Gaining Social Proof as an Artist

Episode Transcript:

[00:00:00] Michael: the tide has started to shift a little bit where traditionally our buyers have worked in finance. Um, and there's something inherently creative about building technology. So I think a lot of people in tech are starting to kind of come around and, and see art as something they're they're into.

[00:00:17] Michael: especially with NFT, that's sort of been a good bridge into to helping people get more interested.

[00:00:22] Michael: so my name is Michael Fae. Uh, I am the founder and CEO of Altamira.art

[00:00:29] Isotta: This is Art Is… a podcast for artists where we brainstorm the future of the art world and the creative industries, today I’m joined with Michael Fachinello, so I was wondering, Michael, if you could just bring us into your professional life a little bit, how did you get interested in art and start working in the art world?

[00:00:39] Michael: so as a kid, my, my grandparents were really into art.

[00:00:42] Michael: They were big art collectors. Um, they lived in Aspen, Colorado, and I would spend summers with them. um, and, and so started getting into it there. And my aunt who actually, uh, lived in basalt, which is very close to Aspen, Colorado owned a gallery there. And so also spent a lot of time in the gallery and, and I just became really, really interested in both the art and then how my aunt was selling it.

[00:01:08] Michael: Um, and kind of how you build value, how you build a narrative, that whole thing. Um, So I think at the age of nine or 10, my grandparents, uh, got me my first piece of art, uh, for, for my birthday. And, uh, the note was, uh, the first piece for your collection. Um, and so ever since I've, I've just really been into art and, and I don't think I was an active collector, uh, starting immediately after that.

[00:01:35] Michael: Um, Have just sort of continued on that path. Um, and then actually in high school, uh, as a senior, I won the art show just by accident, within a specific category, um, for our county that I went to high school in. Um, and, and that was just because I was really into woodworking and built something that my teacher entered into the county art show.

[00:01:58] Michael: So I won the. Woodworking category, which I didn't realize was a, uh, was a thing. But anyway, That was really fun. And so I guess flipping over to the professional world, there was a little bit of a gap as I went to college and, and things like that with art. Um, but after I graduated college, I sort of flipped a coin, um, between moving to New York and Chicago, uh, from Colorado and ended up in Chicago where I didn't really know anybody.

[00:02:29] Michael: So kind of floundered and. Worked some random, weird odd jobs. Um, and ultimately went to a, uh, tech boot camp where through there, I, I met a random guy who was charged by, uh, JB Pritzker. Who's the now, uh, governor of Illinois with creating the Chicago venture summit, um, and grabbing a coffee with him. He had just met with JB he's. I've just been given this task, uh, would you care to, to help? And I'm like, absolutely went home, created a, a master list of the top 500 DCS in the us and sent it to him the next morning. Um, and then from then on, I was in every meeting to create the Chicago venture summit, um, which is still ongoing. It's the largest venture summit in Illinois.

[00:03:23] Michael: Um, and that's administered by world business, Chicago. Uh, which is a public private partnership with the state, um, the city and, uh, a nonprofit that's led by the business leaders of Chicago. Uh, and this is a roundabout way to getting how I, I got really into tech through that. I found a, a, a design firm to build the website for us and effectively convince them to build it for free.

[00:03:50] Michael: Uh, and at the same time I was running a, a startup, uh, to deliver. Laundry, uh, effectively, it was Uber for, for laundry. You hit a button, we'd show up, take your laundry, get it dry cleaned or washed. Uh, and that business just has terrible unit economics. So when that, uh, went away, uh, basically begged the guys at click studios to give me a job.

[00:04:16] Michael: Where I started out as a UX designer and strategist, um, and then transitioned after a few years to building the business there. Um, meaning I, I started launching and managing new offices. I, I launched and managed our Denver office launched and managed our Austin office, um, and, and grew those out. Um, and with that, the, the, uh, Click studios in Chicago was headquartered in the fine arts building.

[00:04:51] Michael: And so I would be going into work every day, just surrounded by art studios. We were the, the big corporation in the building. Um, and so pretty early on there, I started thinking about how could you make the art world better? Um, and so ultimately when COVID came around, um, Had been sitting on this concept for a long time and just never thinking anybody was doing it right.

