Hello, and welcome to community case studies.
This is a look at how belonging is really built.
I'm your host.
My name is Seth Resler, and I'm the founder of Community Marketing Revolution.
And the reason I put this show together was simple.
I wanted to talk to real community builders who are actually on the ground doing the work.
And I wanted to talk to them about how they are taking certain universal community building principles and applying them in their situation.
And today, we're going to take a look at how somebody is doing that with artists.
My guest is an artist and facilitator based in Brooklyn after a decade of program development and interpretation work at the Smithsonian institution, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum American art, she founded Art Gurl, and I should point out that Girl is spelled g u r l.
It's a creative community where members can learn how to strengthen their innate creativity as a vital part of their humanity no matter their relation ship with Art, please welcome Meagan Mahaffy, the founder of Art Gurl.
Hi, Meagan.
Hi.
What an introduction? Well, thank you for being here.
I I'm so excited to talk to you about this.
And, uh, especially because so much of what I have done over the years has been dealing with artists or artisans, whether it is, uh, you know, musicians or stand up comedians or, uh, you know, I I tend to deal a lot in the performing arts world, but I love just anybody who's out there supporting artists.
So I love what you're doing there.
Thank you.
Yeah.
I think art and creativity are often forgotten when it comes to wellness and, like, happiness and fulfill film it in life.
And that's why I started art Gurl.
And for me, my background being a visual artist, I find that it's easy to put pen to paper.
That's like an easy way to practice being creative, and that's what we do at an Art Gurl.
But I always say this too.
Like, creativity is not only artists.
Creativity is performing artists.
Creativity is drawing.
Creativity is cooking.
Creativity is like solving complex math problems.
Creativity exists in pretty much every aspect of our lives that comes with, like, problem solving and understanding stuff.
So when you forget about creativity and you don't prioritize it, it has real consequences.
And it's so crazy to me that arts and arts programs are often the first ones to lose funding.
They're often the first things that people stop prioritizing when the budgets come.
And so I started Art Gurl because I was like, this needs to be we need to bring art back into the wellness conversation.
Yeah.
So so give me the nutshell history of Art Gurl.
How long has it been around? What made you decide to form it? You know, all of that? Yeah.
We started Art Gurl.
We I always say We.
I really mean I.
Me and all my personalities started Art Gurl in 2022 after I spent a a decade in the museum world doing programming and interpretation work.
I myself was really burnt out.
It was COVID.
I was feeling really anxious and struggling with my mental health.
I've all so been known to dabble in many wellness tools like yoga and tarot and astrology and all of those things I think are so useful meditation is another one And in my own, um, life during those kind of dark times, I found that the thing that helped me the most was returning to my creativity.
Even though I was in a creative job at the museum, I rarely was creating just for the sake of creating.
I was rarely, like, scribbling and drawing.
I wasn't painting, which is something that I used to do all the time.
And so when I returned to that, I was like, oh, this is a fairly powerful way for me to understand my emotions and express them in a kind of, like, healthy way that was a little easier to access than some of the other tools I was trying.
And I looked around and I said, I wanna kinda like join I wanna learn more about this.
I wanna join a, like, craft club or something like that.
And there really weren't that many options at the time.
Um, so I started one.
And the goal at first was to Brit well, it's still the goal, but the main goal was to teach people how to use their creativity as a tool for self discovery.
And that's still the goal.
But then the thing that happened after not very long, after hosting a couple, uh, a couple workshops, a couple things.
I had a really kind friend who let me use the back of his restaurant to host a community event just to sort of like test my ideas.
And I had 20 people come based on because I, like, put it on Instagram.
Thank you, social media.
And I was so excited about the teaching of creativity as a self discovery tool, but what also ended up happening is that people were coming and they were coming back back to workshops again, and then friendships started blooming.
And I realized that what really was going on was so much more powerful than just doing a craft.
