Social Networks of Ithaca Area Visual Artists
 

Overview

The goal this research was to use short, informal interviews with local artists and craftspeople involved in community arts organizations to gather data on the specific social networks of these individuals. These data will be used to create a matrix of connections between these subjects to help demonstrate empirically the ways in which local artists and craftspeople gain support for their work. A preliminary summary of the results is provided below.
 

Organizations Chosen for Study

Four community arts organizations were identified whose members would be contacted for participation in the study. These organizations were chosen because they represent a broad range of opportunities in the Ithaca area for individuals from fine artists to craftspeople to display artwork and potentially derive income from it as well.

• Handwork Co-op (36 members): A permanent storefront on the Commons that has been in business for 26 years. Although there are a handful of buy/sell pieces in the store, the vast majority of products available are produced by local artisans who are members of the co-op. Gaining membership into Handwork is a lengthy, rigorous process of invitations, presentations, juries and trial membership. Members are required to work 26 days out of the year regardless of their sales figures. There is no master list of artists available in the brochure or website, so the artists names were taken by searching and cross referencing artists listed in individual craft categories on the website.
   
• Ithaca Farmers Market (45 members): Although farmers and food vendors comprise 60% of this market, it is still the organization in Ithaca that provides the most income producing opportunity to the artists lucky enough to have a permanent spot. It is located on the waterfront in an open air pavilion created out of the combined labor of the participants. Full membership takes years to obtain and is based on seniority and each member is required to contribute or buy out of a required number of work hours each season. The complete list of craftspeople is available on the website, although they are listed by business name, not personal name. Personal names were obtained by referencing artisans individually through the site in order to cross reference with the other lists.
   
• Ithaca Festival (38 of 96 members from Ithaca area): This popular community event happens one weekend a year, and combines a variety of performers, craftspeople and food vendors to make for a fun family event with much participation from the community. Two lists were developed in regards to this event; one of the performers and one of the craftspeople, each cut and pasted from the online lists of participants. The craftspeople were listed by business name, not personal name, so where a link was provided it was searched to determine personal name and then home location. The list of performers was also cut and pasted from the online list, and then was subsequently color coded according to type of performer (musicians, singer/songwriters, dancers and theatre/spoken word) and then assigned a number to rate level of professionalism (5 being the most professional, 1 being the most amateur). It was discovered in the course of the contact and scheduling process that the lists were slightly incomplete, most likely due to last minute cancellations and rescheduling, but still gives an accurate enough representation of the sample.
   
• Ithaca Art Trail (51 members): The idea for this organization originated with local jewelry designer and entrepreneur Micki Roof as a companion to the Wine Trails when she realized that although Ithaca had a reputation for 'being artsy' no one knew where to find these artists in order to buy their work. Now in its fourth year, the Art Trail has been handed over to the local non profit, CAP (Community Arts Partnership) which administers the project through the paid position occupied by Robin Schwartz. Unlike the other organizations which provide a central location, the Art Trail is a reference guide to the artists own studios spread throughout the greater Ithaca area. Although the guide is available throughout the year, for two consecutive weekends in October all the artists agree to host 'open studios' and the event is publicized. This was by far the easiest list to create, given the beautifully and professionally organized website with each artist listed alphabetically.
   

Interviews

A total of 38 artists who were members in one or more of the four artist organizations were interviewed either in person or on the phone. Data were entered into a spreadsheet for future analysis and development of a social network matrix. Initial observations are described below.
 

Initial Observations

• Even before doing an official sort of the data and cross referencing of the names, it became apparent during the interview process that there were a number of key individuals who are essential to linking artists with each other and to organizations. There are those who perhaps do not spend as much time on their own art but without whom hub organizations would not exist.
   
• Most of the artists interviewed, especially those heavily involved in the community, were all too aware of the intricacies and difficulties of trying to make a living as an artist and the problem of how to best fund the arts. They had strong opinions and suggestions and these were abbreviated and noted as asterisked comments on the spreadsheet.
   
• Although organizations like the Farmers Market and Handwork are key to the financial success of their participants, they are in many ways 'closed' organizations. An artist trying to gain access to a lucrative Saturday spot at the Farmers Market would have to spend years working up the seniority system to get into that place.
   
• One thing I noted in the process of visiting studios is that virtually none of the artists rented commercial studio space, with one exception. Most artists owned their home themselves or with a spouse and had studio space in either the house or a nearby building. Many artists had spent a great deal of sweat equity building out these studios. This leads me to make the suggestion that an effort to develop the arts in a community might involve subsidizing studio space for artists in a town that are not in a position to own their own home but cannot afford competitive commercial rents.
   
• Many very talented artists are not entrepreneurial types and are reluctant to, if not downright bad at, promoting their work. For example, one of the artists I interviewed was shy and abrupt but polite in the initial phone contact, and took time to warm up to a conversation. She commented on how she really did not enjoy doing art shows because she had a hard time talking about her work in a 'salesman' kind of way. She gains contacts with galleries by entering her work in regional NY state museum shows which gallery owners visit and then track her down. The most entrepreneurially oriented artist I interviewed remarked on how she learned it all herself and did not have much in the way of mentorship. She also expressed frustration about trying to develop shared business opportunities for other artists but not being able to 'hold their hand' through the business side of it. This leads me to the suggestion that it would be helpful for the development of the arts for artists to have access to professional marketing opportunities and business advice focused specifically on their unique types of situations, rather than to expect artists to be naturally inclined towards these things.
   
• Not a single artist interviewed claimed they were in it for the money. Most relied on funding and support from spouses, teaching jobs or retirement funds. They do this work because they have a passion for the work itself, and some are motivated to innovate and create their own exhibition and sales opportunities for themselves and others.

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