[00:05:22] Michael: Um, and had more time to work on it since I wasn't on a plane all the time. Um, and that was sort of where Altara started to come from. but yeah, Altara is a communal marketplace for art artists. Uh, they're critics and fans, and really Altara is a, a community that facilitates. Community around art to provide education, social proof, emotional connection, and seamless transaction.

[00:05:48] Michael: Uh, it aims to democratize the art world. Uh, our mission is, is really just to open up the art world to anyone that wants to participate. Uh, whether that's an artist, whether that's a collector, um, a critic, what have you, um, Along the way we've really focused on creating the, the best way for artists to sell their work, build their brand and engage with their fans, uh, while empowering art enthusiasts and collectors to find great art.

[00:06:18] Michael: Um, and, and like I said, so had this, this notion of. A different way to engage with and sell art. Um, while I was working in the fine arts building, uh, also at click studios, uh, I worked on a project for the Denver public art program where we helped the citizens and visitors of Denver, uh, discover the, the 40 million plus, uh, Collection around the city of Denver.

[00:06:45] Michael: So that's there's they spent 40 million on creating this wonderful public art collection. And, uh, you'd see it, but you didn't really know anything about it. So now they have a, a web app that allows for the easy discovery of that. Um, and so. Like I said, when we, we got into COVID had more time, and this was just something that I, I really got passionate about and started thinking more and more about.

[00:07:11] Michael: And, and I realized that it just, the, the problem was none of the platforms that were online were doing anything different than a, a physical gallery, or, or doing anything different than the likes of Amazon. And art is this really complex transaction where you can't just go onto a website like you would Amazon, or like you would to buy a pair of pants and say, I know I want a pair of blue jeans.

[00:07:42] Michael: I know my size is 33 and, um, click it and feel confident in making that purchase. And that's kind of how all these platforms treat it right now. They treat it just like it's any other eCommerce transaction. Um, and they don't do anything for the individual artists who are creating in helping them create social proof or build their audience, um, or, or help them build a narrative around their art.

[00:08:09] Michael: And so that's really what, what we tried to do and what we've been been doing since we launched back in September of, uh, 2021.

[00:08:19] Isotta: also something that's really particular that is a focus of Almira is the role of critique. And I think that's really interesting, um, because I haven't really seen that before on a online marketplace. So I'd love to hear your thoughts. Why that was so important for you and for Alta.

[00:08:40] Michael: Yeah. I think. The it, it really comes down to, to two things, one, uh, art artists, one of the, the best ways for them to build their, their reputation for them to sort of get themselves out into the world is getting written up in a newspaper. Um, but that's really inaccessible for a lot of artists who are just starting out.

[00:09:02] Michael: Um, and. We think that it shouldn't necessarily, you shouldn't have to go out and hire a PR agency or get placed into a top gallery to have your work written about. Um, and so that was one piece of it. We also think it's, it's kind of. Interesting. When you do read, uh, critical assessments of an artist in a newspaper, um, there's very little about the work itself.

[00:09:28] Michael: Um, and generally it's, it's about the broader body of work instead of specific pieces. Um, and so we have it set up. To where the critiques are around specific pieces of art. Um, probably more similar to what you're used to in your MFA program. Um, and, and artists seem to really appreciate that, uh, when they do get their work critiqued, um, it gives them a, an asset or an artifact that they can use elsewhere that they can refer back to.

[00:09:58] Michael: Um, but then on the flip side of things, so that's the artist's side on, on the buyer's side. There's this huge number of people, at least in the us, I'm sure it's worldwide. But the research that we've seen is us based that wanna buy art. Um, but just don't feel confidence enough in, in doing that. And, and so this, this research was focused on people who make $100,000 or more a year, um, and what their sentiment is around art.

[00:10:26] Michael: And, and it, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but it was something like 48% of people. Wants to purchase art, uh, 35 think that art is a good long term investment. Only 2% of those people had actually purchased art. So there's this wide gap and, and the research there stated the, the reason for this gap was people just didn't have the knowledge or confidence to actually make a purchase.

