[drupal-docs] Drupal for Artists [feedback appreciated]

[Farsheed]

As part of the ongoing effort to develop Drupal for
Artists & Musicians, I'm requesting feedback about
some preliminary work that's been done.  Please let me
know if anything sounds unclear or it seems like
something is missing, or, the goals of what I'm trying
to do are blurry.

The first task was to identify the challenges that
artists generally face through surveys and interviews;
however upon discovering that a more comprehensive,
nationwide survey had been completed by the Urban
Institute just 2 years ago, I have opted to use their
findings as a framework for this project.  Several
interviews I have already completed matched up to the
findings of the Urban Institute.  The redundancy
indicated to me that new research questions must be
asked to achieve the goals of the project.

Based on the comprehensive findings of the Urban
Institute’s 2003 artist survey [1], there are six
major challenges that almost all artists [2] face as a
community: 

1) Validation 
2) Demand & Markets
3) Material Supports 
4) Training & Development 
5) Communities & Networks 
6) Reliable sources of information about artists,
artist communities, and resources available to them

While all six dimensions are integral to an artist or
musician's career, it is necessary to prioritize these
needs by surveying artists further.  By finding out
what are the immediate challenges, solutions can be
prioritized by need.  

Goals of the survey should address the following:
1) Determine which of the six dimensions artists find
most important.
2) Specific prioritization of each dimension.
Validation, specifically:
	a) public recognition of work
	b) peer recognition of work
	c) formal criticism, reviews 
	d) media coverage 
	e) awards, grants, certifying recognition
	f) affiliation with training institutions
3) Demand & Markets
	a) ability to receive money or compensation for
artwork directly
	b) self marketing and promotion of artwork
	c) intermediaries that will provide marketing and
selling services
	d) finding grants, awards, or residencies
	e) traveling to showcase work
4) Material Supports
	a) finding space, equipment and materials
5) Training & Development
	a) learning opportunities to assist in career shifts
	b) arts-related employment
	c) peer-to-peer and mentoring relationships
6) Communities & Networks
	a) collaborating with artists on different projects
or shows
	b) importance of feeling connected to the local
community
	c) importance of feeling connected to national/world
community
	d) discovering and nurturing relationships with other
artists and 
	fans/interested persons

By determining which aspects are most important to the
average artist, we can then begin to see how Drupal
can meet those needs and prioritize development, or
readily create a document that explains how to use
Drupal "as-is" to meet those needs.  I am drafting up
a web survey to be distributed to different artist
communities to gather such data but would like your
feedback first.

Thanks,
Farsheed



[1] Investing in Creativity: A Study of the Support
Structures for U.S. Artists
http://www.usartistsreport.org/docs/pdf/comprehensivereport.pdf

[2] For this purposes of this project, an artist is
defined as someone who has artistic skills, has had
either formal or informal education and training,
attempts to derive financial income from their skills,
and is engaged in creating artwork and showing it to
the public.



		
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