June 23rd, 2010 Archives

Energizing Spokane’s Creative Scene

It’s been almost a year since RiverSpeak kicked itself off the Spokane sidewalks and onto the web.

Since then, we’ve gathered hundreds of fans and members, and helped connect the community to the many artists, groups, blogs, and gatherings that (if you haven’t noticed) are sprouting up in spades this year. It’s wonderful to see Spokane in full creative bloom.

At our last board meeting, we brainstormed (via crayons) the direction RiverSpeak should change. The metaphors varied, but core of what we want RiverSpeak to be came out:

Naaman Cordova-Muenzberg believes we should be place to plugin to the arts in Spokane, to provide energy and light to the arts community.

Crystal Clark emphasized the need for balance of energy between individuals in the community and RiverSpeak, and that by both giving and taking, we'd sustain RiverSpeak and Spokane's arts.

Derek Jones believed we should help shower Spokane with the many types of arts--helping them be visible and accessible (very good depiction of the ice rink, too).

Taylor Weech organized the functions of the group: uniting, engaging, collaborating, and finding opportunities/support.

What vision would be complete without a happy mob with torches ready to take over the city? Greg Thomson, our web genius, emphasized mobilizing the community.

Brooke Matson saw RiverSpeak as nurturing the artistic garden that is Spokane, so that individual artists can shine and grow (with organic compost, of course).

After a healthy discussion on sustainability (and whose crayons had the coolest color names), we settled on some changes you can look forward to on the new site we hope to launch before October:

RiverSpeak.net will become more like a forum with member-generated content on the front page rather than hidden in member blogs. In fact, Collective members’ RiverSpeak blogs will go away completely, so that each member’s work will be on the front page (no more confusing dashboards or links!)

How will this be done? Posts from Collective members’ personal art blogs (not on RiverSpeak.net) can be syndicated to RiverSpeak.net, thus showing up on the front page for viewers to see. RiverSpeak editors can even categorized posts based on content.If you don’t already have a free blog for you art, writing, photography, or work, get one! That way when the new site rolls around, you’ll be ready. Wordpress or Blogger are free and easy to use.

With a few exceptions, the new RiverSpeak.net will no longer post arts events, but our Facebook page is open space to post your arts events. After all, when your looking for events, where do you go except Facebook? Instead, RiverSpeak.net will focus on content, like a virtual gallery of the latest work in Spokane.

Keep watching RiverSpeak.net for the latest information, opportunities, and changes.

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