End-Of-Year Artists Up Close 2023 Highlights and 2024 Vision
Last year was incredible! But 2024 we're expanding and growing. Thank you for staying on this journey with us.
I hope your New Year is off to a joyful and life affirming start! Artists Up Close is fast approaching our second year and it’s been an incredibly delightful ride. We want to share with you all of our accomplishments in 2023.
Our 2023 Highlights
We hosted events! We held 10 ticketed events in 2023. In March 2023, we partnered with J. Rinehart Gallery to host the first Artists Up Close interactive artist conversation event. It was a hit! Special thanks to Judith Rinehart who began this event journey with us and provided a space, food, drinks, and advice. We also want to thank the artists who shared their stories, processes, and ideas. Today we are partnered with Blue Cone Studios, run by Carolyn Hitt and Julie C. and a team of dedicated volunteers. Blue Cone is providing an ongoing home for Artists Up Close events and we couldn’t be more grateful. In 2023, we also experimented with providing event facilitation services to local galleries and artists for a fee. The brave folks at SlipStitch Gallery were the first organization to use our event facilitation services. Thank you for joining us on this journey.
We shared event recordings. Every Artists Up Close event is audio recorded. And in 2023, paid subscribers received a copy of our events. However, I have discovered that it takes longer than I would like to get the events edited and uploaded to the site. This is why in 2024, we want to continue to expand our team.
Check out some of our most popular events:
https://www.artistsupclose.com/p/painter-lesley-frenz-discovers-her
https://www.artistsupclose.com/p/challenging-the-male-nudity-stigma
https://www.artistsupclose.com/p/seattle-urban-topography-lost-and
We expanded our team. Artists Up Close has a new team member, Ramona Lee. Ramona, who is an artist and an emerging gallerist, volunteers every month at our events. She helps run the Zoom stream so that our in-person events can be viewed live online.
We shared international stories. Artists Up Close was founded in Seattle, WA but it’s reach doesn’t end there. In 2023, we featured artists with international stories. Artists like Shima Star and David Mazzone shared their unique immigration journeys and their cultural heritage. And in 2023, we traveled to South Africa and met many artists and culture bearers. In 2024, we will share those South African stories and we will connect American artists to artists from around the globe through stories and events. But more about that later. I want to give a special thanks to Veronica Very and Wonder of Women Gallery for supporting my work in South Africa and allowing me to be their inaugural artist-in-residence at the South African Healing Villa.
Check out three of our most popular stories in 2023:
https://www.artistsupclose.com/p/dispelling-the-myth-of-universalism
https://www.artistsupclose.com/p/quiet-beginnings-bold-living-theatre
https://www.artistsupclose.com/p/shima-star-is-too-controversial-for
https://www.artistsupclose.com/p/standing-in-her-truth-50-years-of
We taught a class. I conducted a “How To Talk To The Media” workshop at Artist Trust and it received very positive feedback. I’m still working on a self-directed educational product that will teach artists how to connect to journalists about their work.
We grew our subscriber base. We had a 756% increase in our subscriber base in the last 9 months of 2023.
Our 2024 Vision
We’re continuing to expand our team. The first priority of 2024 is expanding the Artists Up Close team. This will allow me to focus on what I’m really good at. We’re looking for:
A writer to cover Art Walks and do short-form interviews. No experience necessary. I will train you.
An assistant to edit interview transcriptions. No experience necessary I will train you.
An audio editor to edit event audio. No experience necessary I will train you.
Contact me at artistsupclose@gmail.com if you’re interested in any of these freelance positions.
We’re getting more time. We’re now emailing our monthly publication at the end of the month instead of the middle of the month so that I have the time flexibility to do second and third interviews with artists if necessary AND edit the audio podcast. Hopefully, I can get the expanded team in place so that I can focus on the writing instead of audio editing.
We’re continuing to do events. We will continue doing events in 2024. We will experiment with the format and make sure that we’re including artists from around the globe as part of our conversations.
We’re looking for partners. We will begin partnering with more organizations to expand our reach.
This is in short what we’re up to in 2024. Please share Artists Up Close with your community, ask your friends/family to subscribe and continue to support this work. Your support is deeply appreciated. Thank you!