[00:10:52] Michael: Um, and anecdotally, uh, I've, I, I was on a trip with a friend who. We were in a hotel, there was a gallery in the bottom of the hotel, spent a lot of time in the gallery, loved the work, but. He did not pull the trigger on making a purchase because he didn't, he just like, well, what if it isn't good work? He was relying on his own taste.

[00:11:14] Michael: He talked to the galleries, he felt like he was being sold to. So he wasn't sure, like, should I actually buy this? Will I like it MI year? What will other people think? Like if somebody knows about art, are they gonna think I'm an. And so we're really trying to address that by giving people one social proof.

[00:11:33] Michael: Um, but two, just an analysis of, of what that piece is from a, a neutral party and not from a salesperson. Um, and, and sort of that can serve as a signal two, if the work is being written about, okay, somebody at. Cares about this piece enough to write about it. Um, so that's kind of the, the role of critique.

[00:11:56] Michael: We also just think it's a more interesting way to sort of build community, um, and, and allow for, um, Critics to gain recognition for them to have another avenue and venue to, um, be seen and to have their, their thoughts, get out into the world where it's a concerted community of people who care about art, as opposed to, um, potentially if they're just writing it on medium or, or some other place, it, it has a better chance of being seen by the audience that they would want it to be seen by. So, yeah, that's, that's a really long answer of the, the critiques, but, um, hopefully it gives you a little bit of a sense for, for how we think about.

[00:12:43] Isotta: And how does Altair actually work? is it like a gallery model does it take a percentage of sales or how does it work?

[00:12:53] Michael: So it's totally free for anyone to sign up. Um, we do, the way that we make money is, is by yes. Taking a commission on the work sold. And that commission is 10%. Um, it's something where when you don't have to pay for expensive real estate, like a gallery does, uh, you don't have to take a full 50%.

[00:13:15] Michael: And, and I think galleries aren't necessarily trying to hurt artists or take a massive, massive chunk from them. But realistically they have to real estate in places where art sells is really, really expensive. Um, and you're seeing more galleries close every year than what open. Um, anyway, that's, that's a long way of saying we're able to charge much less.

[00:13:40] Michael: Um, and, and really, you know, there are other platforms that are charging 30% or, or what have you, um, But that's them just looking at what is the, what are galleries taking? Okay. What's a, a reasonable markdown from that where we can still just take as much as possible from the artist. We think it's a better long term strategy and, and what we care about and what our mission drives toward to opening the art world up, um, to take as little as we can, um, to benefit the artists as much as we can.

[00:14:12] Michael: Um, and, and know that over the long run that'll. Paying us back, um, just from a business perspective.

[00:14:21] Isotta: And I know that you launched Alara now eight months ago. So I would love for you to take us into that journey so far. Um, and if you could share any, you know, stories or particular milestones that you're really proud of, um, I heard that you ranked number one on product hunt, which is just so exciting. So perhaps you could tell us a little bit about experience.

[00:14:45] Michael: Yeah, of course. Um, so yeah, we, my, myself, uh, and John gele my co-founder, we, we started working on this, uh, almost a year to the day. Well, July 1st is about when we, we, I quit my job on July 1st, uh, and, and put full focus on this. Obviously we were thinking about it prior to that. And then, like you said, we were able to, to launch in September.

[00:15:10] Michael: And that first month, I think we, we added like maybe 20 users or something. It was, it was not all that exciting for anyone that was on there, but it was exciting for us. Um, and, and had some really amazing artists right out of the gate who were, were on there, which was, was also exciting. Um, in November, like you mentioned, uh, we posted ourselves on product hunt, which product hunt for, for those who don't know.

[00:15:35] Michael: Um, we actually draw, have drawn a lot of inspiration from them, but. It's effectively a place where product creators, digital product creators that is, can go and, and post their work and get feedback from the community on it. Um, it's largely driven by up votes. Um, the product that gets the most up votes in a day is the top product of that day.

[00:15:58] Michael: And it sort of comes with a large cache, um, as far as credibility goes reputation. And it just means that a lot of people are interested in what you're. Um, there is a comment section where people will ask questions, things like that. Um, and, and I think for us, like I said, we've drawn a lot of inspiration from them because we think that's a more inclusive way to build products and, and sort of, uh, get feedback to, to get attention.

