While the number of urban art events grow in countries like Spain, do the artists’ salaries grow too? In most cases, wages will vary according to the street art festival size. Let’s dig deeper in this artistic movement.
According to Gerardo Reyna, graffiti tour guide at Cooltourspain, there exists a difference between the festivals which offer open-calls and the ones which invite guest artists.
There are several recommendations that we would like to suggest the urban art community. Here is our opinion on how to improve your activity:
What would a street art festival organizer like to observe online about the artist?
Put yourself into the shoes of a street art festival representative. What do you think that could take the interest of their creative department? Is there anything specific that they would like to see on your resumé?
Firstly, we would like to discuss about the online marketing strategies that any artist should follow if they expect to be assigned for the artworks. What are the tools that you would use to highlight your experience on the field?
Here is a brief list of items that you should check before submitting your application to participate at any urban art event in Spain:
- Create a wordpress site to include your outdoors & studio artworks,
- Communicate with the audience. What’s your influencer score?
- Stay active on social media, both Instagram & Facebook
1-. A developed website & blog (Portfolio)
One of the most important actions is to create a mobile friendly website. Include your resumé, attach any interviews in which you were featured, create content in a weekly basis for your blog and elaborate a keyword research.
If you don’t have the time to do that, our SEO specialists will help you develop an online strategy. If you are planning to beat the market in a short period of time, you should then invest in Google Advertisement or Facebook/Instagram Ads.
Last but not least, you should analyze the data, understand your targeted audience and work hard to apply for a street art festival. The more content you create, the wider audience you’ll reach!
2-. The importance of being a community leader for the street art festival
Connecting with people is as important as painting. You’ll have to create your own concept, defining a unique style and designing artworks with a story behind.
It is important to connect with the local communities where the professional graffiti is develop. Meet with them, investigate about the area/neighborhood where you will spray paint/roll up.
These are some of the topics covered in the current street art festival scene:
- Social issues. For instance: injustice, political & banking corruption…
- Global change. That is to say, climate issues and multiculturalism
- Local problems: gentrification, evictions, coronavirus
3-. Social media
Next, you should carefully design a social media strategy. Plan your posts with at least a month in advance, publishing content from your blog and videos from your youtube channel with interviews and ‘how to do’ guides.
Facebook and Instagram are the most common channels. Moreover, there exists groups according to people’s likes, which will help you boost your website visits. We would recommend you the following groups, with an average of 12.5K members each:
- Street art (best of)
- Art photos- StreetArt
- STREET-ART-WORLD-WIDE
- Banksy street art
4-. Why should you have an ecommerce?
Another element that you should take into account is an electronic commerce where you sell your canvas and studio artworks. Set different prices, include shipping and allow customers to pay with paypal or electronic card.
Imagine that you were painting at a street art festival and somebody is that interested in your graffiti mural that he/she wants to buy your paintings. You should lead him towards your website, where all your available products are on sale.
Which offline marketing strategies would you follow before applying to a street art festival?
Similarly, an artist should also pay attention to the offline strategies that could help you participate at any street art festival around the world. It’s true that at points it’s difficult to manage all these tasks, while also painting, but they are a must!
Did you create a business plan for your portfolio as artists? There exists a huge competency in the art market, and you should outstand among the rest of urban art producers.
The following information reproduces Javier Garcia’s words, Cooltourspain CEO and street art investigator. According to his thoughts, these are the best practices for artists this 2020:
4-. How often would you send a press release?
Contact magazines and newspapers to talk about your artwork. Linkedin is one of the best tools to connect with brand specialists and distribute your content for an audience interested in travelling and street art.
Why don’t you start with the following recommendations? Your success will all depend on what approach you give to your design. Have you sent a press release to your local network?
5-. Why should you count with a gallery owner representation for your street art festival application?
On top of that, there is a common practice among artists which also helps to participate at a street art festival. Are you represented by any art gallery? How often do you exhibit your artworks?
The contemporary art industry pays a lot of attention to emergent artists. Imagine the way that Banksy started and how much money does he earn now by selling his artworks at the most important art auctions.
The gallery owners’ connections may help you advertise your mural decorations, and offer you a position at a leading street art event.
Cooltourspain’s opinion about how to apply for a street art festival
We believe that only the 60% percent of the artists do use all the strategies mentioned in this article. If they would use them more often, they could create a positive impact in their artistic careers.
Don’t over think and start now! It’s time for you to put into practice all these effective practices.
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