Dig into New England's Free Directory
of Creative Enterprises and Artists
Spring 2021 Newsletter
"While You Are Out" by Sova Theater, Photo by Linda van Egmond
Spring is springing - the birds are singing; CreativeGround's growth is just beginning! We celebrate Asian American and Pacific Island American (AAPI) New Englanders this month and are grateful for their contributions to and influences on our region's creative economy. Read on for tips and tricks, opportunities, and more.
What's Up with CreativeGround?
We planted seeds for a richer CreativeGround two years ago, when we created a sustainable growth plan with consultants. Now, we are excited to tease some prototype design elements for the website upgrade. Note our refreshed logo (above) that resembles a raised garden bed - the individual plot dots representing the individual contributors to the fertile ecosystem of New England's creative economy. We're quite into the community garden metaphor!

Keep scrolling to peek at the new Search function that combines Search and Explore while keeping your favorite features (like narrowing by discipline, mapping, or searching by location). You'll note an overall brighter, rounder, and friendlier experience. We cannot wait to share the refreshed site with you this year!
In the meantime...
Get Involved



- Nominate a profile to be featured on the website 
- Indicate your interest in blogging about the sector 
- Indicate your interest in being a Community Cultivator 

Tell Your Story


We're gathering self/community care tips to share back with the creative community. Share your care tips via this webform, or get started by reviewing Self Care Showers and Artist Flowers.

screenshot of search results on the upgraded CreativeGround website - profile summaries are in circles, and there are adjustable Sort and Filtering options
Screenshot of a prototype of the Search functionality on the soon-to-be-launched refreshed CreativeGround site
CreativeGround Profiles To Explore
Freshly Picked

Check out new featured profiles on CreativeGround! Read the latest Featured Profiles blog to get the high level information, then check out their profiles to learn more, and/or get some inspiration for your own profile updates.
Jin Hi Kim of Asian Sound Revolution
Photo by Bleue Liverpool
Dirt-y Dancing: What Your CreativeGround Neighbors are Digging Into

NEFA's Regional Dance Development Initiative (RDDI): New England Now is happening now. RDDI convenes in a different region of the U.S. every few years to engage with dance artists and leaders of that area. This artist lab focuses on abundance, health, and collectively building a future filled with opportunities for New England dance to thrive. Read about the panelists and the cohort of twelve artists (including Chavi Bansal, Aretha Aoki, and Ian Berg).
Chavi Bansal (Massachusetts)
Aretha Aoki
(Maine)
Ian Berg
(Massachusetts)
Helpful Hint/Tech Tip
Spring Cleaning 101
Freshen Up Your Online Profile

We polled our readers and found that most people search CreativeGround by discipline. For the best Search Engine Optimization (SEO), make sure your Description of Work and Background section talks about the work that you do. Focus on explaining the selections you've made for your lists of disciplines and activities.

Are you doing something that isn't listed as an option on your CreativeGround profile? Let us know.

How else are people most likely to explore CreativeGround? By institution business type. Make sure you have selected the correct one.
"World on Fire" by Rebecca Pempek
Dig Deeper: Cleaning profiles that aren't yours

Does CreativeGround's online presentation of your community have inaccuracies? View profiles that may have closed, relocated, or mutated into a new venture. Click on "Flag this profile for review" to let a CreativeGround team member know!
Poll: Springing Back Into Action
What will most support your reemergence into the post-quarantine arts world this summer?
Advice around compliance with public health guidelines
Space (to create/make/rehearse, to present, to showcase)
Funding (grants, partnerships, job opportunities)
Tools and materials (including technology)
Relationships (with community, collaborators, arts leaders...)
Tell us more: We want to share back resources for you that are helpful. Use this webform to give more context to your response (or give an answer not offered).
Resource Round up
Regional
National
A dragon mural is attached to a barred fence; it is composed of silvery discs - like CDs
Engine Inc. (ME) seeks Artist-in-Residence for Fringe Fest 2019.
NEFA's monthly opportunities blog lists upcoming regional and national deadlines for grants, professional development, gigs, and more.

Regional Opportunities

Your State Arts Agency



Zoomed in view of an onstage Black woman singing joyfully into the microphone. She wears traditional African clothes and holds one arm aloft.
Photo by PolicyLink's CommunityDevelopment.Art
National Endowment for the Arts

Additional National Highlights
CreativeGround on the "Ground"
Are you planning any events in which you might want CreativeGround involved? We're considering virtual and in person events for the near future. Let us know what you have planned and how we can support your community by emailing creativeground@nefa.org.
CONTACT
Morganna Becker (she/her/hers)
Community Engagement Coordinator, Creative Economy
CreativeGround@nefa.org | 617-951-0010 x535
A project of the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), CreativeGround is brought to you through ongoing partnerships with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Connecticut Office of the Arts, the Maine Arts Commission, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, and the Vermont Arts Council.
At the New England Foundation for the Arts, we believe that one of the roles of the arts is to make the invisible, visible. We also believe that it is not the responsibility of those who have been made invisible to remind us that they are still here. Therefore, as a committed ally, NEFA acknowledges that the ground on which we work is the traditional land of the Massachuset and Wampanoag people; we honor their ancestors past, present, and future, and recognize their continued existence and contributions to our society. 

NEFA also acknowledges that all the places that our distributed staff live and work, and where we provide support and hold events, are Indigenous lands. We offer our respect to the Elders – past, present, and future.
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