It was community build it was giving people a place where they could express themselves freely in front of other people, and then that was creating a real sense of belonging among, participants and our girl members.
And that was all in 2022.
I've evolved a few times now, but now we host weekly events in person in New York City.
I also have a digital membership option, but my goal and my priority now is bringing people together in person because there's really nothing that can compare to the magic of being seen off of your screen without any extra distractions and just being with your journal in the company of other people that have this shared desire to make art and learn about themselves.
I love this story, uh, can I pull out a couple of things that I think you said there that I just wanna sort of underscore? Um, number one, you created a space.
It was the back of a restaurant, and the idea behind the space is to bring people together.
And people start connecting and forming relationships in that space.
And and I come from the world of content creation, which is, you know, a lot like being an artist, right, where you're creating your content and you are trying to get it out in front of an audience And that's not the same thing as creating a space where people come together.
It's a little bit different.
Um, the other thing that I wanna highlight here that you said is that it's evolved over time.
And is that because you started to look at what your members were doing and your, you know, your community wanted and adjusting the space in response to that.
Is that what was happening there? Yeah.
I mean, one of the huge benefits I have as a community leader is that there's such direct access to the people in your community because I see them once a week.
And it's not always the same exact people, but it is a lot of the same people.
And we can talk.
What do you wanna do? Do you wanna do junk journaling? Should we do paper marbling? Do you wanna do a retreat? Should we have a morning workshop? Like, you can ask in person.
And I think it's so interesting what you said about content creation because I I think I tow that I also have a really active social media presence, and it takes a different part of me to show up on social media as Megan, like community leader, Megan found of Art Gurl.
And not it's not to say that I'm I'm, like, acting differently, but then holding space and leading a community group in person is a different skill set.
And think that's why I'm focusing so much on IRL connections because unlike through a screen where it's a little bit harder to, like, feel the vibe and really, like, connect, you still can.
It's not off full, but, like, it's not as quick, it's not as powerful, and it's not as deep as when you have in person face to face connections.
And it's not just between myself and the community members.
It's also between the community members themselves.
Because they come again and again and creating the space and holding the space and being consistent and being a place where people can trust that at an art gurl workshop, you know there's gonna be enough lies, you know it's gonna be a friendly welcoming space.
You know that the people that are gonna be at the art gurl workshop are gonna welcome you in, even if you've never crafted before, even if you're not familiar with art, even if it's been twenty years since you picked up a pen or a watercolor brush, you're still welcome because we're not here to create art in the, like, sense that many art classes come with where you're like, here's what to do.
Here's step one, two, three, and you're gonna finish with this, like, thing that you might wanna hang up.
It's not that.
It's way more about expressing your creativity.
And then when you do that in a safe place where other people are doing the same thing, the connections you can make between each other, between you and the other people that are at the event are way deeper because you have a, like, shared depth that you're encountering.
And that is why in person is so important if, you know, if if if any other, you know, if anyone was to ask me what what my biggest advice for someone that wants to build community is.
It's easier to build community online because you don't have to rely on other people as much.
Like, anyone can post on social media, anyone can, um, you know, do a Zoom virtual meeting like that.
And and again, not to say that those things aren't valuable because they are, and I do them too.
But real community is built in person.
And that is, like, especially now when we're in the phase of this, like, the world of AI slop and digital fatigue and all the things that are happening in the world, creating spaces for people to come, gather together and find joy and connection belonging is crucial.
And it has and it had there has to be an in person element.
Yeah.
You have said something that I think is really important there, which is that the skills required to be good at social media are different than the skills that are required to be a community builder.
And I I think this is something we see a lot from organizations who wanna get involved in community building, but they're really new to it is they just go, oh, that's just something a social media person can do.
And and social media really is about, you know, it's it's about audience building and you create content to attract an audience.
And like you said, when you're managing a space and cultivating a space, it's more like being almost a party host where Yeah.
