At the Creative City Centre, we understand how important it is for artists to be active in the digital realm; yet the advancement of technology and the changing landscape of the digital era has made it difficult for some artists to stay ahead of the curve.  When it comes to the business of art, artistic talent is just one (important) factor.  Artists must also know how to market and promote themselves through social media, especially now in these post-pandemic days.  In order to reach new audiences and engage with an audience online, artists need to understand the strategy behind social media campaigns and how to track campaign successes or failures.  The Creative City Centre, funded by the Canada Council for the Arts’ Digital Strategy Fund and Creative Saskatchewan, and in partnership with SaskMusic and Sâkêwêwak Artists Collective, has launched SMMART to help creatives learn essential social media marketing tools needed to succeed online.

WHAT IS ?

SMMART stands for “social media marketing for artists”.  SMMART aims to provide Saskatchewan artists with opportunities to create new digital content and then give them the skillset to turn that content into the various marketing products that will help them increase their profile online, gain new audiences and engage with both collaborators and consumers in new ways.  Through eight online social media marketing workshops, taught in a weekly session by marketing experts at Strategy Lab, artists will gain the knowledge to take their new digital content and use it to further their careers by creating strategic social media marketing campaigns.

WHEN?

Applications will be accepted now with a deadline of June 25, 2021.  Artists will be notified if they were accepted into the program by the end of July 2021.  The digital content creation will occur in August and September.  The online training program will commence in October or November and run until January/February 2022 (allowing a break for winter holidays.)  Because this is a pilot project, the timeline is subject to change.  It will depend on how quickly we can get people scheduled for the video shoots, editing and other factors.

WHO CAN APPLY?

We are looking for professional Saskatchewan artists who are interested in increasing their online presence and social media marketing knowledge.  Applicants must have the desire and need to further their social media marketing skills, gain followers on social media and improve their digital content.  Applicants must be willing to commit to attendance at all training sessions and to dedicating an investment of time into developing their social media campaigns. We are accepting applications from three disciplines: 16 music/recording artists, 10 performance artists and 14 visual artists for a total of 40 artists. Our definition of “professional artist” is fairly fluid:  if you have performed or exhibited your work in public or have been paid to perform or exhibit your work, you are eligible for this program.  Our definition of a performance artist is also pretty fluid: spoken word, dance, theatre, comedy, etc.

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