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This blog originally appeared on CreativeGround.org.
Looking for a meaningful way to uplift local creatives and get your community noticed? Join the Visible & Vibrant Challenge!
This challenge is your chance to show the vibrancy of your creative community. If everyone is represented accurately, then you increase visibility, funding opportunities, and other resources for the artists and organizations you care about.
While NEFA works year-round to review and verify the data in CreativeGround, we can’t tell the full story of your community without you. It’s your on-the-ground insight that makes the platform truly reflect your local creative scene. Together, we can paint a more vivid picture of our region’s creative communities.
Get the details below, and join the challenge today!
What, When, Where, Who & Why
What
Submit suggested edits to CreativeGround profiles in your community. The more usable suggestions you submit, the better your chances are of being selected as our featured Community Leader.
When
Edits submitted by Friday August 29 will be counted into the challenge. The winner will be announced within the following 2–3 weeks.
Where
Online on CreativeGround.
Who is Invited
Community Leaders of New England — we need you!
A Community Leader is anyone who connects creatives and shares resources to support the New England Creative Core.
Why
The person who submits the most usable suggested edits will be entered in a chance for their efforts and their community to be featured by CreativeGround through:
- A blog post on CreativeGround featuring you and your community
- Cross-promotion of the blog post in CreativeGround monthly eblasts and/or social media for three months
- A Journey spotlight on the CreativeGround homepage
- Bragging rights
- Better data about your community for advocacy (see data section below)
How to Sign Up and Get Started
Four Easy Steps
1. Sign Up
Fill out this form. You'll receive challenge details and updates over the summer and we'll be able to track your progress. Also, be sure to follow CreativeGround on Instagram to receive challenge updates over the next two months.
2. Search
Visit creativeground.org and click Search. Adjust filters to narrow down to profiles in your community and scroll through the results.
3. Select
Scroll through the results, select profiles, and find ones that need correction
4. Suggest
Click “Suggest an edit” on any profile, complete the “Submit a Suggestion” online form and send
Watch this Quick Video that Demonstrates How to Submit Suggestions
Share This Challenge With Your Community
Let’s join forces to make our whole region’s creative community the most accurately represented in the country! We invite you to share this challenge with New England Community Leaders far and wide. Below are some easy ways to promote this challenge and encourage peers to join this summer.
Social Media
- Follow us on Instagram @CreativeGround.nefa
- Like and share our challenge posts
- Use the hashtag #VisibleVibrantCreativeNE
- Post your progress (and tag us / use the hashtag!)
- Tag peers who you think should join the challenge
- Forward our challenge emails to community leaders and peers who you think should join the challenge
- Include a blurb about the challenge in your e-communications
Challenge Promo Toolkit
Access our toolkit here. The toolkit includes:
- Graphics: our general challenge graphic and an "I'm in!" graphic in a variety of different sizes (JPF and PNG files)
- Blurb: our general challenge description that can be included in any of your e-communications with a link to this blog (Word file)
The Ripple Effect of Accurate Data: Powering More Than Just Your Community
Participating in this challenge isn’t just about putting your community in the spotlight—it contributes to something much larger. Accurate CreativeGround profiles fuel the quality of data behind the entire directory, influencing decisions across New England’s creative economy.
Your suggestions play a critical role in steps 4 (network activation) and 5 (profile updates) of the reciprocal process. The cleaner the profiles, the more the data are used. Increased usage leads to more frequent updates, which attracts data partners who count on current, reliable information to make informed cases for investing in creative communities. It’s a cycle that relies on your contributions.
Transcribed Text from Image (above)
Rooted in Reciprocity: Dynamic Data & Creative Voices
- DATABASE is maintained & managed by NEFA
- PUBLIC PROFILES make data visible through NEFA and Partners’ directories
- DIRECTORY TRAINING & technical support is given to Profile holders & Partners
- NETWORK ACTIVATION through peers and partners sharing the directory
- PROFILE UPDATES by Profile holders who see the benefits of directory sharing
- DATA USAGE by Partners who see the increased directory usage and profile updates
Inspiration from Community Leaders
The data clean-up process was quite revealing for us, especially as a newer arts services organization getting to know every corner of the creative community. In one instance, a small organization that we assumed was defunct based on web presence turned out to be active and worked with us to ensure their profile was up to date and complete.
Mosaic Lowell coordinated with its part-time staff and interns to review CreativeGround profiles in Lowell, identify those who were out of business via word of mouth or internet search, and submit suggestions through CreativeGround. They also contacted profile owners directly through the contact form on CreativeGround to confirm their status and encourage them to update their profiles. Beyond that personal research and outreach, they sent out multiple group communications to encourage profile updates and hosted several in-person sessions to support people in updating their profiles.
For over a year, our quarterly Arts & Culture Partners of New Bedford meetings included CreativeGround as a standing agenda item, highlighting how a polished profile can enhance visibility, increase funding opportunities, and deepen engagement. We showcased local examples, like Cara Bean Comics, Candida Rose, and AHA! New Bedford, to demonstrate its impact, ease of use, and value as a free online portfolio. Through newsletters and direct outreach, we encourage artists and organizations to update their profiles, helping foster a more connected, professional, and discoverable creative community.