All of a sudden it is, how do you instill that trust? How do you make people feel safe? How do you get them to feel like they belong? Um, so I think that's so important.
I love that you've said that.
Can I ask you about the shared mission of your members? And you've touched on this, but what I mean by this are is what do your members get out of participating in the community? Not what do you as the organizer get out.
Um, and and and the way I kind of ask this is who are your members? What do they do when they come together? And why are they doing that? Why do they care about that? Can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah.
And I love the idea of a shared mission of the participants.
My members are people that want to get off of their phones and be creative.
I'm sure that you've seen there's this huge push in on social media ironically for, like, junk journaling and collecting memories in an analog way and, like, the analog revolution.
And I think people are so attracted to that because we're so burnt out from looking at screens on our phones all day every day.
One thing that, um, I put on my twenty twenty six outs list was social media, creators, and brands calling their followers, their community, which is maybe a hot take.
I don't mean ruffle any any feathers, but the truth is, that's not your community.
That's your audience.
And community is a face to face two way street.
So people that come to art gurl, if they're thinking of what they want out of it, they are actually looking for belonging and, um, connection via the shared love of crafting.
So I think the mission too resonates with people because I'm always saying things like you don't have to be good art to come to an art gurl workshop, you don't even have to have like an art practice.
This is a space where you are just like doodling, you're scrapbooking, you're tearing up pieces of paper.
It's about, uh, self expression, and it's about connection.
It's not about learning a skill.
And though that is important to me, I think some of the I think if I were to ask all of my community members, what do you get out of art gurl? The main thing they would say is time off of my phone doing something with my hands and expressing my creativity in a way that feels low stakes, but yet extremely nourishing.
Got it.
Got it.
So first of all, let's say that louder for the folks in the back that, If you have an email list, that's an audience.
If you have a social media following, that's an audience.
If you, uh, host a jazz show on a radio station, you don't have a jazz community.
You have a jazz audience that it's not until you actually create this space and people come together and form relationships with one another that you actually have a community.
Uh, but the the other thing that I think is really important to call out is is sort of the why your people are coming together And this reminds me of growing up.
I I grew up as a swimmer on a swim team, and I was on a club swim team.
And I was not good just for the wreck.
I was not fast.
I I was not, um, but I was on it because it provided me with a social life.
And then I went into high school, and I went, oh, I should join the swim team because I swim.
That's what I do.
And that swim team was not about a social life.
That swim team was about gonna get up at 05:00 in the morning and lift weights, and we're gonna be really fast, which was not why I was in it for this.
And I think that that's so interesting because your community in subways is the same.
This is not necessarily about people who are how do I become a professional artist and get booked in a museum? And this and that, they're doing it for a different reason.
And and so even though they might do the same things or be similar people who are in a community like that, that overarching why why are we doing this becomes really important, that wellness aspect to it.
Right? Yeah.
Yeah.
And I think if, like, that's why I even started this because I didn't have a space.
And just now three and a half years later, there are so many craft clubs that and I think it's the coolest thing ever.
I've I've I'm friends with a lot of the other hosts.
It's amazing.
There's a lot more opportunity for people to just go and be creative, uh, in community now.
But when I started, my options were art class six weeks learn oil painting type of class or paint and sip where you're kinda like, I'm now I'm drinking and I'm just doing whatever the person is doing, and those were kind of the choices or like do crafts by yourself.
And it's so funny.
I love that story about the swim team because I I'm an an artist.
I'm also an artist, and I have a degree in art.
And when I graduated from that program, I have one from art school, my the dean of the college in his speech to us at his commencement speech said most of you are not gonna end up working in the arts, which is, like, such a disappointing thing to hear after you've spent all this money on a degree and, you know, art.
But I think he had a good point that it's not about, um, it's not it's okay.
You're still gonna have this education of learning how to express your creativity and communicate visually, and that is not necessarily the same skill as, like, I am really good at drawing or I'm really good at this, like, thing.
So that's why I'm, like, I gotta double click on that.
