Maintaining Your Online Presence

On May 17th, CuriousWorks presented a workshop called How To Maintain Your Online Presence, as part of Fairfield City Council’s Creatives in the Neighbourhood. The video (with captions) is a recorded version of that workshop. Feel free to listen and follow along, or follow the exercises written out below! If it’s useful, you can also access the transcript + audio here.

Maintaining Your Online Presence: The Exercises

If you don’t know where to start, give yourself 30 minutes to think things through and write it out.

1.) Write Your Bio ( 5 minutes)

Don’t just write out a list of your credits. Consider: Who are you, what’s your arts practice, why do you make the art you make? Who do you make work for? What is it that you value about your work? This bio is you thinking about the story you’re sharing when you share your work as an artist.

2.) Why are you sharing your work online? (10 minutes)

Take the time to really think through why you’re sharing your work online. Be audacious if you want to; this is just so you have your own thoughts clear, so there’s no one to judge you if your goal is to get picked up by a Hollywood producer or make a million dollars off of sales.

Some examples mentioned in the presentation: 

Miranda Aguilar’s website is largely archival; it’s a way to document process, show off a past track record, and potentially draw interest to future funders, collaborators and audience members to support future work, especially when a lot of past work is either a.) in development still or b.) theatre, and therefore difficult to document in full.

In contrast, Diego Murillo’s website, Poncho Hat Films, is much more business-focused because it’s meant to attract future clients. It includes things like the range of work he does, the equipment he has and his style and skill. At its core however, just like Miranda’s website, he’s sharing what kind of art he makes, who he makes his work for, and what he values about his work. 

3.) Make a Plan (15 minutes)

Your bio and why you want to share your work online should be driving your plan. Keep them in mind as you answer the following questions and start to make your plan.

1. What social apps and websites do you want to use that you like (or think you can learn to like)?
2.  How much time do you want to spend on this upfront? How much time do you want to spend on maintenance?
3.  What skills do you need to learn/brush up on to do this successfully? This can include looking up like-minded creatives on the same network, learning how to film your work, figuring out hashtags, etc.
4. What is the first step you’re going to take?

***BONUS: MAKE A WEBSITE***

Sorry artists, you need a website! It immediately impresses everyone you speak to because no one wants to make a website; it’s an easy way to collate all the various links and events about you onto one homepage; it means you don’t have to depend on the overlords at Facebook at Tumblr or whatever to show off your work. It doesn’t need to be fancy, it doesn’t need to be paid. Here are some questions to consider when making a website:

1. How easy is it for you to use?
2. How much time do you want to spend on this?
3. How often do you need to update this?
4. How much do you want to spend on this?

If you’re not sure where to start, here are some suggested platforms:

One Page Websites:

Milkshake – https://milkshake.app/

Carrd – https://carrd.co/

LinkTree – https://linktr.ee/

Multi-Page Websites:

SquareSpace – https://squarespace.com/

Cargo Collective – https://cargocollective.com/

Google Sites – https://sites.google.com

Bonus: If you’re an Adobe Creative Cloud subscriber, use their website builder for your portfolio! You’re already giving them money, might as well use it.

Toolkit Entry by: Miranda Aguilar

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