{"id":2377,"date":"2016-10-20T12:02:03","date_gmt":"2016-10-20T12:02:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/?p=2377"},"modified":"2016-10-20T12:02:03","modified_gmt":"2016-10-20T12:02:03","slug":"networking-reframed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/networking-reframed\/","title":{"rendered":"Networking Reframed"},"content":{"rendered":"

I keep reading about the importance of regularly\u00a0attending art openings in order to meet new people and to build one’s network. I appreciate the theory, but not necessarily the means. How do you feel about networking at openings? Are you good at it? Is it something you engage in consciously? Do you feel pressured to make an effort? I’m not referring to when you are the exhibiting artist; I think what is termed as “networking” unfolds naturally when you are in that mode. Rather, when you attend an opening as a viewer do you feel compelled (or follow the frequent recommendations) to reach out to people you don’t know in an attempt to create a connection for your work?<\/p>\n

\"dye1web\"

I have been dyeing this week. I will never tire of the patterns that emerge.<\/p><\/div>\n

Irrationally or not, I find approaching someone in what is in essence a “cold call” conjures up negative images of self-promotional awkwardness. Is that because it’s work encroaching on what is essentially a social situation? Or is it just that generating conversations with folks I don’t know is challenging? Being caught on the other end of this scenario has likely flavored my opinion: it’s no fun listening to\u00a0a person you just met who only seems able to talk\u00a0about themselves and their work. There is a fine line between striking up a conversation with a person you don’t know\u00a0that sparks\u00a0a genuinely mutual discussion about shared interests, and purposefully approaching someone with business objectives in mind. I admire those who can do so successfully, but it’s a skill for which I have little aptitude.<\/p>\n

\"dye2web\"<\/p>\n

However, I’ve had a bit of an epiphany which makes me realize that, as with so many things, perspective is all-important. Perhaps I’ve been looking at this concept of networking at openings a bit too literally. I had a couple of lovely opportunities, in separate gallery settings, to exchange ideas with folks last week in such a way that it made me realize that an art opening is a celebration and should be enjoyed as such. Occasions\u00a0to connect with someone outside your circle\u00a0should be approached as a joy, not as a directive. It is an opportunity to learn and perhaps to help someone else with their goals. It seems to me\u00a0the act of networking is best served if\u00a0reframed from an action with an objective, to an inter<\/em>action that simply makes the world a little wider.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I keep reading about the importance of regularly\u00a0attending art openings in order to meet new people and to build one’s network. I appreciate the theory, but not necessarily the means. How do you feel about networking at openings? Are you good at it? Is it something you engage in consciously? Do you feel pressured to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21,83,363],"tags":[362],"class_list":["post-2377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discussion","category-exhibitions","category-networking","tag-networking"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5kO5z-Cl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2377"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2395,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377\/revisions\/2395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethfram.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}