And when I got feedback from my college professors in art school that I should really pursue the admin side of the art world if I wanna be in this world, kind of like a nice way of saying you're not really talented enough to be a six successful visual artist.
I I mean, I for years felt very, uh, discouraged by that feedback.
And now I embrace it because I know that that's not the point.
And that's what I really want my members to understand an art gurl is that it's not about being good.
It's about the act of creativity.
It's about the act of expressing yourself.
And I love the, um, I love what you said about the swim team because I think it's true in in all community groups.
Some some run clubs, for example, are about, like, training for a marathon and getting good times.
And some are more about, like, hobby running and just kind of, like, hanging out out.
And I think there's room for both of those things, and that's amazing.
And our girl is definitely sitting in the this is about hanging out and expressing ourselves not about being really serious with it.
So that's the shared mission.
Of your community.
Let's let's compare that to what we might call the business purpose of the organizational value.
In other words, why are you and you've talked about this a little bit.
I'm wondering if it's changed because you're now doing this full time.
So Yeah.
In addition to the orig the reasons that you originally started it, you're obviously probably paying attention to things like how much revenue does this bring in and so on and so forth.
What is the organizational value for you? Why are you hosting this community? Me.
Yeah.
Art Crow's mission is to bring art into the wellness conversation.
And that I know it sounds a little bit lofty, but I talked a little bit about this at the beginning.
I have worked in the arts for over a decade for many, many years.
And I've also been in my personal life.
I'm a trained yoga teacher.
I have a lot of experience in, like, the wellness world as well.
And those two things are not always talked about with the same breath.
And even when it comes to, uh, like corporate offices and brands and things like that, the art, the the art well I'm sorry.
The wellness, uh, trends, the wellness markets, which are huge multi multi billion dollar markets, are, um, are missing one very crucial part of human wellness.
And it's well, too, actually.
And they are creativity, creative wellness, and social wellness.
And art gurl exists to solve those problems, to help us be more intentional with how we think of the arts and more intentional with how we think of gathering.
And so with that mission in mind, I do work with corporate offices.
I do law lots of corporate events in different styles.
And I do also work with brands who are interested in moving their online audience into a more a more of a like community centric, um, experience finance.
And I think the that's why I've been able to find success financially doing this is because there is a lot of opportunity and but it has to be aligned to the overall mission which is art is wellness.
Creativity is wellness.
Social connection is wellness.
So can you talk a little bit about the revenue model there? Are you charging membership fees to your members.
And and if so, is it monthly? Is it annual? Is it per event? And then, uh, do you also have other services that you offer above and beyond that? That people, if they're interested, you know, like you mentioned the companies that you work with, you know, how does that all work? Yeah.
The revenue model is just multi stream.
So for audiences and members of the community, I have an online monthly subscription membership program, um, which is very low cost.
In the membership, you get things like prompts and a group chat, and it's very, like, cute and wholesome.
I make workbooks every month with intuitive art prompts and things like that.
It's very lovely.
Um, and then the in person and workshops are ticketed.
So members just buy tickets to workshops, but I'm able to offer accessible prices because of the other revenue streams, which are corporate, uh, workshops and then brand partnerships.
So when it comes to brands, brands who are aligned with our mission can sponsor Art Gurl events.
So they'll kind of like pay and we'll sample their product at the events.
They will, or they'll, um, they'll, you know, come in and share a little bit about whatever the services that they're doing.
Um, brands also hire me, like, to come do an event for them sometimes, which I think is is smart of them honestly because a lot of, uh, community managers, if that's your title, this is changing, and there's a lot of, like, evolution here.
But if you are in charge of social media and community, which I think should be it.
But if you're in charge of those things, then it's a it's a good play to work with community leaders to get your brand in front of your people because the community leaders already have the people.
So it's not the same as working with a content creator or an influencer because the con you know, they have an audience, but they're not seeing their people in person.
