Build Your Brand with Arts Exchange

Making art and marketing art are two very different skills.

Of course artists have to do both, and while there are ample opportunities to hone one’s creative work—workshops, open mics, and schools aplenty—it can be more challenging to learn how to find your audience. Or how to write grants, or any of the pieces of background work that goes into promoting one’s art.

But for more than a decade, Arts Exchange—formerly known as Cultural Cafe—has been helping St. Albert artists develop those very skills, as well as providing an opportunity for them to come together and meet.

“It started because we saw a need for arts organizations to connect,” explains Tamsin Brooks, one of the two Community Cultural Coordinators who run Arts Exchange. “We found that people work very individually—even organizations in St. Albert work very individually, and never really get the chance to meet each other.”

Brooks says that the specific needs that Arts Exchange seeks to address have evolved over the years. In its early days, there was more of a focus on grant writing. This year, the event—titled Build Your Brand—will mix skill-focused workshops and networking opportunities in a one-night event, with a particular focus on online marketing.

Navigating social media as an artist, Brooks notes, is tricky—between frequency of posting and what platforms to use, most artists, no matter where they are in their career, could use support with developing their online presence.

“That's multi-generational,” she says. “I don't think it's young people or, or older people or mid-career—everybody struggles with [social] media. It's super time-consuming.”

To address that, Arts Exchange will feature workshops on digital marketing and building a social media presence, as well as performances from Silks and Strings, Jorge Vargas and Kaylin Kowalyskyn. There’s also a tour of City Arts Space, a relatively new, intimate venue available for artists to rent. And, Brooks hopes, ample opportunity for conversations to happen between guests.

“We're a very active cultural community in St. Albert,” Brooks says. “I don't ever think that meeting people face to face is a bad thing. It builds connection. It builds community.”

The evening will be crowned with a keynote talk from former St. Albert Poet Laureate Zach Polis, whose career continues to escalate.

I've watched his career since he was a teenager—he is really brilliant at self-promotion,” Brooks says. “He knows how to channel his creativity and passion for all kinds of mediums of art into this really brilliant career direct trajectory.”

“I think there is a huge opportunity for local artists to learn how to market themselves,” she continues. “I follow artists from all over the world, and I've bought art from all over the world. I think the potential is huge.”

By: Paul Blinov

Arts Exchange takes place on November 18th, from 5:30 pm to 9 pm.

To register, please follow this link.

For more information, please visit the Arts Exchange webpage.

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