Do What you Love! talk at MICA
22-Feb-2010 I was invited to the Do What You Love! Week speaker series at MICA last week. The series was "a week long program for students and alumni to learn from practicing professionals in the fields of art and design." Photographer Jim Lucio and I shared the presentation "Portrait of the Independent Artist," where we discussed our collaboration on the video documentary I created about him, along with other topics involving self-promotion, building an audience and what students should expect when entering the professional stage of their careers.The talk was great fun, and allowed me to share insights I'd gained over the years as an artist and filmmaker. One notable moment was when Jim and I talked about the importance of growing your audience. We agreed that, whether you are using social media or word of mouth, the most significant connections begin with your immediate friends and family and generate outward from there "like ripples in a puddle of water." The first few rings of this circle are the people who have the most invested in you and are the most likely to promote you to their networks, therefore it is important to keep these folks informed and updated constantly.
One other thing that I stressed to the students, most of whom were actively using social media, was that they have a leg up on quality content because they produce high quality visuals, and they do it consistently. They are the signal against the abundance of noise out there and I suggested that they be as transparent as possible with their creative processes and products by using Facebook, Twitter, etc. to regularly post sketches, ideas, project updates or anything that helps their audience get insight into why and how they do what they do.