Hire an Artist is launching!
We're going to talk about goods news, updates on what's happening and what opportunities we have for artists - All in this blog!
First off let me just say, if you've been following us since the start of 2016 you'll know we've been developing the new platform for Hire an Artist for quite a long time. We've had to make numerous delays. We originally said we'd launch August...then October...then December. And although it doesn't quite have as much buzz as Dr Dre's Detox album, it's certainly something to be looking forward to!
Summary of 2016
Over the past year and through into this January, our team has been working to get the new platform ready, easy to use and most importantly...complete!Now that we're soon to launch, I'd like to cover everything (Or rather list!) that we have achieved in 2016 thanks to your help.
- Raised over £60k funding!
- Attracted a high profile and highly successful investor & entrepreneur, Raj Dhonota
- Hire an Artist founder, Gareth Craven (Me!) graduated!
- Completed a 6-month programme within the world's largest business accelerator, Entrepreneurial Spark
- Re-branded the company! (We're much more colourful now!)
- First place in a Business Start-up competition, with £500 prize winnings!
- First place in a private pitching competition, with a bottle of wine prize!
- Became a semi-finalist in the UK's biggest business competition for students and graduates, NACUE Varsity
- Became a finalist in Britain's biggest small business competition, The Pitch 2016
- The finals were held at Google London HQ, eeeeee!
- Talked on BBC Radio Leeds with Raj Dhonota and Johnny I'Anson
- Supported by 123-Reg & Heg in the VOOM 2016 competition
- Supported by a small team of PR students from Leeds Trinity University
- Plenty of press coverage including BQLive, Bdaily & Yorkshire Evening Post!
- Numerous other achievements.
Do you know what? Reading over that list in my head, I've never really celebrated it. I'm advised by the people around me that we should reward ourselves for our achievements...I think I'll get a box of Krispy Kreme donuts for myself today. Make myself happy :)
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| Hire an Artist founder, Gareth Craven pitches at Google London as a finalist in The Pitch 2016! |
You know, I really could not thank you guys enough for what you've done to help get us this far. Even for those who think they haven't even done much (Like my Grandma who comes out with nothing but despair and doom!), just taking the time out of your day - even to read this blog - makes a world of a difference.
Enough soppy talk, what's happening now?
Well my friends, right now we are deploying the website! Official launch date is yet to come, I expect sometime in February. In the mean time we will be looking to be working with artists for numerous reasons, but mainly in preparation of the company relaunch. More on that later. For myself I will be polishing up the website, managing opportunities for artists and making sure we have a smooth transition for users from the old website to the new.
In addition to this I will be leading the team on attracting clients and work towards establishing a regular flow of work opportunities to artists. And with that comes a lot of fun in seeing client's ideas come to life, creating amazing artwork! Ahhh, I'm excited just thinking about it. :D
When the website launches
When the site launches your email address should already work, if this is the case you just need to recover your password in the log-in section - We couldn't keep your password for security reasons.To the folk out there that wish to commission a piece of artwork, getting started only takes a few minutes once you've logged in! Just fill in the details about what you want your artwork to be and you're off! The payment process is now more streamlined, making it easier and faster to process and manage your payments.
To the folk out there that wish to be creative all day and create art, your profiles have been given a clear makeover from the old website! Profiles are now better tailored to best fit an artistic profile! Display of artwork is now the main point of focus, the portfolio is smooth to run and browse through and text has been minimised so the artwork can have as much impact as it can upon potential clients.
What happens after that?
Once the site launches we grow!
Our mission is to make bespoke artwork accessible to everyone!
Everything we do will aim towards that.
I've worked in this market for over 3 years now, and you would be surprised at the sheer scale, that artists have to quit their artistry, that people think art isn't for them, that it's some kind of exclusive right for the rich or (As one charming ol' lady said) 'the higher ups'.
There are two groups of people here who genuinely want to create some amazing pieces of art, so why can't we put them together? - Well that's what we'll do.
And on a side note, I'm getting extremely giddy over seeing what artwork will be created through Hire an Artist!
And that is it for the news! I hope this clears up some of the questions you may have (Albeit not all) and more importantly you've enjoyed reading this update. As mentioned on social media, email newsletters will be going out shortly and you will be notified when the site goes live - There's a lot of people who are looking forward to using this, I trust you'll benefit from the hard work that's been put in :)Our mission is to make bespoke artwork accessible to everyone!
Everything we do will aim towards that.
I've worked in this market for over 3 years now, and you would be surprised at the sheer scale, that artists have to quit their artistry, that people think art isn't for them, that it's some kind of exclusive right for the rich or (As one charming ol' lady said) 'the higher ups'.
There are two groups of people here who genuinely want to create some amazing pieces of art, so why can't we put them together? - Well that's what we'll do.
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| I may not get involved personally, but you have no idea how happy seeing your artwork makes me! ... And your stories! ... And the reactions! |
Thank you all so much for making this happen!
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| Let's go create incredible things together |
Bonus content for artists: What do you need?
Well my friends! *Drops giant list which rolls across the floor*We have opportunities for your work to be prominently featured, along with a few requests too. It mostly comes down to artwork! We've got a fresh new website which is in need of being populated with artists & artwork!
Below are 6 ways you can help, while also helping yourself too!
- Artwork to be used in advertising (Online)
- Artwork to be used in advertising (Leaflets & other promo material)
- Behind the scenes content/Sharing your story
- Artwork to be featured on the home page
- Developing your artist profile and portfolio on the website
- Artists interested in B2B opportunities
There will be more details to come via a newsletter but you can of course email me at gareth.craven@hireanartist.co
