I Heart Art: SF - Leadership Council Announcement

I Heart Art: SF is looking for YOU!

We're excited & still searching for a few more!
[Image from SF Etsy Member Sora Designs]

Thank you all so much for your help getting the word out & attending our recent launch for I Heart Art: SF, the 2011 Etsy Craft Party! It was a ton of fun & was great meeting you all in person!

We got a lot of great feedback about the things people would like to see included with I Heart Art: SF and were thrilled by all the excitement! We figured that it might be a good time to put out the call about our Leadership Council!

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Congrats to all our new

Leadership Council Members & Volunteers!

The following people have been accepted to be included in the I Heart Art: SF Leadership Council:

• Genevieve Robertson
• Lisa Anderson Shaffer
• Christie Anderson
• Shelly Kerry
• Stephanie Bolton
• Sara Ballenger
• Katy Atchison
• Shannon Paras
• Jen Johnson as Communications Coordinator for I Heart Art: SF

The following people have expressed interest in volunteering for I Heart Art: SF:

• Lauren Usher
• Alana Rivera
• Susan Leff

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As a rule for most Leadership Councils in the I Heart Art programs, there are up to 12 members in the Leadership Councils. This is mainly so that we can divide easily into committees of 3-4 people to perform different tasks in event planning, as well as offering a wider range of ideas to brainstorm when coming up with activities within our creative community.

We're very happy to announce that we have 4 more spots open on our Leadership Council & we'd love to hear from you!

If you're interested in being part of the I Heart Art: SF Leadership Council, please fill out this form by Friday, July 1st, 2011.Our Co-Chairs will be taking time to review the applications & will get back to you all with our newly-formed Leadership Council soon thereafter!

Would you like to help out & support I Heart Art: SF in another way? We're always looking for volunteers! We'd love to hear from you. You can email us with your ideas &/or sign up for our newsletter to get started!

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!

San Francisco Hearts ART - Etsy & Crafting Community Connect at MOCFA

Etsy Meet-Up for I Heart Art: San Francisco at the MOCFA
Photo courtesy of Vanessa Bertozzi - Etsy Admin

One of the best things about running an Etsy business is experiencing a great sense of community with other creative entrepreneurs. What's even better is when those same individuals can connect with other local businesses, museums and schools to strengthen and build up that very same community to whole new levels!

We had a GREAT turnout for our I Heart Art: San Francisco Meet-up at the MOCFA this past Saturday, April 2nd. Not only were SF Etsy members coming from as far as Mt. Shasta, CA, but various Etsy Admin joined us for an open discussion about what this new program could mean for our local artisans, artists, and crafters.

Etsy's I Heart Art programs vary from city to city, but the common goal for each and every project has been to enrich the creative communities in which they take place. This can often be done by connecting the different demographics within these communities while working closely with various organizations to be able to make art and craft more accessible and meaningful to the general public.

Local SF Etsy Team members brainstorming ideas for I Heart Art: San Francisco
[Left to Right: Katy Atchison, Jen Johnson, Genevieve & Shelly from Lightbox SF]
Photo by Steph Cortés

This past Saturday, before the larger meet-up, a bunch of savvy small business owners from the SF Etsy Street Team came together to meet with Vanessa Bertozzi, the Director of Community & Education at Etsy, to brainstorm about what we envisioned I Heart Art to look like in San Francisco. "The idea is to dream BIG," Vanessa beamed, "And once we've got the ideas out, we can focus on what we really want." This opened up a whole series of lists: from local businesses or collectives that were already on board with the vision of a more artful SF to incredibly helpful resources & activities to assist local sellers honing their craft. A few of these included:

• Open studio tours of various local artists in neighbourhoods all around the City
• Workshops or panel discussions guided by SF Celebrity Sellers to help Etsy business owners with everything from effective social media marketing to fab product photography tips & tricks
• Special showcases and events held at museums like the California Academy of Sciences and Museum of Craft & Folk Art that invite the public to participate in hands-on workshops
• And in Portland, they've done a successful Mixer Match! - which is kind of like Speed Dating for Etsy Sellers, but more like "Speed Networking—a whirlwind night of rapid-fire elevator pitches and electrified business connections!" [Read more about I Heart Art: PDX's Mixer Match here]

Those are just a few of the many ideas so far. At the core of every I Heart Art program is collaboration with and within the local community. SF Etsy folks, and likeminded local creative types, this means you!

Tons of SF Etsy members and local business owns alike, mingling at the MOCFA
Photo courtesy of Vanessa Bertozzi - Etsy Admin

It was fantastic to see so many people come out to the meet up, and there seems to be a lot of interest in what I Heart Art: San Francisco might look like. We are very excited by all the possibilities and still in the planning and preparing stages for this project. We welcome your input, and if you have relevant resources or info to share, we'd love to hear about it! 

If you have feedback or suggestions -- for programs, workshops, events, etc -- we'd love to hear that too. Please leave us a comment or you can convo SF Team Leader Steph of nerdJERK or Team Captain Jen of Mama's Magic Studio.

Stay tuned for more details about I Heart Art: San Francisco in the coming weeks!

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!

Come Talk Etsy & I Heart Art: SF -- Etsy Meet Up April 2nd

Have you heard about Etsy's I Heart Art? They started in Portland and have since expanded the program to Baltimore. We're excited to announce I Heart Art: SF might be next!

That's right -- Etsy has asked the SF Etsy Street Team if we are interested in exploring what I Heart Art: SF might look like. And of course we said YES. With San Francisco's strong Etsy team presence, rich cultural resources, and enormously talented population of crafters and artists, it seems a natural fit.

We're delighted to share that team leader Steph (of nerdJERK fame) will be working closely with team captain Jen (the Mama in Mama's Magic Studio) to lead up the program as we think about how we might turn possibilities into realities. We also have a strong planning committee in the works and with a big project like this we look forward to involving as many SF Etsians and local folks as we can.

I Heart Art is the kind of program that morphs to suit the needs of each community, but at the heart of I Heart Art is finding ways to connect and support artists, crafters, and DIY folks. It's all about creating opportunities and supporting creativity within the local context. Exciting, huh?

To give you a taste of what I Heart Art has looked like in other cities, check out this awesome video from one of  I Heart Art: Portland's Mixer Match - where speed-dating & networking collide by connecting crafters/artists with local businesses/wholesalers:

Mixer Match: Round One from I Heart Art: Portland on Vimeo.

Want to learn more? Come join us on April 2nd from 5-7 pm at MOCFA for an Etsy and SF Etsy Meet Up to talk about I Heart Art and other topics of interest to the Etsy community. We'd like an accurate head count for planning purposes, so please RSVP here if you can join us.

Questions? Leave us a comment and we'll do our best to get you an answer.

Hope to see you there!

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If you're an Etsy seller in the San Francisco Bay Area, contact Jen from Mama's Magic Studio about joining SFEtsy!