Emerging musicians, artists and designers have a platform to showcase their work nationally thanks to Heidi Luerra, founder of RAW:natural born artists. We caught up with Luerra to discuss her inspiration, goals and the obstacles she’s faced while running the RAW:natural born artists organization.
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| RAW: natural born artists brainchild: Heidi Luerra |
What was your inspiration?
I’m an artist myself. I create every day- turning nothing into something. Whether that be an idea into reality, or a canvas into a painting (once upon a time- I have no time to paint anymore). I really understand what makes artists tick, I think. Wanting to help the community and offer the resources I have is a part of my personal and spiritual mission- so that gives me the energy to keep going.
What was the hardest part of starting RAW:natural born artists and how did you overcome the challenges?
THE MONEY! Trying to make a dollar out of fifty cents and then dumping it all back in to make RAW even bigger and better. I have champagne tastes for our RAW productions, on a beer budget. As we grow things are getting easier.
How do you go about selecting the artists and musicians for your events?
Each artist submits through our website, they have to do 45 push ups and 15 pull ups and they need to be able to do a triple back-flip (kidding). We review their portfolios and if we like their work, we invite them to participate. We get an overwhelming amount of submissions, which allows us to choose the best of the best!
If an artist or musician was interested in participating in one of your events, what would they need to do?
They could go to our website www.RAWartists.org and submit their pictures, a short bio and and their MP3s or videos if they are in film or music. It’s fairly straight forward. Our website is exclusively for our RAW artists so we have to select them to participate in order for them to have a live profile and all the perks thereof.
Do you have any plans for the future? Are you looking to expand?
We are expanding in February 2011 to showcase artists in 17 cities nationwide. RAW showcases will be hosted once monthly in every major metropolitan city in the U.S. We’ll be launching four additional cities in the Summer of 2011 and that will put RAW at 22 cities nationwide. We’re really excited for this and the other cool opportunities we’ll be able to provide with a nationwide network!
What was the best advice someone’s given you?
Do one thing, and do it well.
What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?
There are no rules, don’t get tripped up by imaginary red tape, it’s all a facade. Feel the fear, and do it anyways- life is too short not to reach your highest potential.
Anything else you would like to add?
RAW is looking for interns in 2011 to help with the nationwide launch in Marketing, PR and Journalism. They can email their resumes to Vy@RAWartists.org
Where can we get more information about RAW:natural born artists?
Formerly an editor at Demand Media, writer at Citysearch, The Examiner and proofreader at The Los Angeles Daily News, Christy Buena decided to start Disarray Magazine because she missed writing what she wanted. From hiring writers, to contacting publicists and making assignments, Christy is responsible for the editorial strategy of Disarray Magazine. Get to know the team of talented contributors.
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