My audience and community, know me in person.
And so it's a much easier play, I think, for brands to get their brand awareness up and get the, um, the products in, actually, in front of people, like, tangibly in their hands.
Um, so that's been really great.
I've I've just recently started doing that, and I I've been really liking that angle.
I think it's kind of like a win win win for brands, for Art Gurl and for the community.
Um, and then I do corporate events, which are different styles, but a lot of times they're like creativity workshops, they're workshops that help people understand, like, or cope with burnout.
I have this one corporate program called the Creative break room.
And that's my favorite one.
Uh, I just come into your office.
I or someone from my team sets up craft stations in one of the conference rooms for the day.
And then people can come in, um, drop it at any time and just like doodle, make a craft.
I usually do like a few different stations, and people can do whatever they want.
But when I've done that, it's very interesting because, um, when I was only doing corporate workshops that were like a three hour creativity boot camp kind of thing, which is also great.
And that works a lot.
But I noticed that there were a lot of people that didn't one didn't have the time, like three hours out of their work day was too much.
They had too much work to do.
And, like, when we're talking about burnout, it's like, oh my god.
I'm like, this is like, oh, I can't do this.
It's too much.
And I totally understand that.
Or it would be like, a mandated forced fun thing.
But when I do the creative break room style, it's it's amazing to see it's so fascinating because people will come in and then they'll kind of dabble.
And then they'll leave.
And then, like, fifteen minutes later, they come back, and now they have their coworker with them.
And now they're like, let's do our one on one in here while we're, like, playing with Clay.
And it's so, um, it's so amazing.
And and, um, the people that maybe aren't, like, oh, I don't do art or I'm not creative or, like, you know, their job is, like, accounting and they're, like, I'm not, this is not my thing.
The creative break room style is very accessible.
And then I can come in and I can share easier or, like, more accessible prompts for those people.
They can do in ten minutes rather than a full hour.
And that is, um, amazing because it, again, is a win win.
The the employees at the office are getting this like really nourishing experience that they can do in their own way.
And then Art Gurl also gets to share individually face to face with more people about how creativity can be such a powerful wellness tool.
There's so much that's so smart about this revenue model, particularly the fact that you've diversified.
So on the one hand, you are monetizing the community directly, you know, the community is the product that you are selling.
And it sounds like you're selling it to two groups of people.
You're selling it to your members, people who want to participate in your space.
But you're also selling it to brands or organizations that want access to your members.
They aren't the ones who are actually the artists coming into the space, but they wanna be in front of them in a trusted environment, like the one that you're thing.
Uh, but then you're also monetizing it indirectly.
You're using it to, uh, help you sell other services like your event production that you have.
I I I think that's so smart.
How are you measuring success.
Are there certain metrics that you look at on a regular basis? Well, one thing that is, I think, potentially a vanity metric, but I take this, um, I take this as a huge compliment to the community programming, we have an incredible rate of, um, community members that post about the events on social media.
And even though I think, you know, say what you will about that type of stuff, but I think if someone is making an effort to post about their experience on their story or even make a post or a real about what they created and how their experience felt, I find that to be, um, a huge marker of this event was really successful.
So I always track, um, UGC after events just to see how many people are posting on their stories and how many people are creating content.
And we have a really impressive rate with that.
It's almost 60% on average of people that come to our girls, uh, in person events will post about their experience.
And I think that is, like, so insanely cool that people like what they've made enough in this sort space where the whole point is it doesn't have to look a certain way that they really wanna share it with their with their, um, friends.
And that's amazing.
And then another, um, another success marker would be repeat, uh, community members.
And so I think there's a lot of different ways to, to, like, run a community group like this.
And, um, since we aren't at the point on an on a membership thing.
Like, people don't kinda pay in advance.
They just pay per, uh, per event per experience.
So it's interesting to track the people that come to multiple experiences, like, come back back.
And so we have a really, really high rate of repeat, uh, attendees, or repeat community members.
