Thriving Artists Podcast Thrive Together Network

Today on the podcast we are talking about confidence, which is something almost every artist has to work on throughout their careers. Join us for Episode #30 of the Thriving Artists, Podcast, 5 Strategies to Have More Confidence in Your Art as we tackle how to approach this challenge! This topic is so important, especially in the age of Instagram where we see the curated version of everyone’s studio practice. It can be hard to navigate the ups and downs of being an artist when there is so much great art out in the world readily available at our fingertips.
At the Thrive Together Network, we believe there is room for everyone, but sometimes we can become intimidated and it gets hard to be confident when we see such amazing things all around us!
Jamie and Kaylan’s 5 Strategies to Have More Confidence in Your Art are:
Travel back in time: Use your own story as an example of growth and inspiration, and this will help you start to see how far you’ve come. Faming your work in the context of everything you have already accomplished will grow your confidence. We tend to always look outwards with social media, so this is a great way to ground and center inwards. 
Write about your work: Take the time to think about your work and what you are saying with your practice so that you will be able to then speak about it and share your work confidently. Taking time to work through your concepts and ideas helps you remember why you make what you make and why it is important.
Know where you fit in the cannon: Know your historical influences and the other artists that have influenced your work. This is the story of where you came from as an artist. By mentally putting yourself alongside these art heroes, you will build your confidence in the value of what you are doing.
Get feedback: Self doubt and insecurity thrive in isolation. This is when your inner critic takes over! Building confidence is about you in relationship with others. Engage with other artists to build them up and allow them to do the same for you. Join a community online or locally and start to connect and receive feedback!
Keep going: Nothing builds the confidence muscle like time! Show up again and again and again. Continue to keep learning and improving. Practice a growth mindset that focuses on all the improvements you are making by continuing to show up.

As always we are here for you, cheering you on and we believe in the work you are doing as thriving artists! Join us at www.thrivetogethernetwork.com

In Episode #29 of the Thriving Artists, Podcast, How to Get People To Come to Your Art Show we discuss small actions that have a huge impact on attendance at your exhibitions.
We have hosted a number of art shows on our own and it is a lot of hard work, but getting people there is so important. We use the phrase “the final 5%” when we talk about this type of work. You’ve made the art, found a venue, and have generally done so much, but the last few tasks are so important for success. These are “the final 5%”. By taking these steps to make sure you have good attendance at your exhibit, you are going to get the most you can out of all your hard work.
Jamie and Kaylan’s 4 Tips for how to get people to come to your art show are:
Tell people a lot of times: When we say a lot…we mean a lot. It’s important to start sharing early and start prepping your audience for what they can expect to see. Don’t feel like you are annoying people if you do multiple posts on social media, not everyone will see every post.

Tell people in a lot of different ways: Have a plan for when you send our newsletters, post on socia media, send out a press release and drop off flyers in different places. Get organzied to get the word out and have multiple ways to spread your message!

Tell people everything they need to know: Include the address, time, date and any other important information in your communication. These simple details can be so easily forgotten when you are busy trying to get everything done for your show. We want there to be no barriers for attending your event!


Invite people in personal ways…and tell them to bring a friend: Sending personal emails and messages to people you want at your show goes a long way. Feeling personally invited to something gives the invitation more weight and people are more invested in going to that event. 

For all of our Taking. Up. Space. 2023 artists this is such a good reminder to get sharing and get people excited about your upcoming show!!

It’s easy to get distracted by shiny new things or follow a fad that is supposed to bring you success, but we believe the keys to success as an artist are found in some very basic principles that build longevity and bring wins over time. In Episode #28 of Thriving Artist, Podcast, 5 Things Successful Artists Do we are sharing some of these foundational practices. We have seen these practices time and time again with the hundreds of artists we have worked with. 
Jamie and Kaylan’s list of 5 Things Successful Artists Do:
Commit to creating  - Artists who are successful in their work and career all have a certain level of commitment.These artists figure out what they can commit to during the season of life they are in and they really go for it. They make their art as big of a priority as they can and develop habits and routines that create growth for their careers. 

Develop an art language or art voice - The most successful artists are the ones who have really dug in deep and figured out their artistic language. This can mean many different things, but it means knowing what you make and why you make it and having a visual vocabulary that is strong, succinct and recognizable.
Have a Strong Network - Support cannot be underrated. Not only do fellow artists validate your identity as an artist, they appreciate your work and join in supporting you around the challenges of figuring out your art career. A strong and diverse network is crucial to keeping you going in your practice. 
Consistent Self Promotion -  Putting yourself out there and sharing your work in a consistent way creates trust between you and your audience. This promotion builds momentum for your career. Some of the most successful artists are ones sharing their work without feeling ashamed and without apology.
Despite any doubt, do the work anyway -  Commit, move forward and do not let your doubts get in your way! We really believe that everything else will follow if you prioritize your work and do it even when you feel uncertain or full of doubt. 
Head to thrivetogethernetwork.com to learn how we can support you as you build and grow your foundation as an artist! As always, we are here for you, we are cheering you on, and we believe in the work you are doing as thriving artists. 

