My current mission was to detail art crimes in the traditional sense – actual art being stolen from museums, galleries and private collections, and also in the non-traditional sense, in the form of graffiti. What I have found throughout this process is that the more narrow your audience, the better chance you have at reaching them. Niche publications are most effective at reaching their audiences directly because they are focused on one topic, one group of people. My audience was too broad in focusing on these two very distinct notions of art crime I cast the net too wide. Maybe this wide topic range could work for some bloggers, but for me, it was just too much.
My true passion is graffiti, and I am quite sure that comes through in my writing. I am more enthusiastic and knowledgeable about both the audience for news on graffiti art and also the subject matter in general. Therefore, I would change the blog to focus on graffiti alone. Throughout the course of this quarter I found there was more than enough material to blog about when just focusing on graffiti.
The debate surrounding graffiti is multifaceted. Graffiti is in the process of becoming more of an art form, accepted by mainstream audiences. Most of the graffiti Web sites that exist today are by graffiti artists, for graffiti artists. I want to capitalize on graffiti’s transformation from a subversive form of expression to a widely accepted art form by directing my blog to a more mainstream audience. I want my blog to be the place to go for people who seek more information about graffiti and are looking for a good source of information. My blog will be the Web site to turn to for graffiti news and art.
By focusing on one topic (and a variety of issues within that one topic) I will be able to reach a more defined group of people. The people that would be most interested in reading a blog about graffiti are people who think graffiti is pretty cool, but don’t really know that much about it.
As graffiti has grown in popularity and acceptance, it has transformed from an underground effort to a trendy, hip art form. Just the fact that I, as a 24-year-old, white, middle class female, am interested in graffiti shows that the audience for graffiti is transforming. In the past you had to be involved in the urban, street lifestyle to know or understand much of anything about graffiti. Sure, as a public art form, graffiti has been available to the public discourse, but it is only recently that it has become a widely accepted form of art and expression.
Therefore, I believe my audience is people just like me. I am not a graffiti artist (though I secretly wish I could be), but I do appreciate art, especially when it is in non-traditional forms that push the boundaries of what is and can be considered art. My audience members are 20-somethings who live an urban lifestyle and like art. They are into what is new, what is now and what is different. They have a growing fascination with graffiti as they see it from the train on their morning commute, and they are eager to learn and see more.
Here is a list of features and editorial ideas I have to serve the community I have identified:
–Original reporting from graffiti events (talks at art schools/galleries about the merits of graffiti art, gallery openings with work by graffiti artists, and events dedicated to performing street art in a legal way, such as the Meeting of Styles)
–Photo galleries with pictures of graffiti around the world
–The ability to interact with the photo galleries, where readers can pick and choose favorite pieces, critique walls and add commentary
–Discussion boards for people to contribute opinions and thoughts about the many issues within the graffiti debate
–Continual debate from the blogosphere of graffiti as a public art vs. graffiti as a public nuisance/crime
–Tracking of famous graffiti trials worldwide, such as the recent arrest of Boston-area tagger Spek (the posts I wrote on his arrest were the most popular on my site to date)
Click here to go to PART TWO: Community Profile
Click here to go to PART THREE: Blog Development Plan
