I’m very happy to say that I’m now officially an Ambassador for the wonderful Talenthouse! It’s something I’ve been working towards for a while now so I can share the news in more detail. First off, I want you to know that I’m not employed by Talenthouse, but I became an ambassador because I truly believe in the cause. I feel so passionately about collaboration and networking with other creatives around the globe that I hounded Talenthouse until they agreed to let me help spread the word to creatives, from one artist to another. I want more people to know about it because the concept and ethos of it is exactly what I think creatives need. So what exactly is it? Well, Talenthouse is a website where creatives come together to showcase their portfolio connect with other creatives and to submit their work to amazing briefs hosted by other users and by big brands & artists such as Nokia, Billabong, Greenday & Snow Patrol. All for free, and totally empowering us as artists and our work and giving great prizes in return. The opportunities for work are just amazing and provide a great bridge between truly talented individuals and brands which would be very hard to ‘get in the room with’ otherwise. So let me talk about the two ways in which Talenthouse works for me, looking at the personal portfolio side, and the submissions side.
The portfolio is great for pulling in photos, videos, social media links and everything into one spot. It’s a nice supplement to a website and a place you can send people to browse a selection of your work. For me, I have my website as my general overview but if somebody asks to see my porfolio then Talenthouse is the place I send them. In addition to hosting your own work, it’s very social and you’re encouraged to connect with other artists from a host of disciplines ranging from film, through design and right across to music. I’ve already connected with talented individuals and I hope it leads to some collaboration. It’s strong on the social media front and from an artists portfolio it’s easy to get connected. In short, as well as showcasing your own work, you can find other creatives which you might need for your own project. Here’s a snapshot of what the portfolio page looks like (click image to go to the page).
So the big, cool, crazy, awesome thing about Talenthouse is the opportunity to work with brands and artists. I’ve already mentioned some of them but simply heading to the website will show you exactly the scale of who’s involved. The way it works is that you get a brief and a time frame to submit your work. Once submitted there is a voting period after which winners are announced. Each invite has a different way of selecting winners but the most common is at least one winner selected by the brand/artist with another ‘people’s choice’ winner which you have the power to influence by having other people vote on your work via Facebook & Twitter accounts during the voting period. Prizes range from little to large depending on the scale of the brief. Sometimes it’s a chance to work with a brand and expand your portfolio, but typically it’s a financial reward with thousands of pounds up for grabs. The thing that I love is that Talenthouse isn’t about having artists work for free, it’s about encouraging big brands to engage with truly talented artists and give the small guy a chance but also rewarding the artist financially. Think of it as Talenthouse doing the hard work of getting you into a meeting with a big client then giving you the chance to pitch your idea and impress through the strength of your work. At the minute, I’m working on two submissions. The first is for the chance to shoot a tour documentary for Gabrielle Aplin, whilst the second is on a music video for a band called Hammock. As a freelancer it gives me more opportunities for work and something to work towards between jobs, but also as an artist, it encourages me to produce things I wouldn’t otherwise produce and instead of trying to find clients myself, it gives me an awesome starting point. Here’s a snapshot of what the Creative Invite looks like (click image to go to the page).
As an ambassador, my role is simply to support projects that I feel passionately about and to spread the word about this great website and the ethos of collaborative work. I’ll only ever support things I believe in and find truly interesting and I’ll only share things which, as an artist, I think are wonderful opportunities. I’m doing this because I believe in it and when I started out, I would have killed for a website like this, so I want to share it with others. I want to meet people from around the globe and collaborate with people I just wouldn’t have met before this website. I hope you take the time to check it out, make a profile and get creative because I think it’s all pretty damn special and I for one am buzzing.
welcome to talenthouse from Talenthouse on Vimeo.
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