PDXmakrs

Closing up shop...

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 18:23:10 -0500

In case you haven’t seen already, we’re online now at our new digs: pdx.makrs.com! Artists, bands, musicians, galleries, venues… all are welcome to stop by and create a profile on our site.

We’ll be discontinuing all posting on this Tumblr, but really, check out our new site. It has almost everything you could think of, and more!

What feature of the new PDXmakrs site are you most looking forward to?

Sat, 14 May 2011 13:06:27 -0500

What feature of the new PDXmakrs site are you most looking forward to?:

Hop on over to our Facebook page and let us know!

Tentative Beta Site Launch Dates

Tue, 10 May 2011 13:25:33 -0500

Tentative Beta Site Launch Dates:

From the official makrs blog:

The MSPmakrs and PDXmakrs beta sites will tentatively launch between Sunday, May 15th and Sunday, May 21st, 2011!

Click through for details!

Update

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 10:56:00 -0500

Lots of progress is being made developing the PDXmakrs site… launch plans and announcements are being put together, and news is forthcoming. I realize it’s been a little bit of a wait from seeing the PDXist site to getting this one up and running, but I can say that the new one will blow the socks off of the old one in terms of what is being offered and how.

Big thanks goes out to all who have been following us here and/or on Twitter & Facebook, your support is much appreciated! Also, our Facebook page just got enough Likes to qualify for an official username, so if you haven’t already you can Like us there now at this easy-to-remember address:http://www.facebook.com/pdxmakrs

ARTISTS: Don’t forget to join our Flickr group at http://www.flickr.com/groups/pdxmakrs/ and add your artwork/photos to be considered for one of our very first featured artists posts!

Finally, don’t forget to reserve your MAKRS username now at http://pdx.makrs.com.

MAKRS is coming soon… stay tuned!

-stephen h

Excited to see some great artwork already being added to our...

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 14:21:33 -0600

Excited to see some great artwork already being added to our brand new PDXmakrs Flickr pool!

PORTLAND ARTISTS: Don’t forget to join the group and add your images and/or video to be considered for a featured artist spot on our homepage when our site launches. It’s completely free, and just takes a few clicks to add works you already have posted on Flickr. Check it out!

Be a featured artist!

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 19:41:45 -0600

Artists & Photographers: Join our brand new Flickr group & add your images now to be considered for one of our first artist features when our site launches!

Hit up the link for details… it’s free(of course)!

PDXmakrs on Facebook

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 13:49:03 -0600

PDXmakrs on Facebook:

We’re sharing art news and artists’ resources links from our Facebook fan page. Go like our page and follow along!

Reserve your username now!

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 16:07:35 -0600

You can now reserve your username online, and get an invitation as soon as your account is ready! Visit the site @ http://pdx.makrs.com and follow the username reservation link from there.

Introducing MAKRS

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:15:45 -0600

On our site, we describe ourselves as “a new city-local social network, marketplace & resources site for artists & art lovers of all disciplines”… but you could be asking yourself ‘what does that mean?’

First, a Short History
The MAKRS network began here in Portland, Oregon under the name PDXist, as a website that was built to offer social networking(with profiles, portfolio albums, forums, etc.), free website building for artists/galleries/organizations, event listing an artists’ resources blog(listing calls for art, grant/residency/job/freelance opportunities, and other inspiration/resources links) and more. During the beta, some necessary organizational changes occurred that changed the focus of the project, and thus, MAKRS was born.

The Present & Future
Currently, MAKRS is in development, preparing for a beta launch this upcoming month, and a public launch planned for this spring. Some features will be launching sooner though, like an artists’ resources blog(opening in 1-2 weeks) and our social networking accounts(see links on our page below) which are already online and will be sharing general interest art events and resources in the meantime.

For the future, the features being developed for the MAKRS website network include:

Features previously built into our old site(social networking, website building, event listings, artists’ resources, etc.)
Enhanced tools for art galleries and music/performance venues like free listing in interactive online & printable maps, online collection/exhibition representations, and other advertising/marketing opportunities.
Art news and editorial coverage, covering all aspects of the local arts scene including visual arts, music, film, theatre/dance/performance art, craft arts, and more.
Educational partnerships, offering online and offline educational courses and workshops for up-and-coming artists for free or a nominal cost. Additionally, an online archive of free streaming video workshops is planned, with topics to include everything from art history, method/techinque training, website building and social media best practices, and so on.

The MAKRS Mission
The development, nurturing, and support of artists and art-related groups & organizations is the primary goal of the MAKRS organization and website network. Creation of online city-local network websites to act as a comprehensive listing and celebration of the city’s cultural offerings are the primary objective, enabling artists, galleries and other organizations & groups to find local art-lovers and vice versa, fostering a greater awareness and appreciation of local arts & culture.

MAKRS will be incorporated as a not-for-profit organization. No donations are being solicited at this time. Calls for volunteer board members and community advocates will be forthcoming in the near future.

More information coming soon!

-stephen h
Founder/Director,
makrs.com

New URLs to Remember, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 12:11:06 -0600

After making the renaming announcement yesterday, it’s so nice to see that not only have apparently all of the followers of @PDXarts on Twitter stuck with this project through the name change, the project is still gaining followers slowly but surely! Portland artists sure are an agreeable crowd to work with. :)

Anyhow, moving forward. The project’s official URLs are as follows below… feel free to bookmark any/all of them!

