00:56:39.000

Giving everyone visibility, connection, and knowledge sharing.

00:56:39.000 --> 00:56:42.000

I want to thank you, all, for being here for the public launch kickoff of the new CreativeGround.

00:56:42.000 --> 00:56:46.000

Now get out there and connect with creative New England.

00:56:46.000 --> 00:56:48.000

We look forward to seeing you around the ground.

00:56:48.000 --> 00:56:49.000

Bye, everyone.