Artists,

First I would like to thank all of you for being willing to explore the potential of this artist community. Personally, I searched for every possible tool I could devise to help artists, whether it be a job board catered to our needs, community articles, and even a podcast all with the focus of educating artists on the business of art. Unfortunately, this endeavor has been extremely time consuming and now expensive. The platform I use (Ning.com) is now going to charge us $250 dollars a year. In 2010, we made $100 from the job board. I was hoping that between the various avenues of incidental revenue I could cover the cost of running the site. With the price increase that is not the case.

Unless, we can come up with another $150 dollars BeYourArt.com will have to close it doors. Since I don’t have the time to maintain the site and keep deleting mass influx of sex/dating profiles, this might be for the best. Again thank you all for what you have put into this great community. This has been an invaluable experience for me and I’ve learned an immensely about what it takes to run such a site, but more importantly I come to love all your art and your individual passion to share it.

The provider Ning.com doesn’t list when the BeYourArt.com will come up for renewal. I’m waiting to hear back from them. I’ll keep you all posted as to the closing date. Please send an questions to jm@beyourart.com. Thank you all again and good luck on your artistic endeavors.

Sincerely,

Judah Mahay,
Creator of BeYourArt.com
judahmahay.com

We have a few new features on BeYourArt.com. These two features really expand the potential of the site and we look forward to community collaboration.

Listings

This is broken up into five categories. General Listings, which does what it says in being the catch all. Workshops and Studio Space listings will helps artists learn and find housing. We also have a free Marketplace for artists to sell stuff much like Craigslist.

Lastly, is a fun new idea entitled the Exchange, which will allow artists to off their artistic services in exchange for other artistic services (since we lack money why not revert to the old barter system). Prime example is the potter can give a few of his prize clay pots away to a photographer who will exchange take pictures of all of her art to post online. There is great potential with this method of interaction.

Questions & Answers

There is also a new section, which will allow artists to post questions and the community then can answer to the best of their knowledge. We really like this idea in that it cuts to the core of community collaboration.

Other Updates

We did a bit of refinement to the navigation and the home page. If you have anymore suggestions please let us know.

Thank you all for your submissions. It was a very difficult process narrowing down all the stories to our top six. Below is a list, in no particular order, of the finalists with links to their profiles on BeYourArt.com.

“To Be Free”
By Robert Clarita
http://www.beyourart.com/profile/RobertClarita

“The Little Shootist”
By Micki Peluso
http://www.beyourart.com/profile/MickiPeluso

“Gentle Day”
By Jeff Foster
http://www.beyourart.com/profile/JeffFoster

“Good Intentions”
By Jean A. Headley
http://www.beyourart.com/profile/JeanHeadley

“Happily Ever After”
By Julie Wilson
http://www.beyourart.com/profile/Julie

“Just Keep Smiling”
By Anna Katsavos
http://www.beyourart.com/profile/AnnaKatsavos

The winning three stories will be announced in the next week.

*Don’t forget to subscribe to BeYourArt.com’s podcast on iTunes.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=317258161

Actors' Equity Association

Co-Published: BeYourArt.com and The North Shoreian Magazine, Volume 2, Issue 4, Practicalities of the Surviving Artist, May 2009. Article written by Don Rebar.

Depressed by the current job market? Used to waiting in long lines for hours to get a three minute audition with a prospective employer? Enjoy performing your patented “401k rant” in front of family, friends and complete strangers—sometimes for money, or at least a free meal? If the answers are “yes”, you need to understand the pros and cons of membership as well as how to attain Equity status if you choose to follow that course. Read more…