The PDXmakrs site will launch at the URL: http://pdx.makrs.com
PDXmakrs will continue to use the @PDXarts handle on Twitter, though @PDXmakrs has also been secured(that handle will likely only be used for service-related announcements, while the @PDXarts account will continue to be the more public-service account, sharing art news more suited for the general arts-loving public).
The shortcut to PDXmakrs on Facebook is http://fb.pdx.makrs.com until we get enough “Likes” to secure our official Facebook short URL. (Hint, hint… go Like our page!)
The official MAKRS network homepage, of course, is http://makrs.com, with the @MAKRS handle on Twitter and http://fb.makrs.com will get you to the MAKRS Facebook page.
Finally, the PDXmakrs’ sister site for the Twin Cities(Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN) is MSPmakrs at http://msp.makrs.com, so pass that on to any artists/organizations you might know in that area. That site is going by @MSPmakrs on Twitter and http://fb.msp.makrs.com gets you to the Facebook page. (There will be a separate post further explaining the MSPmakrs site later today.)

Yikes, that’s a lot to remember. Good thing there’s not a test later.

-stephen h

The big news...

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:21:19 -0600

I’m happy to announce that the official name for the PDX Arts Website Project(formerly PDXist) is now PDXmakrs, part of the new MAKRS network…

The PDXmakrs beta launch can be expected sometime in March or April 2011, and pdx.makrs.com will be the URL. Artists, galleries, venues and arts organizations will be able to sign up for accounts prior to the beta period, allowing them to create, modify, and publicize their PDXmakrs profiles and portfolios before the site launches to art lovers and the general public later this spring.

Additionally, Portland will be the official flagship city site for the new MAKRS network, which is planned to create custom networks for other major metro areas in the coming months/years as well. The second city site, launching shortly after Portland’s will be for Minnesota’s Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul. Portland will receive priority development at the the time of launch, due to the groundwork already laid there under the former name of PDXist and the already-established following of the @PDXarts Twitter account.

The MAKRS network, in accordance with previously-stated goals, is to be formed as a not-for-profit corporation, and will also be filing for(hopefully) tax-exempt status, with the goal of being a free, sustainable resource and education site for artists and art-lovers alike. The plan of expanding to other cities will depend solely on the demand for the service among the creative community in those respective areas… in other words, MAKRS is not planning to aggressively expand beyond its means, but to support the communities which serve as its foundation first and foremost. Calls for volunteer board members, community advocates/street team members, contributing writers, editors and community moderators will be forthcoming at the appropriate times.

Sincerely,
stephen h
Founder/Director, makrs.com

Update

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 09:29:13 -0600

A new name has been chosen and secured as a domain… The site is being designed and will be online later this week.

Expect a big announcement within the next 7 days!

Rebranding

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 15:25:00 -0600

It’s been a wild ride so far… In the past two months under the name PDXist we put together a great social-networking beta site, offering a wealth of resources for Portland-area artists. We also received some great feedback and ideas from artists, galleries, and arts organizations alike, offering the chance to refine and refocus on goals which would better enable us to serve those groups online.

Unfortunately during that time, the core group of founders has been whittled down to just myself due to a variety of circumstantial factors(no hard feelings though, life just sorta happens). A large amount of my own personal investment and heart went into not only planning, designing and developing the site, but also making the social connections both online and off, finding and compiling the resources for the ART resources blog, planning and creating marketing materials, setting up infrastructure, and more. Having done a vast majority of this groundwork but with a dissolved partnership, I now find myself needing to rebrand the project, and hopefully build new strategic partnerships to not only rebuild, but do so with a stronger foundation for the future.

Revised Goals
At the present time, the list of goals for this project is as follows:

Re-brand the site and services, recreating the service under a new name(to be announced soon) and launching a new beta site during this next month.
Continue building connections online in the meantime, sharing resources and assisting in promoting events through the PDX Arts Twitter and Facebook profiles, continuing the focus of supporting Portland arts.
Build more new features and tools into the service, specializing the experience for specific groups like artists, galleries, organizations, and the general public.
Establish an educational component into the service, mentoring young and establishing artists on how to better build their skills, audience, and even their arts business. Form partnerships with both established artists and arts organizations and educational institutions who can offer both free and low-cost courses and workshops.
Establish an editorial component into the service, offering comprehensive coverage of the Portland arts scene and its many facets, from visual arts to theatre and performing arts to music, craft, film, and more.
Create a new organization, only instead of a business partnership, create a not-for-profit entity and assemble a team of board members also dedicated to furthering not only this project’s goals, but more importantly the greater Portland arts community as a whole. By not assembling a team under a for-profit scenario, I believe the project has a greater opportunity for success, taking the emphasis off of generating profits and onto building a sustainable model for nurturing the community.

Finally, I’d like to say that I greatly appreciate all the support and encouragement from the community I’ve received during the previous months building this site, and promise that my dedication has not wavered - it’s a project I believe in, and do not plan to abandon. I look forward to not only rebranding and rebuilding but also re-earning any excitement and/or trust that has been lost during this process.

Thanks again for your eager support and encouragement during these past couple months. Any questions or comments you may have are also more than welcome during this transition.

Sincerely,
stephen h