Art, Internet Technology, and Entrepreneurship

Internet technology has revolutionized how I work and create, and as an artist/ writer, peace activist, and entrepreneur it has been an invaluable ally. It doesn’t replace the creative process, but enhances it and enables me to reach a broader audience and market.
I had always liked the atelier (workshop) model for artists, where a team creates art, and the internet and the technology enables me to create a virtual atelier
I have a team of part time workers that I only interact with via the internet. I have an administrative assistant and a web admin person in the Philippines, one short term assistant who is editing videos from a recent play, one SEO (Search engine optimization) person in Bangladesh, a designer in Italy who is from India translating my drawings of a Peace Garden Fountain to a CAD and engineering drawings, a telephone transcriptionist from Jamaica who transcribes my voice memos, a writing editor in Texas, and an audio person in Florida who is engineering my new CDs. Depending on my needs and the work flow, I can utilize these people as little or as much as I need. They have the choice to work on multiple assignments around the world and they set their own price. When I need photos edited there is a specialist in the Czech Republic who does this for me quickly. Today, I needed someone to assist with a Peace project in Washington D.C., I posted the job at 8:30, and at 9:30, a person with a terrific resume and long experience in this applied for the job, at 9:40, I hired the person for a week.
My virtual assistant world is O Desk, where I can scan for the employees I need. More importantly, it gives me the time and the privacy to write and create using this group of very talented employees. By using this pool of workers, I can increase my creative time and effectiveness. Odesk has been one of my major creative tools in the way that a computer is an essential tool for me. I live most of the year in southern Vermont where the high-speed internet access is erratic and I wish that the authorities in Vermont recognized that internet access is not just "an interesting new fangled thing,” but an essential tool for work.
On this current project "B4 Peace”, I have SEO (Search engine optimization) people who are creating a social media, viral and twitter campaign. I use the team to manage and assist with our various community development projects like www.gracecares.com. When I went to Haiti for medical work my "virtual assistant" helped to coordinate many aspects of the trip. However, even for me, the technology can be a bit bizarre. This morning I went on the computer and my assistant in the Philippines was on my computer and transferring files. It’s as if she was sitting at my desk instead of 5,000 miles a way. I am also able to reach out more effectively to a broader audience. It is the ultimate democracy of the marketplace. I publish my books directly on the internet at www.namayaproductions.com; E- books can be downloaded directly from my website; combined E-Book with photos, audio, and music Vermont My Home on Blue Heron Pond (pending); and a series of CDs without the hassle and ecological waste of CDS. It is far easier for someone to click a button and download songs, stories and music to the web with an MP3, and if they want the nice pictures and lyrics, we include them. The artwork like the Vermont My Home series we have as “physical copies,” but we’re working on downloading the “virtual art,” however, people can still purchase the pictures.
I plan and continue to use the internet in a variety of ways and see the internet and the social media marketing not solely as a tool to promote my art, but as “art” unto itself. In the project called “Pornography of War,” it is in a virtual museum tour of my artwork against war, videos, and performances. It is enormously difficult to get new and controversial works out, but with a relatively modest budget, the internet provides an opportunity to interact and engage with a very broad audience. More importantly, it provides a way for audiences and galleries around the world to see my work. My play “Beatnik Café,” is very expensive to produce and promote it, and what makes a far more cost effective way is to record it in a video studio, edit it, and then have it for view on the internet on a high quality site for the admission price of say $2. Again, the internet, like any technology can inspire us to think more creatively and to reach a wider audience. Live performances are ideal and will always be the preferred way to see a show, but the internet, wisely used can help us to achieve a broad market.
Some people have complained that I’m using cheap offshore labor, but as one assistant said, "I love working for you, I live away from the capital, and there isn't enough work for me as a programmer, but I can work remotely at home, for an excellent salary.” Though I do have profound concerns about all the cheap manufacturing abroad, as many other things in life, it is the wise and judicious use of resources. When I can, I use and work with my local workers, but the pool of talent is not always available; nevertheless, my Vermont Art Projects are produced and made in Vermont
The key is not to have the technology overwhelm the creative work, but to complement it and magnify it. Skype enables me to talk and have a video conference with employees in the Philippines, talk to my music director for a show and play music in real time during the call, plan a community development project with a colleague in the Dominican Republic, and even taking a guitar lesson from a teacher in England.
My new novel "Jubilation" I recorded on my I-phone for about 6 hours a day for two weeks, uploaded it to the computer, and then a program automatically changed it to written text. Unfortunately, the technology is a bit behind the curve on this, and my I-phone only uploaded 75 percent of the files. Nevertheless, I was able to send those files to my transcriptionists in Jamaica and the Philippines, and in a few days, a completed document arrived at my inbox. The creative process is intact and the foundation of the novel written was done in a fraction of the time. I am able to focus my energy on editing and rewrites.
This whole realm of technology is a phenomenal leap in all the ways that I work and create, it doesn't make my creativity any better, it just makes it far easier, and gives me more time to focus on what I do best writing/ art.
Despite the technology, I love the care and the craft of what I do as an artist and poet. I love the privacy and joy of writing a poem with pen and paper. I will always delight in the sensuous creativity with pastels and pencils.In all the technology we have, there is still the powerful, necessary instinct for me, to create directly, and to explore a blank sheet of paper. If I am making a sculpture I want my hands to feel all the dimensions of this sculpture and as a storyteller or performance I want the live audience. The internet helps me to make that connection with as wide of an audience as possible.
The internet technology for this artist and writer has opened a new world of possibilities and audience connection, and used wisely can be a marvelous ally. Nevertheless, while I like and well use the technology, I will always value the intimacy and art of a blank sheet of paper and a pen. However, it is empowering when I’ve finished a drawing, I can scan it to my website and publish it after I’m done, or that I have written this blog entry and now anyone can read it. Imagine the powerful and creative uses of the internet and technology.