Black Tattoo Anthology — Grant Report #1

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Project Update

BTA is finally moving along. The infrastructure was a challenge since it does require a great deal of tech work to start. And as the low tech girl, I truly underestimated time and availability for tech needs as the project progressed.

But we pulled through! We were able to build a site, brand the project's social community - being hosted on Mighty Networks and map a strong user experience and brand awareness campaign.

The biggest discouragement turned win was the response from artists to do interviews for the content. However, that quickly turned around the moment I was able to carve time into my schedule to contact each artist, personally. We emailed in interest of time and efficiency but we don't often respond to those things >.<

To avoid another brand Instagram being disabled I've had to slow my pace in how I contact, follow and engage with artists so that I don't look like a bot - this has already been the case with the BTA Instagram and has been disabled by the platform.

Progress on objectives

We got the best response from artists when we reframed our main objective of Black Tattoo History to specifically talk about tattoo therapy and how modern tattooing helps heal within the Black community.

That small shift has turned our non-response from artists into 13 interviews thus far, in less than 2 weeks!

In the event of not having enough qualified participating artists (our goal is 100) we have opened up space and opportunity to have participating artists interview with one of their favorite clients - for a well-rounded look at tattoo within the Black community as a peer to peer healing modality.

With the 100(+) Black artists resource and having participating artists now, we are on track with the objective of providing artists visibility.

The objective of artist monetization has shifted to using BTA as a teachable moment to artists of how tech can provide incentives for us to tell our stories. The perk for monetized compensation isn't an ideal perk for artists at this time, so I'll have to dig in to really show them the benefits as the project grows.

(Amended) IG Msg Sent to Artists

Hey hey! Imani here from Little INKPLAY Shop (@lipsbrand.online)

Our Black Tattoo Anthology team would love to extend a personal TIME SENSITIVE invitation to share your story as one of 100 inspiring Black tattoo artists you should know.

We truly love your art, lifestyle message, and the enthusiasm you share with your followers as we deep dive into ‘Tattoo Therapy’ as a holistic form of healing within the Black community. We believe your values are a great fit for this project and to be honest, we all know that Black history and economics is key and much needed in our tattoo sphere. And would be truly honored to have you as part of this sustainable reclamation project

If we can count you in, please go here www.ipukekawaii.com/YUME-create to schedule an artist interview

For more about the BTA book project please visit BlackTattooAnthology.com

Thanks for hearing me out!
~Imani K Brown

PS - if you have any q's or need any help please don't hesitate to hit me!

Key activities

Weekly activities as the project progresses are:

1. Artist outreach, personal invite to participate in the project; NOW
2. Artist outreach, follow-up for any q's or help scheduling artist interview; NOW
3. Artist interviews, Zoom sessions with tattoo artists conducted Mon - Wed; NOW
4. Content batch work - organization and scheduling; starts 3/15
5. Weekly community check-in/ update - via email + text marketing; starts 4/1
6. Weekly convo content; starts 4/1

Communications and marketing

For now we're talking on Instagram where most of the Black tattoo community lives.

• Original Announcement
• Hiccups Post
• You've Got Mail Update Post
• 100 Black Tattoo Artists List

What’s next?

1. Before running content, we have to get tech issues with Godaddy fixed and insert the coil wallet.
2. Facebook ads are slated to go live 3/15 or sooner, depending on tech issue resolution.
3. Run artist interviews as BTA Podcast
4. Create + market merchandise for a strong trademark submission - as recommended by IP lawyer
5. Map the book launch
6. Organize the content
7. Format the book layout
8. Launch + deliver the first iteration of BTA to public in ebook format

What community support would benefit your project?

YES! I would love help and support, please ~

1. Uphold application and coil wallet application support, please. I don't understand a lot of the application to get my wallet (learning curve), but would like to have this in order by the time other tech issues are resolved. Also, ideally we would like to have all digital spaces monetized to allow people to engage with the content + BTA spaces that resonates the most however unsure of how feasible this is ~

2. Seeking collaboration with Black therapists, psychiatrists and health care providers interested in contributing their expertise to the therapy part of the project.

Additional comments

This has been an awesome learning experience thus far, on so many levels. We are excited to launch - even if we have to launch it ugly >.<

Relevant links/resources (optional)

Feel free to take the journey, thus far ~
Start here.