What is ArtsKeeper?

ArtsKeeper is dedicated to helping artists with their needs: exposure, community, resources and marketing and sales. It is the only platform dedicated to helping artists control their future. Although it is a for-profit organization, it is a social business, where success is measured by how we help the artists and the arts communities as well as profit.

All artists, musicians, movie producers, sculptors, writers, no matter what their stage in life, will come to ArtsKeeper for help. ArtsKeeper will be where they share ideas and their work with others, where they find others to work with, where their work will be on display.

ArtsKeeper will listen to artists who say what they need, will give lovers of the arts a place to go to find the work of their choice, a one stop place to find the work they are seeking. Artists will go to ArtsKeeper for community, to find others they listen to. ArtsKeeper will offer all of the combined tools and features in one site, eliminating the need for artists to update several sites. This advantage alone presents ArtsKeeper the unparalleled opportunity to fill a universal vacuum in a burgeoning market.

By their very nature, artists and aficionados of valuable cultural pursuits crave exposure and community. Artists need an audience and beholders need art. Many artists work alone, yet their need to interact with like-minded people is compelling and irresistible. ArtsKeeper is a site where artists’ work can become visible not only to their confreres, but also to patrons and other enthusiasts.

If a musician needs a venue in a new city, ArtsKeeper can help him or her find it. If a movie producer needs theaters in which to show his work, he will come to ArtsKeeper. If a translator wants to know to whom to speak about translation rights, ArtsKeeper is his friend. If a jewelry maker or potter needs to raise the capital she needs to build a studio.

ArtsKeeper will help sell tickets for concerts or the theater. The artist will better be able to earn a living and the costs will be less expensive for the enthusiast.

Join the ArtsKeeper community now.   

Should Companies Focus on Profit or Social Good?

(image, © Andie Gilmour from Wikipedia, CC by SA 3.0)

Recently I listened to the INC podcast debate, "Serious Business: Should Companies (start-ups) Focus on Profit or Social Good?"  This is an issue with which I have been concerned. I believe that business should focus on maximizing benefit to all stakeholders, which would include not only shareholders (investors), members (users/clients/customers), employees (and management), patrons (supporters) and the entire community it serves. Maximizing benefit includes maximizing profit, but not only profit.

The sponsor for this podcast, salesforce.com, uses as a slogan on their website, "We help your customers love you;" - this should be a focus of every business, - to have customers love them. Among other things, advertising aims “to enhance the image of the company, [and] draw customers to the business” (Wikipedia). Focusing on the social good makes people feel good about the company and enhances its image even if they are not yet customers.

Kevin O'Leary claims that CEOs have a solemn duty to investors to maximize profits and that a social mission is a distraction. If a purpose of the business is to help (as in medicine) or to entertain or to inspire, that is not distraction. Neither is developing a quality product or great customer service. Nor is being a good social citizen.

Jon Fine says that success comes from selling at the lowest possible price, and for some businesses, this is true, and at times, I shop at Walmart or at a dollar store to get a better price, but I do not deceive myself that this is the only model for success. Sometimes quality demands a higher price. Sometimes so does insurance, beauty, art, and helping the social good.

Howard Schultz of Starbucks put it this way when he said: We remain highly respectful of the culture and traditions of the countries in which we do business. We recognize that our success is not an entitlement, and we must continue to earn the trust and respect of customers every day.  Starbucks too focuses on social benefit as well as profit and that seems to work very well.

Startups have to think of immediate survival, but they should think about the long run as well, which is in the interest of their investors as well as their customers. Even if investors do not receive immediate gratification, they will when the company is allowed to grow, become popular, get good publicity  and get customers.   

Our startup social network, ArtsKeeper is being built with that in mind. We are striving to build a business that maximizes benefit for all as well as being a great vehicle for investors.

George Farkas is the CEO of ArtsKeeper, the international Social Media Platform for artists and the arts, for anyone who loves the Arts, - for artists, enthusiasts, and patrons.