Earlier this month, we had the pleasure of attending and participating in the Parkersburg Piccalilli, a conference hosted by the Parkersburg Art Center, Tamarack Foundation for the Arts, and Arts Collaborative of the Mid-Ohio Valley. Parkersburg Piccallili is a two-day event for working artists, art educators, college art students, and arts organizations featuring workshops, hands-on art making, networking, and celebration.

We were proud to be a sponsor of this year's event and participate on a panel with Bobby Rosenstock of Just A Jar Design + Press and Robby Moore, former director of the Beckley Art Center, on how artists can get into shows, galleries, and shops. It was a wonderful experience to meet so many creative people from the Mid-Ohio Valley and beyond and learn from regional leaders in the arts industry. Over the two-day conference, I took pages of notes and left feeling motivated and inspired. I also spoke with two of our featured artists who attended this year, Leslie Norris of Super Pop Press and Hannah Davis, and together we'd like to share our main takeaways.

We have a strong local arts community

"For me, the main thing that stood out was how kind and generous our art community is," said Hannah. "I love learning from artists who are ahead of me and getting advice from both the speakers and other artists that attended." Hannah said she was also delighted at the opportunity to share her own experience and advice. "All of us were able to come together to encourage each other, and I left the conference with a new strategy, new ideas, and feeling more empowered and less alone. I had no idea that the local art community was so strong, and it was really cool to experience it during those two days."

Marketing yourself and your art is important

Marketing was a key topic throughout the conference, addressed in several sessions, including a session led by Phil Eich of Storyville Social on "Marketing Yourself as an Artist Without Selling Out." As a marketer myself, it's easy to get overwhelmed by all of the things I know I 'should' be doing - but it was refreshing to go through break-out sessions that focused on brand, audience, market fit, and message to identify specific strategies that can be employed.

Leslie and Hannah said this session resonated with them, too. "Although I have been studying the same things he was teaching in a couple of books I'm reading right now, he presented it in such a clear and inspiring way that sparked some ideas for my future art products," said Hannah.

One such takeaway is the idea that everything we do is marketing - beyond the logo and branding, it's how we conduct ourselves in public, how we respond to inquiries, and how we treat others. All of these things - any interaction or touch with another person - contribute to how we market and present our brand/product. The best marketing builds trust by demonstrating both warmth and competence. "First, we need to show our audience that we are human, just like them, and that we care about them," said Hannah. "Second, we need to be proud of what we make and communicate what we do clearly and confidently."

Financial resources are available for local artists

Elizabeth Yeager of the WV Department of Arts, Culture and History shared a long list of grant opportunities available to West Virginian artists that cover everything from research, professional development, and travel to performances and materials. You can find the list along with eligibility and application requirements here: https://wvculture.org/agencies/arts/grants/

While this conference focused on opportunities in West Virginia, the Ohio Arts Council also offers grants for individual artists and arts organizations. You can learn more about OAC's grant programs, here: https://oac.ohio.gov/grants/10-grant-opportunities

If you are interested in pursuing a grant through either organization but aren't sure where to start, let us know! We are happy to help you navigate the process and connect you with resources on either side of the river.

Being an artist is serious business

Ok, so it doesn’t have to be serious, but if you want to make a living as an artist, you do need to think of yourself as a business owner. One of my favorite sessions from this conference was on the ArtistsThrive rubric, led by Domenica Queen of the Tamarack Foundation. The rubric provides a framework for artists to complete a self-evaluation across a handful of categories to determine how far along they are in achieving their goals. For many of the artists in attendance, this was an eye-opening experience - so much so, that we plan to dedicate an entire blog post to this rubric in the near future!

Other sessions throughout the conference dug into the business of being an artist, including Elaine Luttrull's talk on Financial Literacy for Creatives. "Elaine's talk is vital to any artist who hasn't nailed down the business elements of their work," said Leslie.

If you missed the conference, the Tamarack Foundation is hosting a Virtual Arts Business Submit this Wednesday from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm. The four-hour training will cover marketing, portfolio careers for arts businesses, pitching a show and artist talk, and getting your work seen, led by regional leaders, including Elaine Luttrull. If you are interested in attending, reach out to Domenica Queen at dqueen@tamarackfoundation.org!

We wish more people knew about this event

While there was a great turnout of local and regional artists and arts organizations at this year's conference, we all agree that we wish more people had taken advantage of this amazing opportunity. "It deserves more folks showing up," said Leslie. "I had never heard of it before this year, but it would have been great to have gone earlier in my career. I have been telling friends who teach to share it with their students next year!"

We’ll be spreading the word, too! We thank the Parkersburg Art Center, Tamarack Foundation for the Arts, and Arts Collaborative of the Mid-Ohio Valley for bringing this conference to our region and we hope it continues to reach more artists each and every year.