MTNS MADE Creative Profile & Project Development Session

In June, MTNS MADE ran a member-exclusive Creative Profile & Project Development Session, bringing together a mix of emerging and more established creatives from across the Blue Mountains.

The aim was to give members some dedicated time to work on their online presence, strengthen their MTNS MADE profile, get practical advice around their creative business and projects, and connect with other members.

One of the highlights was hearing from Lauren Gero (To The Trees), who gave an insightful, open and engaging presentation about her creative business journey, from starting out to building the business to where it is today. She shared some of the things she has learnt along the way, including the importance of being yourself and staying true to who you are and what your brand represents.

Lauren also talked about the importance of finding your audience and understanding who you are trying to reach, so that you can tailor your marketing and social media to the people who are actually interested in what you do. She also spoke about being generous with knowledge and supplier recommendations rather than feeling like you need to keep those things to yourself. Her point that there is room for others, and that sharing a great supplier can actually help keep that supplier in business, was a great example of the supportive approach we want to encourage within our creative community.

There was plenty of practical support throughout the day too. We spent time helping members with their MTNS MADE profiles, artist bios and how they present their creative practice and projects online. We talked about why it is important to keep profiles up to date and add projects, as there is a very real opportunity for members to find each other for collaborations, and for retailers and other businesses to discover their products and services through the MTNS MADE directory.

The small-group format worked very well, giving people the opportunity to talk about their own businesses and projects and get advice that was relevant to them. The conversations between members were also a really valuable part of the day, with a good mix of experience and plenty of knowledge-sharing happening naturally.

Members were also able to access subsidised photography with Ona Janzen, who offered a warm and inviting experience with excellent results from the headshots, and Racket provided invaluable online web support, helping some members who needed one-on-one help with their online presence. Business support and marketing advice also gave members the chance to have more focused one-on-one conversations about their particular needs.

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The response to the sessions was incredibly positive, and it was great to see members getting so much from the practical advice, but also from simply having the time and space to focus on their own creative practice and connect with other people doing similar things.

A big thank you to the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre for making the room hire and catering so easy to organise.

We know that finding the time to work on your own profile, website, bio, photography and marketing can easily get pushed down the list when you're busy doing the actual work. This session showed the value of creating a dedicated opportunity for members to do that work, while also being able to ask questions, get feedback and meet other creatives.

MTNS MADE will look to run this kind of practical upskilling session again. Helping members find each other, strengthen their online presence and create more opportunities for collaboration, retail connections and creative work is an important part of building a connected and supportive creative community in the Blue Mountains.

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