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Given the thousands of films that are produced and released each year, remarkably few provoke widespread public debate or make headlines. Those that do transcend the entertainment category to become part of social history. According to Sophia White, writer for Culture Trip, here are 10 that have never ceased to shock. I'd be interested in your thoughts after you read this. If this topic can't spark a discussion... what would? ‘The Birth of a Nation’ (1915) shows how cinema audiences, thankfully, have changed over the past century. Gone are the days when a 190 minute film – at full length, or 133 minutes on its original theatrical release – portrays the Ku Klux Klan as a heroic force. The portrayal of black people in film has, too, come along way, with very few films having white actors in blackface. On release the NAACP unsuccessfully led a campaign to ban the film, and it opened to widespread protests among African-American groups. Nonetheless, in 1992 it was added to the National Film Registry. ‘A Clockwork Orange’ (1971) should always be on the tip of your tongue when you’re talking about controversy. Anthony Burgess’ original text is brought vividly to life in Stanley Kubrick‘s acclaimed adaptation of A Clockwork Orange, although with the intense portrayal of the ultraviolence it is arguably brought too much to life. Disturbing images litter the film, from the opening scene which features a brutal beating, through to the iconic scene with Alex’s rehabilitation. The film marked a turning point in the portrayal of violence on film, particularly British film, but it was still met by numerous detractors. A modern classic that is nonetheless a disturbing watch. ‘Freaks’ (1932) is a horror film which managed to get away with things that would no longer have been possible after the introduction of the Motion Picture Production Code. Many of the main cast members worked as genuine carnival sideshow performers as their day job, and had genuine physical deformities. Despite undergoing extensive cuts prior to its theatrical release and the plot framing the “freaks” as the good guys and the “normal people” as the real monsters, it was still widely critically derided and a commercial failure. It has since gained a semi-cult status, but it goes to show that a film with the tagline “can a full grown woman truly love a midget?” can only gain so much success. ‘The Interview’ (2014) doesn’t necessarily have to equate to fine cinema, but it was one of 2014’s biggest news stories, one which led to the re-ignition of discussion of free speech in cinema as well as a painful – for the executives at least – insight into the inner workings of a major film studio. ‘Kids’ (1995) ignited public debate over its artistic merit and was released with an NC-17 from the MPAA, before later being distributed without a rating. ‘Last Tango in Paris’ (1972) received an X rating from the MPAA and was subject to various recuts in different territories. Its portrayal of sexual violence and emotional suffering makes for a troublesome watch, one which led to some rare government interference and censorship in various countries. In France, however, it gained near universal acclaim, with audiences travelling from across the border and waiting for hours in line in order to catch a glimpse of this much talked about film. ‘Salò’, or’ The 120 Days of Sodom’ (1975) portrayals of rape, torture and murder, particularly of under-18s, has led to its banning in multiple territories and there was still high profile debate around its artistic merit some 20 years after its release. ‘Straw Dogs’ (1971) was part of the canon of films which produced a rise in the active debate surrounding violence in cinema. ‘Triumph of the Will’ (1935) is the famous Nazi propaganda film directed by Leni Riefenstahl, who would later have to attend several trials regarding her association with the National Socialists and who would always maintain that she had no knowledge of Hitler’s genocidal or anti-Semitic policies. The techniques that Riefenstahl employed, including moving cameras, aerial photography, and the use of long lenses to create focal distortion, were still innovative at the time and has helped the film to gain the accolade of being one of history’s greatest propaganda films. ‘Viridiana’ (1961) is now widely regarded as a masterpiece, but the reception on its initial release was tepid at best. Its close-to-the-bone, though unusual, portrayal of events within the Church, with incest, sexual perversion, greed and violence all being explored, made it a ripe target for criticism. This is Sophia White's list. If you'd like to see the article, which contains the trailers for each film, here is the link: https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/california/articles/the-10-most-controversial-films-of-all-time/

Along a smoky, winding path wrapped around the mountains; their commander, who rode a brown Danish warmblood, with his sword dangling on his right hand side, gazed beyond the foggy distance in-front of his army—a legion of cadavers consisting of people’s late ancestors and even offsprings, clothed in soggy pants and rat-torn shoes—before pulling his reins and urging his horse forward. The commander had a calm expression on his face, despite the predictably forlorn future ahead. Winter was fast enclosing the mountains, leaving everything in its wake, a hazy look—a much-needed sheep clothing for the army of the dead marching up against the army of the living in the open fields—and already a foreshadowing to what the rest of the army saw as a bleak future, though contrary to their commander’s sentiments, because he saw it as a true test of their strength ahead of the innumerable wars lying in wait for them. To him, the commander, war has always been a necessity for a just course and nothing else but war; not even a round table discussion with the enemies and some bottles of liquor. Just war. Someone had to die on a battlefield; brothers, fathers, cousins, nephews, and even sisters in some cases, for the realization of a much-overlooked phenomenon to set in, which in his case was the fight for humans to realize that though “one returneth to dust is no excuse for castaways of late loved ones”. Nsikan Hilary

