The trick is to be the sort of blogger that doesn’t use art, but that joins forces with it.

want people to engage with what is written as well as what is visual.
I want people to not just glean from a blog post, but from the art that helps it.
I want people to stop and stare.

So I built an extension of Third Person Creative explicitly for this purpose.

I give you, The District (as in “Arts District”), an online creative gallery for the display of art, writing, and everything in between.

Here’s how it fits into the broader scheme of things:

1. An artist creates a profile in Florence (our forums site).

2. They gain free reign to post in the forums provided that they adhere to the code of conduct. Here, they can promote themselves and ‘workshop’ their pieces with other TPC members.

3. Once they have developed a larger body of work, they can submit it to be included in The District galleries (or maybe they want to submit something 0.2 seconds after joining – which is fine too).

The artist is promoted on the profile level, improved within the forums, and promoted again on The District.

Visitors of The District will be able to link directly to the artist’s profile for business!

Cool?

P.S. I added a gallery of some fireworks photos that I took over the 4th just to give you an idea as to what I’m talking about.

P.P.S. The District is still under construction (although it’s live). So feel free to feed me with suggestions. You can use the contact form here.