In the last episode, we talked about 4 relationships every artist needs, and in this episode Kaylan tackles how to network and actually build those relationships in ways that are sustainable. So, go back and listen to Episode #26 if you missed it and then dive in to Episode #27 of Thriving Artists, Podcast, 5 Sustainable Strategies for Networking. Networking is hard work and can be time consuming. Having a plan to develop your network means you are intentional, you are motivated, and you are invested in your career and the art careers of others! 
Kaylan’s 5 sustainable strategies for networking are:
Identify your relationship layers- Take the 4 layers of relationships we outlined in episode #26. Who are the people in those categories? Write down their names! If you have even one person in each category, that’s great!
Target the gaps- Find places those relationship layers feel a little thin. Maybe you have many people in your audience but could use some close art friends in your inner circle. Maybe you have lots of close friends and artist mentors and peers but you need some art professional connections. 
Pick a time frame and time amount- Make time for networking and consider it part of your work. Pick a time frame, this is when you will network and for how long. You probably naturally already have some networking built into your life. This could be a monthly studio date with a friend or a crit crew meeting through TTN. It all counts!
Share consistent content- Share consistent content and share that content consistently across all layers of your network. Did a museum acquire a new work of yours? That’s something to share! Spread the news to your close friends, your mentors and peers, your followers and your professional contacts.
Identify your outlets- Identify your outlets for each layer of your network, this means asking how you best communicate with each layer. For your close friends, you may use text messages. Maybe for peers, you use the Thrive together Network. It might be best to communicate with your audience and followers through Instagram or a newsletter. For professional connections it might be email or a postcard.
Head to thrivetogethernetwork.com to download your Artists Networking Toolkit and join us for the FREE SESSION of Art & Tea on Tuesday March 14th where we are going to be working all this out together. 

Today we are chatting about relationships!! Relationships in the art world can sometimes feel tricky, but we really need other artists, arts professionals, and people in our communities to support our work. No artist thrives in total isolation. In Episode #26 of Thriving Artist, Podcast, 4 Relationships Every Artist Needs, we break down the different types of relationships you need to to have a well-rounded and supportive community for your studio practice.
Jamie and Kaylan’s 4 Relationships Every Artist Needs are:
Your closest art friends: These are people in your closest orbit. They just “get it”. You can text them last minute, ask any question, or get quick feedback on your work.
Your mentors and peers: Right outside of your inner circle are peers and mentors. We need quite a large number of peers in order to feel supported as an artist. These relationships can range from acquaintances to closer friends. You need to have artists in your community who support your work.
Your audience and collectors: This is the third layer of relationships. These are the people who follow you on social media accounts and comment, like, and share your work. They buy your art and hang it in their homes, and they generally follow along with what you are doing. These people may or may not be artists, but they certainly are art-appreciators, and we need people like this in our lives to support our careers! 
Your professional connections: This is the last layer. These are folks like gallery owners, curators, people who run podcasts or have other platforms. They work in the press or at publications. These are people who can do the work of sharing, supporting and giving opportunities to an artist that can really take your career to the next level. 

If you want to dive more into understanding the relationships in your life as an artist, we have a FREE GIFT for you called The Artist’s Networking Toolkit. Included are worksheets and activities, plus 2 free sessions of our popular Art & Tea weekly network programming on this topic! These are “open house” style sessions where you don’t have to be a member but you can join us to check it out! These two sessions are on March 14th and March 21st, 2023 at 1:00pm EASTERN or 10am PACIFIC. 
Head to our website thrivetogethernetwork.com to find out more, download Your Artists Networking Toolkit and find the Zoom links to the corresponding open house sessions in our Instagram link in bio. 
 

What comes to mind when you hear the word “critique”? As artists, the idea of putting our work out there and receiving feedback can be daunting, if not completely scary! We’ve all heard the stories of artists getting their work verbally ripped to shreds in a grad school critique. Here at Thrive Together Network, we believe that critique can be respectful and caring, providing a deep and transformative experience that pushes your work forward. We model this approach in our Crit Crew program, so we wanted to do a deep dive here in this episode to discuss all of the benefits of feedback in a small group setting like our Crit Crews. Join us for Episode #25 of Thriving Artists, Podcast, 5 Ways Critique Can Change Your Practice, as we discuss and demystify…the dreaded critique. 
Jamie and Kaylan’s 5 Ways Critique Can Change Your Practice are:
Helps you understand what others are seeing when they look at your work: Being part of a critique where others are simply sharing with you what they see when they look at your work can be SO powerful. It can guide you towards making decisions within your work that you would never have arrived at on your own. This helps you get your concepts across!
Roots you more deeply in your art lineage: We don’t always have the knowledge for understanding exactly where our work fits into the canon of art history. We have to learn these things through research, lots of time spent in galleries and museums and we aren’t always able to tune in to those narratives. Others can contextualize your work and jumpstart your understanding of where you fit into the bigger picture of the art world.
Opens you to new materials or processes: Deep knowledge of materials and processes comes with time and experience. As independent artists, we reach for the materials we know and the processes we are familiar with. However, when we open ourselves to critique and let other artists and mentors look at our work and studio practice, they help us see that there are new materials or ways to make our work that might help make our work stronger!
Guides you toward your next steps: Working in your studio alone day after day can send you into ways of working that become habitual, familiar and known. Critique can shake things up and guide you to new exciting places!
Nourishes your artist identity: Establishing a relationship with other artists who give you productive feedback is nourishing to you because YOU are developing your skills talking about your work. You are making connections, learning, and that nourishes your artist identity in immeasurable ways. 
If you want to join our crit crew program, we would love to extend the invitation. These groups are truly life changing, and getting feedback like this on your work can revolutionize your career! Our enrollment is currently open and spots are filling fast! Our program is limited to 40 artists so sign up before the deadline of February 26th to ensure you get to participate.