circles – mapping your community
Author: rayela
Brazil 18years + Chicago 20yrs + Paducah since 2005 These have shaped my path and interests. I spent many years as an active artist (ceramics and textiles) but have focused on promoting the creative community online since 2010. My current projects are Artizan Made and this site, Creative PlaceMakers.
Circles bring people together and now Creative PlaceMakers has a destination for communities who want to have their own maps!
I lived in the custodian apartment in a Lutheran Church in Chicago for almost 20 years. Inner city, white flight, gang neighborhood, and an odd ball mixture of characters who had really big hearts. I also attended services there. We had curved pews, meaning that they formed a semi circle in front of the altar. One day, Pastor Dennis Lauritsen talked about them, how they were a part of a larger circle. The part we couldn’t see were all of the family that was not present. We could imagine them, all around the world, from the past, present and future. I loved that imagery! Think about how circles are important in so many cultures, meetings, as a symbol of protection, of unity and so much more!
Our featured image is an embroidery made by Yarndance, overlapping in some areas as we all do in our creative lives….
The Circle embeds itself into our culture, even through Disney!
our main map shows each member as a pin:
As we grow, that map will become crowded, something that we do want to see happen so that neighbors can find each other. You can always use the categories to sort the map according to your interests. When you click on a category, the map will show the pins that belong to that category and below it, you will see the creatives who have chosen that category, shown in random order. If you want to see who lives near you, you can zoom into your area or if you are traveling or want to connect with someone in another state or country, you just zoom out and see who’s along the way.
now we have circles!
Circles are communities that want to have their own map: see them here.
We use a tag on the member’s listing so that it show up there. For example, here are our Artizan Made members (our sister site) who have gotten their listings up so far:
artizan made members
We have around 50 members so they will get on there as they can.
benefits of having a circle:
If you have a significant following, you will be able to learn a lot more about your community than you can through your mailing list or surveys. You will have visual data. The tag that they use for your community is just one side of their active creative life. You might have a group of painters that are your focus circle and in examining your circle, you notice that many of them are gardeners. You might do more around that theme with your exhibits or products in your gift shop.
The map will show you if you have a following in certain areas where you could invest more marketing, have workshops or increase your presence. If you have a mailing list, you will have that data, too, but the visual might bring unexpected surprises, especially if that area is responsive, participates and identifies as a supporter of whatever you are doing.
how it works
Creating a circle is free. Send me:
- Your featured image (square 1500×1500)
- Info that you want people to see about your community. This can be as long as you need it to be. Include a description of your community and your links. Hopefully, you will get new people to follow you!
Spread your link around and encourage your people to join.
- Once your circle is up, you will have your own link to promote. Include it on your website, your social media places and blast it out from time to time. People will get excited the more it grows.
- We will promote circles that have a following on our social media sites from time to time.
- Creative PlaceMakers will have a private forum for our members once the front end is calm. We are still working on a lot of things, tweaking the content as we go, making it clearer and more accessible for people as we test it. You will be able to create your own groups in our forum and share your events and updates in the main feed.
be sensitive
This site is still very new and as I worked on it, I assumed that Kamala Harris would be President of the United States. Instead, the very purpose of this site, to promote creatives who care about sustainability and diversity, has become subversive. It’s scary, but it is more important than ever to stand up and be the change we want to see happen. Tell your people that if they are uncomfortable with giving their exact address, they can use a public place near them like a park, library, school or monument.
our circle is the natural world, one that we want to keep! we embrace diversity and welcome all creatives who stand against oppression!
a geeky question:
I sold on Etsy for 9 years and we had something called the “etsy mini”, a code that showed off items from our shop that we could post anywhere. The mini really helped grow etsy and for some reason they stopped doing it a few years back. We all had it on our sidebars or as pages on our websites. When someone clicked on an item, it would take them to our shops on Etsy. The code looked like this:
| <script type=’text/javascript’ src=’http://www.etsy.com/etsy_mini.js’></script><script type=’text/javascript’>new EtsyNameSpace.Mini(5169998, ‘shop’,’gallery’,10,2).renderIframe();</script> |
Is it possible to do something similar with our google maps? If so, our Circles could embed their maps on their sites!
who is your circle?
We want to hear your stories about how creativity impacts your life and your community. As a member, you can submit posts to our blog. These are tough times in many places around the world and we can inspire each other with how we are making the world a better place with our talents.
be safe, be well, and seize the day!
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