First I would like to thank all of you for being willing to explore the potential of this artist community. Personally, I searched for every possible tool I could devise to help artists, whether it be a job board catered to our needs, community articles, and even a podcast all with the focus of educating artists on the business of art. Unfortunately, this endeavor has been extremely time consuming and now expensive. The platform I use (Ning.com) is now going to charge us $250 dollars a year. In 2010, we made $100 from the job board. I was hoping that between the various avenues of incidental revenue I could cover the cost of running the site. With the price increase that is not the case.

Unless, we can come up with another $150 dollars BeYourArt.com will have to close it doors. Since I don’t have the time to maintain the site and keep deleting mass influx of sex/dating profiles, this might be for the best. Again thank you all for what you have put into this great community. This has been an invaluable experience for me and I’ve learned an immensely about what it takes to run such a site, but more importantly I come to love all your art and your individual passion to share it.

The provider Ning.com doesn’t list when the BeYourArt.com will come up for renewal. I’m waiting to hear back from them. I’ll keep you all posted as to the closing date. Please send an questions to jm@beyourart.com. Thank you all again and good luck on your artistic endeavors.

Sincerely,

Judah Mahay,
Creator of BeYourArt.com
judahmahay.com

Listings

This is broken up into five categories. General Listings, which does what it says in being the catch all. Workshops and Studio Space listings will helps artists learn and find housing. We also have a free Marketplace for artists to sell stuff much like Craigslist.

Lastly, is a fun new idea entitled the Exchange, which will allow artists to off their artistic services in exchange for other artistic services (since we lack money why not revert to the old barter system). Prime example is the potter can give a few of his prize clay pots away to a photographer who will exchange take pictures of all of her art to post online. There is great potential with this method of interaction.

Questions & Answers

There is also a new section, which will allow artists to post questions and the community then can answer to the best of their knowledge. We really like this idea in that it cuts to the core of community collaboration.

Other Updates

We did a bit of refinement to the navigation and the home page. If you have anymore suggestions please let us know.

Recently, we posted a few ideas to the startup Appswell.com. Each month this company takes the idea with the highest rating and develops it into an app for the iPhone or iTouch.

Below is a list of some of the ideas we posted. If you like what you see, please vote to help them be considered for development. Detailed information is provided for each app through the links.

In order to vote, register with Appswell.com (it takes about thirty seconds) then go to the links below. Also, the company factors in comments as well as the votes in the selection process, so please leave your thoughts and suggestions.

iAuthor
Take control of your novel. All your ideas, your outline, your glossary, your timeline, your notes, and so much more in one place to help develop your dream novel. Being a writer, I can’t think of a better app to help my career as a novelist.
http://appswell.com/site/idea/136

Singer’s Toolkit
Sing a single note into your iPhone and the notation will appear on the screen. No need for a piano to begin your songs. This is also a great way to practice pitch.
http://appswell.com/site/idea/96

Be Your Art
Want to know how people succeed in the art world? Find out from quick and easy audio notes. Give advice, share ideas, ask questions, meet like-minded artists (writers, painter, actors, etc), and rate/review what people post. Save your favorite notes, friend other artists, and even follow a specific topic or artist.
http://appswell.com/site/idea/262

Thank you all for your support in making BeYourArt.com an incredible resource for artists. Keep up the great work.

1st Place

“Happily Ever After”
By Julie Wilson
http://www.beyourart.com/profile/Julie

2nd Place

“Just Keep Smiling”
By Anna Katsavos
http://www.beyourart.com/profile/AnnaKatsavos

3rd Place

“The Last Gasp“
By Micki Peluso
http://www.beyourart.com/profile/MickiPeluso

*Don’t forget to subscribe to BeYourArt.com’s podcast on iTunes.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=317258161

“To Be Free”
By Robert Clarita
http://www.beyourart.com/profile/RobertClarita

“The Little Shootist”
By Micki Peluso
http://www.beyourart.com/profile/MickiPeluso

“Gentle Day”
By Jeff Foster
http://www.beyourart.com/profile/JeffFoster

“Good Intentions”
By Jean A. Headley
http://www.beyourart.com/profile/JeanHeadley

“Happily Ever After”
By Julie Wilson
http://www.beyourart.com/profile/Julie

“Just Keep Smiling”
By Anna Katsavos
http://www.beyourart.com/profile/AnnaKatsavos

The winning three stories will be announced in the next week.

*Don’t forget to subscribe to BeYourArt.com’s podcast on iTunes.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=317258161

BeYourArt.com is holding its first writing contest in conjunction with PhineArtDesigns.com and the North Shoreian Magazine. Submit your stories for the opportunity to win a free custom logo design by PhineArtDesigns.com (worth $500) developed specifically to promote the winner’s career.  The top three entries will be published in the North Shoreian Magazine.

Deadline
September 20th, 2009 (Closed)

1st Prize
Free artist logo by PhineArtDesigns.com (worth $500) along with publication in the North Shoreian Magazine.

2nd & 3rd Prize
Publication in the North Shoreian Magazine

Guidelines
Limit stories to 500-4000 words. We are accepting all unpublished fiction including genre fiction, but no erotica.

Three stories will be chosen by a jury to be published in the North Shoreian Magazine. The top story will be awarded a free artist logo design worth $500. You must be a member of BeYourArt.com to submit stories and to vote. Join BeYourArt.com (Free)

In order to be considered, please submit your story (Word, Text, Wordpad, Google Docs, or Pages are all acceptable formats) along with a link to your BeYourArt.com profile using our Submission Form or you can email us at submissions@beyourart.com with the subject heading “Writing Contest.”

Subscribe to Artcast on iTunes

BeYourArt.com has gone live with a podcast entitled Artcast. It is a video and audio podcast, which merge business and art for every kind of artist, so they may live their art without compromise.

We divide our podcast into the following categories:

Art Interruptions
- Dialogue on living as an artist, based on listener submitted questions. Send questions to artinterruptions@beyourart.com.

Art Notes
- Discussions about articles published on BeYourArt.com and elsewhere, dealing with the business aspects of living as an artist. Send your suggestions to artnotes@beyourart.com.

Street Talk
- Video interviews of artists and business professionals working in art.

Tirade
- Listener submitted podcasts featuring lessons on craft, thoughts on living as an artists, and more. Submit podcast to submissions@beyourart.com.

Don’t forget to subscribe to us on iTunes and leave a review.

http://jobs.beyourart.com

Let us know if you have questions and what you would like to see on BeYourArt.com as we continue to grow.

Great news, Ben Owens at PhineArtDesigns.com has donated a few concepts for making T-Shirts and the like. You can now choose between a design which has the BeYourArt.com logo in the middle, a painter, theatre masks, a dancer, and more. They’re really a lot of fun and I bought a few for myself already.

CafePress Store:
http://www.cafepress.com/beyourart

Zazzle Store:
http://www.zazzle.com/beyourart

Additionally, I’ve been printing fliers to help spread the word about BeYourArt.com and I added them to the store as well. So if you want to drop off some flier at your local coffee shop you now have the option. Let me know if you want anything else.

If I start making enough money to cover costs I’ll upgrade to a premium account ($7/month), which will let me put any design with any type of shirt. Currently, I can only have one design per type of shirt. Not bad for free. Also, the profit margin is only one US dollar per item. I”m not trying to make money here, just spread the word.

I hope you all like the new designs.

Blessings,

Judah Mahay,
Creator of BeYourArt.com
http://www.beyourart.com

http://www.beyourart.com/group/writersoasischat