And that is I mean, that that says it all.
You know, they liked it and they wanted to come back.
Um, and that's also, like, for me in my from and from my point of view, that's, like, the most important thing because to build community and belonging, you have to have consistency.
And if you come to one, you're like, that was amazing.
And I feel very, like, nourished, hopefully, unfulfilled.
But the real magic happens when you've been to two, three, four, you start to get to know the people you've exchanged Instagrams, you have friends, I have some amazing stories of, uh, people that met at art gurl workshops and and are now, like, in each other's weddings.
I have best friends that were made.
I have one girl who got a new job because of someone she met at an art gurl workshop.
And it's really like those connections, which make my heart, my sweet little, like, community builder heart totally sing because that's the whole point.
Um, and then I wanna say one other thing about monetizing community because this has been on my mind lately.
And Uh, there's some discourse around, like, paying for community, and I've gone back and forth on this a lot.
And I think some, um, some people may say that, like, true community.
It's not it's a it's a human right.
Like, we deserve community and we shouldn't have to pay for it.
And I, um, I hear that.
And I also think that there is always a price for community and the price is not always financial, but if you're in community with your neighbors, for example, the price is carrying their groceries up the stairs sometimes, getting their packages, showing up to their, like, gatherings and birthdays, cooking dinner for them occasionally.
Those are that's the price of you being in community with those people.
And so in the case of Art Gurl, the connections and the belonging are just as real and just as magical.
And the cost of it, uh, contributes to that because it creates a equal, um, energetic playing field here where you're you're investing in to something that is giving you the sense of belonging.
And it actually is so funny because that ends up creating a deeper sense of belonging that you're like, I have invested in this.
Yeah.
Um, so even I've gone back and forth times on being like, with, you know, should I should I adjust that model a little and and offer free events? And I I don't think I ever will because of that reason.
Yeah.
I I mean, I hear this discussion every once in a while, and you know, look, I I I do think everybody needs community.
Um, everybody needs food.
Nobody's saying we shouldn't pay farmers.
Uh, everybody needs health care.
Nobody's saying we shouldn't pay doctors.
I mean, you're doing real work that has real value, and it it takes up your time.
Yeah.
So Totally.
You know, I I I I think there's value in it.
Exactly.
I totally agree.
Uh, let me ask, uh, a little bit.
We talked about feedback and how your space has evolved in time.
Do you have formal methods of, uh, getting feedback from your members or how do you go about collecting that? Yeah.
Um, occasionally, I used to do this more.
Um, I'll send surveys, especially at the beginning.
I did a lot of surveying of, um, of people.
And I I think, first of all, I think it's very important to be in communication with the community because what is the point of building community if people aren't if they don't want it? You know, like the that's the entire reason that we're doing this.
The the people that come to our girl events are, like, the most important and most beautiful part of the whole thing.
So I started with doing a lot of surveys.
I didn't have a lot of success with people filling out the surveys.
I did get some responses, but it was a really low rate I used to send them after every single event, and I would ask for, um, I would ask for feedback and the feedback forms were they were often they were about the experience.
Like, what did you think of the project? The materials, the space, the facilitator? Like, those questions, and I would also include questions about, like, what else would you want to see in this vein.
And I realized that, um, so, yeah, it's hard to get people to take service.
Unless there's like an incentive.
So now the way that I gather feedback is a little bit, um, maybe messier, but because I have such amazing access face to face with the community, I ask them in person.
And then I, like, I do a kind of potentially anal thing where if I'm trying to get feedback on a new style of workshop or a new program, then I ask the community.
Sometimes I ask when I'm doing a welcome or do an instructional thing.
But more often, I just talked individual members while we're, like, doing the event.
I'll just be like, hey, um, I was thinking about doing a paper marbling workshop.
Like, here's what it would look like.
Would you wanna go like, then you can hear from people directly.
