One of the best blogs on arts administration out there is Andrew Taylor’s. In his post from this afternoon, Taylor proposes a contest to develop an arts advocacy public service announcement based on his rough storyboard concept. The idea is to balance messages about art’s functional community value and its intrinsic aethetic/experiential value. This is a noble effort and one I’d love to see succeed. I also believe it’s consistent with Fractured Atlas’s holistic approach to arts advocacy.
You might have noticed this already, but there are a whole lot of arts contests swirling around nowadays. From Fractured Atlas’ video contest that happened last year (non-profit), to the Doritos spot during a recent Superbowl (for-profit), to public art design contests in almost every major city (government). I even just found a whole website — The Art List — that seems dedicated to these contests (at least for visual artists and photographers). And, you don’t have to be a “professional” artist to even compete — anyone can submit! It’s a cost-effective way for organizations to solve their design problems and can serve as a boon to an artist’s career — from both a financial (some of these come with an ample monetary prize!) and promotional (get your work out to a wider audience!) standpoint.
And, since I’m on the topic, I thought I would let you know about some new opportunities. Feel free to comment to the blog and post other opportunities that you want to spread the word about!
Fractured Atlas is sponsoring a contest on YouTube to promote the creation of an “Art and Writing” category. Entries should answer the question, “Is there a place for traditional arts in new digital media?” (We didn’t come up with that question, but we agree it’s a good one!)
Name: Lauren Zito
Website: www.theweakness.net or www.youtube.com/toolgirl150
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Artistic Discipline: Film/Video
Fractured Atlas Member Since: January 2007
Fractured Atlas Services Used: Film & Equipment Liability Insurance, Health Insurance
Today, we’re featuring Lauren Zito, a teacher, filmmaker, and actress residing in Pittsburgh. Currently, Zito is working on a long-term web serial video project titled “The Weakness.” The video is a “gender-bending dramatic film noir” piece that centers around a 400+ year old vampire who is in love with a clairvoyant, yet loony woman who holds the key to another vampire’s survival. Zito portrays all three major characters in the webisodes. As the filmmaker herself states, the piece is “your usual heartbreaking coming of age story… only with vampires.”
We asked Lauren a few questions about her work….
What/who are your biggest influences?
It’s obvious that Zito is influenced by and models herself after multi-faceted female artists who work across multiple artistic disciplines. She cites photographer/director Cindy Sherman, musician/performance artist Laurie Anderson, and actress/comedian Tracey Ullman as her greatest influences.
What have been your greatest successes to date?
As with her influences, who constantly manipulate and morph themselves and their artistry, Zito is following a similar path. As she states in answer to our question, “I am venturing into a new genre - so I’ll let you know!”
Finish this sentence: A world without art….
“…. could never really exist; art would exist one way or another.”
How can we see, experience, or learn more about your work?
If you’d like to view new and upcoming webisodes of “The Weakess,” simply visit www.theweakness.net. Or, to see all of Zito’s “crazy creations,” visit her YouTube page at www.youtube.com/toolgirl150.
And remember, if you have videos posted on YouTube, make sure you also post them to Fractured Atlas’ YouTube site (www.youtube.com/LiberateTheArtist)! Fractured Atlas members can post their videos using this simple online form.
The Fractured Atlas Video Contest closed on November 1. I’ve never done anything like this before, so I had no idea what to expect, but I’m very happy with how it all turned out. We ended up with 20 entries and the overall quality is excellent. Many thanks to Genius Rocket for their help putting this together.
In case you haven’t heard, Fractured Atlas is hosting a contest to produce a 30-second video. The winner receives $3,000 and a screening at our benefit in November. All the details are at www.fracturedatlas.tv.
If you take a look at the entries so far, you’ll see that we haven’t received a whole lot (2, at the moment). This isn’t quite keeping me up at nights, but it does make me nervous… Is $3,000 not a big enough prize? Is the contest not interesting enough? Or is the deadline for entries (October 15) simply too far off?
If you’ve thought about entering but decided not to, I’d be eager to hear why.
