As I am approaching graduation I have begun to look for more artist opportunities available to me as an emerging artist. I have found a few and I’m happy to announce that some have turned out great for me.
For example, I was looking through instagram and came across a grassroots and woman-run online publisher called, Intercultural Press Rebels. They promote, “…multilingualism, intersectionality, and self-empowerment through art and literature.” They had an open call for artists to be featured in their online Spring galleries. I applied and got accepted and now I have 3 paintings being displayed online. I contacted them afterwards to see if they would be archiving the Spring gallery and they replied that they were actually just working on getting that going and were also thinking of making a zine about the Spring gallery artist and writers. I’m clearly really excited about this because I feel it’s important to take as many opportunities as possible especially as an emerging artist.
Another opportunity I had was being interviewed by VoyageLA. This interview means I get some exposure which is a huge plus, and not to mention it can be added to a CV. This was another great opportunity that I had looked in to because I had noticed many other emerging artists on IG posting about their interviews with VoyageLA. It’s actually a very simple process and you can recommend yourself to be interviewed by providing your name, email, and website. I thought it was an easy way to again get my art out there and so I did it. The process was fairly easy as it is all done through email and it is published quickly. I think I waited maybe a week to hear back after I had done the interview. Also in the end not only is it published online but it’s also printed and you have the option to order a copy for yourself to keep. I think something like VoyageLA is a beneficial opportunity for emerging artists so I would highly recommend it.
I had also just recently emailed a creative director at the Arts and Recreation Center in Baldwin Park. I was interested in finding out ways in which I could possibly put together my own show. I’ve show my work here before because a close artist friend, Kiara Machado, has given me many opportunities to be a part of shows she curates here. I’m very community oriented and I feel my art is too so I thought having an art show at a community center just made sense. I actually just went to pick up some pieces from a show they just took down that I had been apart of. The woman I had emailed was there and told me she had read my email, but was busy so she had forgotten to reply back. But the good news is she mentioned how she had told her boss about it and since they know me because I’ve participated in other shows that they are supportive of me getting a show there. I was told that in a couple of days I’ll get an email back regarding days that would work for me for the show. So keep an eye out for more announcements about that.
Besides these exciting things I also found a couple of websites I feel were cool and offered many artist job listings and opportunities such as open calls.
artist.callforentry.org
arts.ca.gov
artsforla.gov
Just thought I should share some things I have found that are helping me as an emerging artist. Also wanted to update y’all about current mini-accomplishments that I think are important.