Social | #ArtistHotline Returns to Twitter on June 20

Next up on #ArtistHotline: social media skills, gallery jobs, and more arts career topics. Tweet using the hashtag to join!

Start the summer off strong and set aside some time to fine tune your arts career goals. #ArtistHotline, a professional development Twitter chat that takes place on the third Wednesday of each month, is the perfect forum to brainstorm with other creatives on how to make your vision a reality. The schedule for each #ArtistHotline covers a range of topics for artists in a variety of disciplines through a generalized Open Chat, while also examining select key themes in-depth through a Guest Chat segment and an Arts Administrator Q&A. Read on to learn what we have planned for this month’s #ArtistHotline, and to find pointers for participating.

June 20 #ArtistHotline Schedule

• 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM EST: #ArtistHotline begins with an Open Chat. During this segment, ask questions and receive advice on any arts career topic. Planning a group exhibition and want tips for publicizing it? Feeling stumped by an application process, or wondering how to find resources for parent artists? Ask these questions during the Open Chat, and NYFA staff, partner organizations, and artists will chime in with solutions.
• 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM EST: During the “Building a Social Media Presence” Guest Chat, we’ll host a virtual panel featuring Oscar-nominated director Lexi Alexander, Seed&Spark CEO Emily Best, editorial strategist Robin Cembalest, and poet Dorothea Lasky. Alexander, Best, Cembalest, and Lasky will draw on their substantial social media experience to guide artists of all disciplines on cultivating and connecting with followers.
• 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM EST: The Arts Administrator Q&A will focus on “Gallery Careers” with the help of P.P.O.W Co-Owner Wendy Olsoff. If you’ve found the ideal gallery position on NYFA Classifieds and want tips for applying, or, if you currently work in a gallery and want advice on advancing in your career, this is your time to tweet questions! Not on the job hunt? This is also a great opportunity to take a sneak peak into the gallery world and artist representation.

Join the #ArtistHotline Conversation

Here’s how you can participate in #ArtistHotline throughout the day:

• If you don’t already have one, create a free Twitter account now.
• Follow the #ArtistHotline conversation live on Twitter.
• Tweet your questions using the hashtag #ArtistHotline in each tweet.

Want to join in but not sure how to get started? Try reading our Tips to Take Best Advantage of the Day. Then, chime in on Twitter on Wednesday, June 20!

“Building a Social Media Presence” Guest Chat Participants

Lexi Alexander, a former World Kickboxing Champion, worked her way up from stunt-woman to Oscar-nominated director with her live-action short film Johnny Flynton, a drama about a boxer. Alexander studied at the Piero Dusa Acting Conservatory and traveled to Russia to study the Nikolai Demidov technique, before helming feature films including the SXSW Jury & Audience Award winning drama Green Street Hooligans, Marvel’s Punisher: War Zone, and Lifted. Though she has ventured into television, where she has sold her own show to Blumhouse TV and directed episodes for shows such as Arrow, Supergirl, and Limitless, Alexander has been tempted back to the big screen for Chris Benoit’s real-life story, Crossface.

Find Alexander tweeting @Lexialex.

Emily Best is the founder and CEO of Seed&Spark, an entertainment platform aimed at increasing diversity and inclusion in entertainment…now. Seed&Spark’s crowdfunding platform has the highest campaign success rate in the world and its subscription-streaming service boasts the only library with gender parity among directors. Best has produced feature films, shorts, and virtual reality that have premiered at Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, Tribeca Film Festival, and elsewhere. Best is a co-creator of F*ck Yes!, a digital series about sexual consent.

Find Best tweeting @emilybest.

Robin Cembalest, journalist and editorial strategist, has been described by artnet as “one of the leading lights of art-world social media.” The former longtime executive editor of ARTnews, she has published widely in The Wall Street Journal and many other publications, and maintains her popular @rcembalest feeds on Instagram and Twitter. In her consulting business, Robin Cembalest Editorial Strategies, she works with art-world clients to design and implement editorial and digital content. She also founded and directs the Niboristas, a mentoring and networking group for young art-world professionals.    

Find Cembalest tweeting @rcembalest.

Dorothea Lasky is the author of five books of poetry, including Milk (Wave Books, 2018) and ROME (W.W. Norton/Liveright, 2014). She is the co-editor of Open the Door: How to Excite Young People About Poetry (McSweeney’s, 2013) and several chapbooks, including Poetry is Not a Project (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2010). Currently, she is an Associate Professor of Poetry at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, co-directs Columbia Artist/Teachers, and lives in New York City. Along with Alex Dimitrov, Lasky tweets for the collaborative Twitter account Astro Poets.

Find Lasky tweeting @DorotheaLasky.

“Gallery Careers” Arts Administrator Q&A

Wendy Olsoff is Co-Owner of P.P.O.W, which is known for exhibiting photography, representational painting, sculpture, and work with political and social relevance. Olsoff has lectured extensively throughout the United States at universities and museums and has volunteered on committees such as the Chicago Art Fair and Pulse Art Fair. The gallery is a founding member of SEVEN and Moving Image, and is a member of the Art Dealers Association of America. Olsoff is a Charter member of the Feminist Art Council at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum, and serves on the BRIC Arts Council, Brooklyn. P.P.O.W has placed artists’ work in significant museum collections and exhibitions. The gallery has represented Carrie Mae Weems, Nancy Spero, Carolee Schneemann, Martha Wilson, Sarah Oppenheimer, Dotty Attie, Julie Heffernan, Judy Fox, and Portia Munson among others. In 2012, Olsoff was a recipient of the Visual AIDS Vanguard Award for P.P.O.W.’s dedication and support of artists in the LGBTQ community and the gallery’s work to fight censorship. Learn more about P.P.O.W here.

Find Olsoff tweeting @PPOWGallery.

Inspired by the NYFA Source Hotline, #ArtistHotline is an initiative dedicated to creating an ongoing online conversation around the professional side of artistic practice. #ArtistHotline occurs on the third Wednesday of each month on Twitter. Our goal is to help artists discover the resources needed, online and off, to develop sustainable careers.

This initiative is supported by the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation.

Images: Jim Osman (Fellow in Crafts/Sculpture ‘17); courtesy Alexander, Best, Cembalest, Lasky, and Olsoff