Mary Sundet Jones of the Iowa Arts Councils sends this news about opportunities for visual artists:
The Iowa Arts Council launched an online store a few years ago, to help Iowa artists who needed an online vehicle for selling their artwork, photography, books, and cd’s. We called it Buyiowaart.com. It’s been a grand experiment for us, and it’s now moving into a new phase, which may interest you as well.
The good result from this pilot project is that we did indeed provide more than 100 Iowa artists with an online presence, and introduced them to buyers all over the country that they would never have been able to connect with otherwise. The downside was that we had a tiger by the tail – we realized that within the Iowa Arts Council, we just didn’t have the technical expertise or marketing resources to really take the site where it needed to go.
So the program has privatized. The company we worked with initially to design and develop the site, Spindustry Interactive, has now taken it on as their own program. It is now Spinmarket Art, and it’s not just for Iowa artists anymore. The site (http://www.spinmarketart.com/) is now an online market for all types of creative art at a national level. The goal of Spinmarket Art is to become the premier online source for connecting customers interested in unique and genuine art of all kinds, directly with the artist and art they are looking for.
Privatizing the program allows it to build in ways we just couldn’t manage from this office. It maintains several of the advantages we incorporated from the beginning (the artist doesn’t have to handle the marketing or the fiscal transactions – just the packing and shipping when orders come in, the artist controls the content and images of their work that show up online, having an online store means possibility of selling to buyers all over the U.S., the artist’s investment is much less than if they developed a system on their own, the artist’s percentage received from each sale may be better than other venues).
In addition, with Spindustry in charge of the site, there are professional marketing folks working to promote it, and professional tech folks who can smooth the way for nervous artists. We’ve had an excellent relationship with the company, and are pleased that they’re taking this project on.
Contact Spinmarket Art at art@spinmarket.com for more information. There’s an annual membership fee of $50 through the end of 2008. Basic membership allows for full participation in the site; there are some additional fees if lots of tech support is needed, or if the artist wants to add particular design enhancements. An advisory council will oversee the uploaded artwork to ensure quality and integrity is maintained.