And I'm really lucky, I think, because of the people that come to my events, they're really excited and down to give feedback.
And they're also down to be like, I think that's a good idea.
Probably wouldn't go to that.
Like, or no, that's like, that's out of the price range for what I wanna pay for this type of thing.
Or I really wanna do that, but, like, x y z reason is why I wouldn't.
So and then I listen.
And then that's the most important thing.
It's like, to build trust in your community, you have to implement the majority feedback.
And so when I heard from my community that they wanted junk journaling events, and that was, like, the big thing that they wanted, I said, okay.
We're gonna do more junk journaling.
And then once you've talked to community members, I think it's also, you know, people say things and it doesn't always quite match their behavior.
So another way that I gather feedback is just the data of what events are doing well and which ones aren't.
So events at certain venues that always sell out.
I keep working with those venues, and I keep doing those, um, workshops, workshops that don't sell out.
I maybe try one more time with different marketing or, uh, a a different, like, venue or some change something small because with events, it's also tricky.
Like, sometimes it's just a day that happens.
It's, like, very fickle.
And so you I I give maybe a chance or two to certain things, but then if it's not working, then we move to the next thing.
And it's we're lucky to be able to move quickly because of the consistent in person feedback, like, directly and also, like, in a data data wise.
Let me ask about onboarding.
And I, you know, I don't know if it looks different for people who are coming to your events for the first time versus somebody who comes into your online space for the first time.
But when somebody is a brand new member and they first join and they just cross that threshold, uh, what do you do to welcome them? Uh, this is so important to me.
I I do a few things.
Um, the most common way that people, like, enter into the Art Gurl universe is in person universe is just by, like, signing up for an event.
So I'm very consistent and, um, like, I never forget to send very detailed emails about what to expect during the gathering.
I always say, here's the address, here's etcetera, those things, but I also say, like, here's roughly what we're gonna be doing.
Here's the, like, rough agenda.
Here's what you should bring.
Here's what you should wear if there's some sort of, like, if it's gonna be, you know, outside and maybe cold.
I give all the information that anyone could possibly need.
And then I make sure that myself or my, uh, teachers that are that help teach the workshops.
I make sure that we are very accessible on DMs and email and responding quickly to people that are I have never been.
I do get a lot of DMs on Instagram from people that say things like, I really like, I would like to come to your event, but I'm really shy or I'd like to come to your event, but I, like, I don't I don't have anyone to go with, and our girl events are specifically facilitated in a way that makes it easy or less scary, I should say, to come as a shy introvert that is coming alone.
And the way do that is by facilitating that, um, the workshop in that way.
So then at the beginning, I will sometimes say, like, is anybody is this anyone's first time? And then I make sure that I or someone from the arc team is like face to face talking to them and welcoming them, or I will sit them with a or and I should say it not or, and I will sit them with, um, a a community member that's, like, been to a lot of events and that I know will welcome them.
I also just have to say that, like, the, um, I'm not sure about other community topics, but I have almost never had an issue with people feeling excluded or like complaining about that.
And I really think it's because when you are making art, you are happier.
And there's never dissent.
There's never, uh, you know, know, unhappiness or conflict, not that we are afraid of those things, and we would always deal with them.
But it doesn't happen very much.
And I think the reason is because when you're making art, you're just happier.
And we tend to attract the really amazing people that are naturally extremely welcoming.
So I'm very lucky for that.
And, um, it's also created a, an onboarding system that doesn't need a lot of attention, if you will, or, like, a tweaking consistently.
So you've been doing this for over three years now.
What have you learned along the way? And what would you do differently? Like, if you could go back and give yourself advice three years ago, what would you tell yourself? Oh, man.
Well, the first thing I would say is just, like, keep going.
I think one thing, uh, that I think is a misconception for, and if any community builders are listening, maybe they'll relate.
I think a lot of people look at what I'm doing and they think, oh, cute.
You're you're teaching craft workshops.