ArtsKeeper is here to make you a success. When ArtsKeeper was starting we took a survey of the things artists (of all types) needed to help their arts businesses thrive. I'm happy to let you know all but one of these features are now available on our platform. And better yet, its all available for your use. Here is the shortlist of reasons why every artist should use ArtsKeeper. JOIN First thing you can do to get value from ArtsKeeper is to join. This allows us to keep in touch and let you know about new services and features and how to take advantage of them. PROMOTION ArtsKeeper will promote your art and your services at no cost to you. Promotion includes posting your work on our Showcase and getting our army of volunteers to post specially crafted promos for your work on every social media channel. EVENTS The ArtsKeeper platform enables us to do live and recorded events. For you, this means we can use any recorded performance sent to us, or we can spotlight you in a live online event, which we will also record for future use by us and by you. COURSES We are about to start providing online courses on art topics. Anyone who is interested in helping create a course is welcome to participate. PODCASTS Interviews with artists, storytelling and book readings are among the first things planned. If you are interested in either being the subject of a podcast or helping produce some, let us know. COMMUNITIES ArtsKeeper has three channels for you to express yourself and share experiences or provide guidance. These are our Blog, Forum and Groups. Please feel free to use these and create a following on ArtsKeeper. JOBS AND TALENT We now have an automated feature for posting jobs and for letting others know you are available for hire or commission. CALENDAR AND NEWS We've added a new service to provide daily updated art news so you can keep up with what's happening all in one place -- on ArtsKeeper. We have also added a Calendar of upcoming events, as well as a homepage ticker to promote Art Contests, Calls for Artists, etc. ArtsKeeper will provide space on this ticker so you can promote your event, contest, new works, etc. Contact us if you're interested. COMING FEATURES STORE Soon, the ArtsKeeper online store will be launched so you can sell your work. An added bonus for you is that every item in our store will be promoted on our site and on social media and other ecommerce stores. Watch for our announcement. FILE / COLLECTION STORAGE ArtsKeeper will soon provide a secure area for members to use to store important files and photos, recordings, etc. More to come soon on this feature. PERSONAL ARTIST WEBSITES We know it is an expense to have your own web domain and hosting contract, as well as hiring web designers if needed. ArtsKeeper plans to provide this service for our members in the near future. ArtsKeeper keeps improving and is responsive to your needs and requests. We just revamped our home page to make it more interesting and useful. We hope you like it. Drop us a line and give us your feedback.

There are generally two types of people who visit and use the ArtsKeeper site. This article explains how these differ and the benefits of becoming a Member. Contacts. Visitors are automatically added to the ArtsKeeper mailing list when they contact us through our site (e.g., through a contact us form). Aside from getting an occasional outreach, that is the extent of our engagement with them. Members are people who sign up to be members through the ArtsKeeper Join Form at the top of our homepage. Members have their own profiles in the Members Area and can interact with other members of the community. Members can also take on specific roles in your site, and are assigned badges to highlight their roles (e.g., Blog Writer) or as rewards for involvement (e.g. Quick Starter). Once you sign up to be a Member, you can access your own Member's Area, which comes with private pages (e.g., My Account, Notifications) that let members view their personal information and provides access to ArtsKeeper exclusive content for members. As a member you can create public or private pages, which are explained below. The Login Bar at the top center of the ArtsKeeper home page enables members to sign in and log off of the site. As an ArtsKeeper member, you can access all these pages from your Member's Menu which you can customize to your exact needs. Members can also use their Profile to introduce themselves to other members of the ArtsKeeper community. Your Profile page includes the following, which you can personalize: Display name: Members can choose what name, or nickname, they want on their profile. The default is your member's first and last name, but they can change this to anything they're more comfortable with. Display image: If you signed up through Google or Facebook, your default picture is taken directly from that account. You can change this image at any point. About: This section is initially blank, so members can write whatever they want to share. You can include images, videos and GIFs in this description. When you sign up as a new member, you can select a checkbox to join the ArtsKeeper community which makes their profile visible to others. You can change this at any time from their My Account page. You may also choose to keep your profile private. Private profile: Your details are only visible to you; other members cannot see this information. This is for members who just want to track their own activity on the ArtsKeeper site, which includes orders you place in the online store (when that's available.) Public profile: If you choose to have a public profile, other members can see your information and profile on the Members page, can follow their activity and can send you direct messages. Yes, ArtsKeeper can serve as your messaging tool for connecting with other members. No need to exit ArtsKeeper and use other means. ArtsKeeper believes it is important to have an arts community where members can support each other’s work, can provide assistance and can collaborate. However, the choice is yours whether to have a public or private profile. You may participate in the community if your profile is private, but nobody will know it’s you. You can also toggle between public and private at will. ArtsKeeper hopes you become a member and then take advantage of all the special features members get. More special features are being planned, so become a member now!

Forum - a place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged. The ArtsKeeper is a place for everyone to express thoughts and share ideas. It is our place to communicate ideas in one of the categories below, or go ahead... create a new one! We have some interesting forum articles in the following categories... General Discussion Questions & Answers Available Jobs & Gigs Available Talent Advice & Articles Tributes Photography Poetry Short Stories Reviews Fine Art Music Who am I? Tell us a little about yourself. What is This? