C.L.A.P. Creative Ladies Are Powerful
Be IndependentOnline Creative Marketing Workshop
I know this is last minute, but I just found out about this from MNfashion, could be worth checking out:
Online Creative Marketing Workshop
Tonight! (Wed, Feb. 17th) 7-9
at MNfashion Studio
79 13th Ave. NE #212
Minneapolis, MN
Costs $15 if you aren’t a member, but it could be interesting…here is the description:
Most creative people’s idea of what “marketing” is has been shaped by the way the mass marketers have done it for years. But technology and social media have made accepted ideas about marketing obsolete.
This workshop will show how creative individuals and small businesses are using these new platforms to rewrite the rules of what marketing is. We’ll also give some practical advice for how to apply modern marketing to your own work, and have a Q&A session with some local social media experts, including Christian Erickson of Zeus Jones and Kate Iverson of l’etoile.
Workshop fee is $15 and $10 for MNfashion members.
For more information on becoming a member:
http://mnfashion.org/Membership/
Getting it all together
As I have been working on adding info and links to the site, I am blown away by all the resources that various organizations and groups offer artists in the Twin Cities area. And while this is great, I also want to start adding information highlighting more individual artists and businesses—I know that a blog isn’t necessarily the best platform to do this with, but we have to do with what we have for now. In the meantime, please continue to send in suggestions, especially if you know of any local ladies and their ventures that should be highlighted here!
The Next Steps
As you can see, the revitalized C.L.A.P. is still in its infancy. While there are a lot of ideas I have been thinking about in terms of what the organization could do and how it could do it, there is still much to be done, least of which is getting the word out and getting other creative ladies involved!
The blog you see now is a beta-version of what a C.L.A.P. website could provide. I hope in the future to add more resources, especially information about starting up and running small businesses, as well as more information about the Twin Cities’ art scene and events. I would also like to profile and interview creative women in the area who are artists, musicians, crafters or business or non-profit owners, to spread the word about their work as well as their wisdom on how to do it (so if you are one of these women and would like to be featured, please contact me!). Though it may not be local, I will also be featuring lovely ladies from other parts of the country who have advice and inspiration to share with the women in our community.
I am in the process of applying for a grant to start up a better, more user-friendly website. Not only would this website be a place for young creative women in the Twin Cities to find resources and events that support their interests, but it would also be a place to connect with other likeminded ladies. Ideally, I would love to be able to support individual profiles of women and their businesses that would allow people to access contact information and perhaps even buy their goods (sort of like etsy, but more local and a bit more personal).
Eventually, I would like to open an actual physical space that would serve not only as a storefront for selling art and creations of local women, but also as a space for meetings, classes, shows and more. I like you in NE is a model of this, but the C.L.A.P. space would be more encompassing of the whole mission of the organization, specifically in creating community.
As you can see, there are many elements that need to come into place to make C.L.A.P. a successful reality, most of which is support from creative ladies themselves! If any of this vision sounds like something you would like to get involved with, or if you have any suggestions (both in terms of the organization itself, or in terms of resources, events, tips, etc. that would be useful to creative women in the area), please contact me!
email: CLAPbeindependent at gmail dot com
or
Goodbye Cruel World…
And hello happy world!
Today is the day, and perhaps it was because of the blizzard, that C.L.A.P. is taking it to the next level, because we are not getting any younger and things are not getting any easier when it comes to being a young, creative woman in this world.
So let’s make things easier, shall we? Maybe not easier, after all we don’t want to shun our inherited protestant work ethic, now would we (well, maybe we would)? But at least to have some sort of support.
So here we have it, ladies, a revitalization of C.L.A.P., in all its idealized splendor.
The project? To find ways to connect, create community, and provide support for women in the Twin Cities area who want to do something with their creative ideas. Women who want to do something that allows them to be independent, to work on their own, to support themselves and to not have to confine their creative talents to a job in which they have no control or joy in what they are doing.
Today is the day ladies!
If only my cat would get off my computer…
