{"id":16620,"date":"2020-05-29T23:58:55","date_gmt":"2020-05-30T03:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=16620"},"modified":"2020-05-30T12:03:37","modified_gmt":"2020-05-30T16:03:37","slug":"creative-collective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2020\/05\/29\/creative-collective\/","title":{"rendered":"How Creative Collective Is Helping Artists And Makers Adapt To Coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve made it so people feel like they can make it,\u201d John Andrews, founder and managing director of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.creativecollectivema.com\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Creative Collective<\/a>, told me a couple weeks back. <\/p>\n<p>The Salem organization describes itself as &#8220;a business program designed to provide opportunities, connections, marketing, collaborations, resources and support for the creative industries.&#8221; It&#8217;s part chamber of commerce, part arts association, part tourism and destination marketing organization. It has about 215 members, Andrews says, ranging from \u201cindividual artists, restaurants, retails\u201d to a copyright and trademark attorney and Salem\u2019s Peabody Essex Museum.<\/p>\n<p>Creative Collective offers business support to its members\u2014workshops, marketing, banking, finance, legal assistance. They operate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.creativenorthshore.com\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Creative North Shore<\/a>, an online guide to culture in the area highlighting members\u2019 activities. And they give arts and culture a seat at the table with business and government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChambers of commerce don\u2019t talk to a lot of freelancers and giggers and artists,\u201d Andrews says. \u201cThey know how to do business, but they don\u2019t know how to do business in a completely unsure market. \u2026 We\u2019re used to hustling to find work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since stay-at-home recommendations arrived in March to help stem the spread of coronavirus, Andrews says, Creative Collective has been  \u201cteaching people how to pivot, teaching people how to be nimble.\u201d As art venues closed, day jobs that may artists use to get by were also shrinking or disappearing. \u201cI think people are coming to grips that they\u2019re not going to be able to live the lifestyle they\u2019re used to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to get back to a better normal,\u201d Andrews says. \u201cI want to get back to a more sustainable normal. I don\u2019t want to get back to what it was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/416928599?portrait=0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>At the beginning, Creative Collective\u2019s message was: \u201cWe have no idea how long we\u2019re going to be locked down, so let\u2019s put everything online.\u201d Some paused, some shut down. \u201cWhere are the windows of opportunity? And are you ready? Are you prepared?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some Creative Collective members have pivoted to completely online stores. Some restaurant members have added grocery sales<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not pressuring anyone,\u201d Andrews says. \u201cI\u2019ve talked a handful of members off ledges.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Andrews adds, \u201cIt\u2019s all about staying afloat right now. It\u2019s not about getting ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/420290848?color=ffa1cd&#038;byline=0&#038;portrait=0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Since the coronavirus shut down began in March, Andrews says Creative Collective has offered more that 150 livestreams\u2014online drag shows, music, live painting workshops, \u201cVirtual Drink N Draw\u201d hangouts, free writing, trivia. They\u2019re helping North Shore Pride reimagine this year\u2019s festival as online events. <\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ve also offered guidance and online trainings to help their members adapt. They help artist set up Venmo accounts for online payments. They\u2019ve offered instruction on how to host Zoom events and help moderate the livesteams. Andrews says, \u201cWe invest in the technology so they have the tech to use.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/411109030\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan you have private events? Can you do that safely?\u201d Andrews asks members. \u201cAre you able to transition your stuff outdoors?\u201d They\u2019re looking into producing socially-distanced outdoor performances. They\u2019ve worked with restaurants to make picnic kits with art included\u2014like hiring artists to make color-your-own Mother\u2019s Day cards included in take-out bags.<\/p>\n<p>Andrews says the institutional relationships Creative Collective has built allows him to be at the table with government and business to ask questions like is there plan to subsidize masks and other personal protective equipment?<\/p>\n<p>Andrews sees the adaptations creators are making as skills to use now and keep in their back pockets for the future. Facing a snowstorm that would have cancelled your event in the past, now you can move it online. Or in the future, combine live events with streaming to increase audiences. <\/p>\n<p>Andrews says, \u201cDeveloping the skill sets and tool boxes now is key.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/wonderlandlandfanclub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And <a href=\"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/subscribe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don&#8217;t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve made it so people feel like they can make it,\u201d John Andrews, founder and managing director of Creative Collective, told me a couple weeks back. The Salem organization describes itself as &#8220;a business program designed to provide opportunities, connections, marketing, collaborations, resources and support for the creative industries.&#8221; It&#8217;s part chamber of commerce, part [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16626,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[706,763,764,765,46],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16620"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16620"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16627,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16620\/revisions\/16627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}