CreativeGround on the Road

On the road again... we just can't wait to get on the road again...

Birds are chirping, the sun is up, and the earth is thawing. The CreativeGround team is warming up, too – for our spring travel extravaganza to various New England communities! We’ll be hosting or exhibiting  at workshops, conferences, and events across the New England states to spread the knowledge re: NEFA’s free online cultural directory, CreativeGround as well as NEFA’s New England and national grant programs. Click on an event link below to learn more about how you can join us in person. As always, feel free to send an email to creativeground@nefa.org to explore ways to bring CreativeGround staff to your locale.

Arts Alive! Monadnock: Artist to Artist Series: CreativeGround and NEST Grants workshop

April 3, 2019
Sharon Arts Gallery
Peterborough, NH

CreativeGround staff will provide an overview of CreativeGround including tips on the process of creating and updating a comprehensive profile that maximizes the profile’s searchability. The workshop will also demonstrate the detailed search options and the best ways to locate organizations, artists, and creative businesses engaging in specific disciplines, activities and services directed to certain populations and geographic regions. Register to learn about CreativeGround as well as NEFA’s New England States Touring (NEST) Grant and how to become a NEST-eligible artist.

American College Dance Association (ACDA) New England Conference

April 4-7, 2019
Toolkit Session, April 4 at 10:45 AM
Plymouth State University
Plymouth, NH

New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) will provide a dance-focused conversation about NEFA’s presenting and touring grants (New England and national), as well as a demonstration of CreativeGround, NEFA’s free online cultural directory.  CreativeGround quantifies and spotlights the region’s robust creative community and enables users to find and connect with the region’s cultural nonprofits like theaters and community centers, artists of all disciplines, and creative businesses like design and marketing firms.

The CreativeGround team will guide individuals and organizations through the process of creating and updating a comprehensive profile maximizing the profile’s searchability. This session will also showcase the detailed search options and the best ways to locate organizations, artists, and creative businesses engaging in specific disciplines, activities and services that make up New England’s unique creative economy.

Vermont Creative Network 3CVT Mashup

April 17, 2019
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
The Engine Room
White River Junction, VT

Cornerstone Creative Community (3CVT) will be hosting this social gathering for all working in the Creative Economy of Vermont to enjoy a night of networking, great food, discussion and information. The primary focus is to discuss marketing and branding strategies to help grow the Creative Economy sector of Vermont’s individual communities, and on the whole as a state. CreativeGround staff will be present to give an overview of the CreativeGround cultural directory as a resource to the Vermont Creative Network zones and the creatives that call Vermont home, as well as to provide insights on leveraging CreativeGround as a tool to quantify and highlight the creative economy in local communities and across the Vermont. RSVPs are encouraged by April 10, 2019.

Register on EventBrite
Check out the Facebook event.
Contact Kimberly at kgilbert@trorc.org with any questions.

Maine Arts + Culture Day

April 22, 2019
Expo Hall, 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM
CreativeGround Workshop, 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM
Maine State House, Hall of Flags
Augusta, ME

The CreativeGround team will be in Maine to celebrate Arts + Culture Day. This free and public event will increase awareness for the arts and its impact on Maine’s economy, education, community engagement, heritage, preservation, and more; the days activities will serve as an opportunity to strengthen relationships between arts leaders and public officials and to discuss policy improvements to Maine's cultural landscape. CreativeGround will have a table in the Hall of Flags to connect with individuals on the benefits of using the free online cultural directory for artists, advocates, creative business owners, and cultural organizations.
Individuals can register for a free CreativeGround workshop in the afternoon. CreativeGround staff will provide a live demo of the site and a step by step walk through of creating or finding your profile, as well as suggestions for how to use the site to search for cultural assets in your community.

Connecticut Library Association Annual Conference

April 29-30, 2019
Groton, CT

CreativeGround loves libraries and librarians- as they play a vital role in the New England Creative Economy as community knowledge keepers and cultural programmers. The CreativeGround team will be exhibiting at the CLA Annual conference, connecting with librarians about claiming and updating profiles, flagging out-of-date profiles in their communities, and using CreativeGround as a tool for finding (and funding!) programming and assisting artist constituents with creating a free, online, professional portfolio. 

Visit our booth and our vendor demo session – info TBA soon!

New Haven CreativeGround Info Session in partnership with International Festival of Arts and Ideas and New Haven Public Library

May 1, 2019, 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM
New Haven, CT

Register for this New Haven-local info session on CreativeGround and New England Presenting & Touring grants, in partnership with the International Festival of Arts and Ideas and the New Haven Public Library. CreativeGround staff will provide an overview of New England Presenting and Touring grants as well as a live demo of CreativeGround, NEFA’s free, online, cultural directory. The demo will highlight tips on the process of creating and updating a comprehensive profile that maximizes the profile’s searchability. Also, staff will review the detailed search options and the best ways to locate organizations, artists, and creative businesses engaging in specific disciplines, activities and services directed to certain populations and geographic regions.

CT Arts Day

May 2, 2019
New Haven, CT

The CreativeGround team will be in New Haven for Connecticut Arts Day. Our exact plans are still being confirmed, and this page will be updated once we have news to share!

Abbe Museum Indian Market

May 17-19, 2019
Bar Harbor, ME - traditional lands of the Wabanaki people

Peruse and purchase authentic Native American arts and crafts, attend the Indigenous Film Festival, and cheer on the Indian Market Fashion Show at the Second Annual Abbe Museum Indian Market. NEFA’s New England team, in partnership with Northeast Indigenous Arts Alliance, is funding select New England Native American artists to attend and sell their wares at market, and NEFA staff will be in attendance throughout the weekend’s events to spread awareness of how NEFA supports our regional indigenous artists, including the Native American Artists roster on CreativeGround. Can’t wait? Check out the artists at this year’s market in the meantime.

Creative Communities Exchange (CCX)

June 6-7, 2019
Montpelier, VT

The biennial Creative Communities Exchange (CCX) gathers people from across New England who connect creative work to community goals. An energizing networking and learning event, participants share ideas and discuss strategies about how to make inclusive creative communities happen. This year’s event will include a reception celebrating CreativeGround’s five-year anniversary on June 6. Stop by the CreativeGround table to learn more about CreativeGround as a resource and how various New England communities and creatives utilize their profile(s) to spotlight the creative people and places at work in New England. Register soon as spots fill quickly.

Unable to attend one of these events? Become a CreativeGround whiz by watching webinar recordings on at www.creativeground.org/resources.

Know of an event in New England that CreativeGround should add to the itinerary? Contact us at creativeground@nefa.org to put it on our radar. We hope to see you soon!