For many artists, Instagram is the social media site where you spend the bulk of your time. It is a visual platform that allows you to post images with captions, stories that disappear after 24 hours, Reels (which are similar to TikToks), longer videos on IGTV, and even livestreams. You can even have a webstore on Instagram. We’ve seen artists conduct sales, performances, and interviews using Instagram. For more of an introduction, check out our social media basics and our coverage of different social media platforms for artists.

A few months ago, we announced the launch of our online community for artists, the Creative Outpost. It’s a space for artists to connect with one another, crowdsource solutions to challenges you might run into, and to share inspiration and ideas. We are building the Creative Outpost because we believe that community is essential for artists and for a thriving and just arts sector.

Our mission at Fractured Atlas is to support artists, to help you manage some of the administrative or bureaucratic tasks that are required to support your life as a creative. In addition to our fiscal sponsorship program that allows artists to receive some of the benefits of our 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, fundraise using our platform, and apply for a wider range of grants, we also assist artists looking to receive visas to the United States. We provide artists with peer letters of support as experts in the field of the arts.

When artist, activist, ASL interpreter, and former circus artist Brandon Kazen-Maddox arrived in New Hampshire to spend the summer with theater, opera, and film director Kevin Newbury, the pair didn’t actually know each other all that well. They met in December 2019 and crossed paths a few times while working and traveling. But once they were both in New Hampshire for the summer, the creative and romantic connection was instant. They felt instant chemistry. As Kevin recalls, “It was just like, ‘do you want to spend the rest of our lives together and make work together?”

Every month, Fractured Atlas provides a list of upcoming grant opportunities for artists and arts-based projects so that you can discover more opportunities to get financial support for your work. As a fiscal sponsor of over 3,000 artistic projects, we provide access to grants for artists in every discipline.

Social media helps artists connect with your audience and to expand it. You can use social media to keep in touch with people who have already engaged with your work by attending a show or purchasing a piece. You can use it to let your family, friends, and professional network know about your creative practice. You can share your work, upcoming events, fundraising efforts, and more. Artists often connect with one another on social media, staying inspired by each other’s work and sharing tips for navigating the art world together.

Erin Washington thinks a lot about lineages as a descendant and as a future ancestor. As an artist and educator based in Atlanta, Erin recognizes her relatives who participated in the Montgomery bus boycott and supported her creative ambitions by taking her to auditions. She also recognizes her spiritual, creative ancestors like Audre Lorde who paved the way for later generations of Black artists and thinkers.

As the world reopens after over a year of shutdown, it’s hard to know how to keep people safe while bringing back entertainment and the arts. How do we protect artists, performers, crews, and staff at events? What about audiences? How do we balance safety and our need for connection?

Social media is in many ways ubiquitous. It’s how people stay in touch with far away friends, family, and colleagues. It’s how many of us find out about art events, political happenings, and show ourselves off on the days when we are really, as they say, feeling ourselves.

Peter Michael Marino is a theater producer, performer, director, and educator. And in 2020, he really missed the theater. A lot. So, he took inspiration from a Victorian trend called “toy theater,” learned a whole new set of skills including puppetry and digital performance. He created a show inspired by the movie “Planet of the Apes.” The final result is PM2 Entertainment’s “Planet of the Grapes Live,” starring a cast of grapes and corks and supplies from craft stores. Currently, it is in an open-ended run with tickets available for June performances from the Cincy Fringe Festival.