[00:16:27] Michael: And for tech technologists or people building those products, they really see a pretty massive bump or benefit. When their product is voted, number one for the day like we were. Um, and, and we did, and we saw a lot of folks who did sign up for Almira a ton of traffic. Um, and it's just been a really valuable signal to the market for a fundraising perspective, things like that.

[00:16:54] Michael: Um, but you know, I'm, I'm really not sure why we did so well. We, we certainly. Engaged our audience and, and sort of engaged the people who were excited on product hunt when they would comment. Um, but I just think people were really excited to see something, a little different. A lot of the software on there is, is like different versions of zoom or productivity, things like that.

[00:17:17] Michael: Um, so I think there's excited to see something different. And I also think the tide has started to shift a little bit where traditionally our buyers have worked in finance. Um, and there's something inherently creative about building technology. So I think a lot of people in tech are starting to kind of come around and, and see art as something they're they're into.

[00:17:39] Michael: Um, especially with NFT, that's sort of been a good bridge into to helping people get more interested. So I think that's kind of how that went and, um, and that was certainly a cool milestone. Otherwise, you know, we've achieved a lot. We did launch in September of last year. So about eight months ago, we've grown to thousands of engaged users.

[00:18:03] Michael: Uh, we, we have raised some money. Um, and I think for, for me, just, I don't know if there's any specific milestones that. Are fun to talk about, but I'm really proud of just positively contributing to artists' lives, um, through both sales and critiques. Um, and, and that sort of engagement. Um, I will say recently we did an art drop with an artist named Jason Siegel.

[00:18:28] Michael: Um, and, and that was hit the. Excuse me, the, the project, he's actually a photographer by trade, but has, uh, also a sculptures and all the sculptures that he creates are what look like guns, but made from old camera parts. Um, and the project is called shoot portraits, not people. Um, so that, that, that drop was focused and, and done as a fundraiser for the, the victims of, of all day.

[00:18:58] Michael: Um, And so with that, we, we put it together. It was something where he was selling prints of the sculptures along with a corresponding NFT that went with it. Um, and so we facilitated that, uh, we sold out of all 25 prints in just over 24 hours, um, along with the, the NFTs that went with them. Um, and that was, that was just really exciting and meaningful, um, in that we could contribute to.

[00:19:28] Michael: Hopefully just making that tragedy a little better by raising awareness and whatever small amount of money that, that we raised through that.

[00:19:38] Michael: I wanna give all the, the credit there to, to Jason, he approached us. He had already been on Altara and just asked if, if we might be able to, to help him with that. Um, we had to sort of bolt on some. Hacky functionality to allow for the sale NFTs, um, and, and sort of do it as a, a drop, but that's one of the nice things of being a, a smaller team.

[00:20:01] Michael: You can respond really quickly to people who bring you things that get you excited. Um, and so, yeah, that was really fun.

[00:20:12] Michael: So the, the URL for Alara is alara.art. Um, that is a LT, a M I R a dot a RT. Um, and, and everything is, is there, uh, you can find our link to Instagram, Twitter, um, all the, the social, the socials, uh, by going there. Um, and, and probably if you search on any of the social medias, uh, you'll find us as well.

[00:20:40] Michael: Um, and, and on there, uh, if you go to our about page, I've got a link to my calendar. So if anybody actually wants to talk to me, I reserve time each week to talk to any artists, any collectors, what have you, whether that's getting your feedback on something we should be doing, um, answering questions on, on things that you're unsure of or, or anything else, uh, just wanna make myself available.

[00:21:05] Michael: And, and that's another good way to, to get in touch with me personally. I'm on social media, but, uh, more of a, a voyer than a contributor. So, um, probably not much interest, uh, to follow me on Twitter or anything like that.

[00:21:25] Isotta: Thank you for listening to art is a podcast for artists. Please leave art is a podcast for artists a rating and review on Apple podcasts. It really helps others find us. Also I would love it if you took a moment to reflect on who in your life might also benefit from listening to this podcast. When you do please share artists or podcasts for artists with them. So we can continue to grow the show organically and brainstorm the future of the art world together. You can also support the work I do by subscribing wherever you listen, and by donating to the podcast. The link to do so is in the episode description. Okay, that's it for now. Thanks so much and see you next Wednesday.