Like, what a cute life that must be? And it's actually I'm and it is.
It is.
I have the best life ever, and I'm so lucky that this is what what doing for my job, but it also is hard.
And there's events that no one shows up to.
There's events that I have to cancel.
There's, you know, it's tricky to cause to secure venues.
The finances of it are hard, especially at the beginning.
So I think that what I wish I had done at the beginning was, um, be a little bit more anal about the systems I was using.
I think I wish I had sort of like tracked things in a more organized way.
I I kinda still wish I was doing that.
I wish I was a little more organized with tracking things, but that would be, um, my biggest piece of advice to to twenty twenty two Megan.
I would say, just write it all down write all of this down and, um, and then also just keep going.
Um, and then also don't be afraid of, uh, like, the rejection and try not to take it personally because it's not personal, especially when you run a community as a business.
There's some, you know, you get you get negative feedback from people.
You people don't always understand.
I I still struggle.
I think what you're doing is amazing because it's reminding people that community marketing is the future.
And I believe that, and it's also really hard to, um, express that because you can't always, you know, the data is is not, um, it's harder to capture the data to prove that because you, you know, you show someone something in person.
You can't track the length if they're going to target and bought it, you know.
Um, but I know that it's a effective.
And so it's harder to show that.
I think, um, I think that.
And then I I think just like doubling down on sharing your authentic reasons for I've started the community.
People connect to people.
When I first started Art Gurl, I was really, um, like shy about showing my face on social media.
I really was like, I didn't wanna do that at all.
And I think since I kinda got over that and allowed myself to, um, like, be the leader of the community, it's been way more successful and people feel way more welcomed because they see me and they know the face and then they're like, okay.
That's Megan.
That's someone that I can talk to at this event that I, like, have seen before.
Yeah.
Uh, that's fantastic.
I alright.
Last question for you.
You you talked a little bit about moments where some of your members came together and something bigger came out of it, you know, they, one got a job working here or there was a relationship that formed, uh, and I like to call those moments of serendipity where people come together and and just something happens unexpected.
Do you have a particular moment of serendipity that you can tell us about that you are proud of? Oh, so many.
I I one that comes to mind, there was, um, a really wonderful thing that happened where, oh my god, there's so many.
I don't know which one to say.
Um, there was a girl that came.
I was doing a three part series, um, of workshops, a collaboration with another community builder friend of mine.
And we had, uh, two people that came to the first of the series and they had only bought tickets.
Each of them had only bought tickets to the first event and they, um, they they both came, they happened to sit next to each other.
Then after the event ended on the spot, they were like, let's cut.
Let's do second of series in the event, they ended up coming to all three together.
So they were strangers when they came to the first one.
They came to the second one together.
And at the third event, they came together too.
And they had planned a, like, post workshop up, like, craft night at one of their apartments, and that was two years ago.
And now still to this day, they are best friends and they do everything together.
They they come to events.
Know them very well and they're amazing.
And they met and have this amazing friendship because of our girl, which is so lovely.
It's just like and I have so many stories like that of people that came and met, and then suddenly they're like, I'm I belong.
And it's just a matter of showing up in person to that.
So if if anyone is, like, feeling lonely or searching for belonging, the biggest piece of advice is you have to show up.
Like, just just do something that you think will be fun and don't be afraid of doing it alone because more often than not, if you're in a space where you wanna be, you're gonna find your people because they wanna be there too.
Wow.
That's awesome.
Megan, thank you so much for for sharing the story of Art Gurl.
If people wanna learn more, they can go to art gurl dot org.
Uh, girl is spelled g u r l.
Uh, but this been absolutely fantastic.
I really appreciate you coming on and and sharing the story with us.
Thank you, Seth.
What a privilege.
This is awesome.
I think you're doing awesome work too, so thank you for having me.
And, yeah, please join our girl.
Come if you're in New York, come to an event, we'd love to stay in touch.
Alright.
Thank you
