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Advocating for the Arts: An Artist Responsibility

Advocating for the Arts: An Artist Responsibility

Nathalie Rayne, Director of Communications, Marketing & Translation

As an organization who promotes the creation of art by funding professional artists, artsnb staff spends countless hours contributing to the advancement of our artists’ careers and supporting artistic excellence in New Brunswick culture through:

• Capacity building through direct funding and programming innovations. Examples of such funded projects can be found in our annual report, and our most recent LGA winnners can be found here;
• Engagement through discipline-specific meetings, tripartite meetings, partnerships with government departments and social media. Currently we are working with our Youth advisory committee to organize National Youth Arts Week activities;
• And partnerships with other organizations to help us move forward with our strategic plan.

Advocacy for us includes promoting and facilitating the creation of the arts, facilitating the enjoyment and understanding of the arts, as well as advising government on arts policy. As a partner in the delivery of public funds to the arts, we take our job seriously.

But advocacy cannot stop with artist organizations. It’s also the responsibility of each artist to promote art in the province of New Brunswick and beyond. Let other artists know about our programs and how they have helped you in your career. Be an advocate for organizations such as Artslink NB and AAAPNB who themselves host several workshops throughout the year that benefit artists in their career development. They are also advocates for artists in both languages and work towards unifying artists within New-Brunswick with their own arts promotion efforts.

Social media is a great (and mostly free) way for artists to help us get the word out by promoting their events and exhibitions. Did you receive funding from artsnb and as a result are now showing your work? Did you get funding for a career development opportunity and have travelled to take a workshop, or to attend a festival? Take a photo of your work or yourself, tag us on social media (@artsnb on Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Instagram) and use the Hastag #artsnb.

Make use of our social media followers to promote your work! It’s a quick and easy way to start growing your community and will help in the larger picture of helping artists be recognized for their contributions to the development of society in the province.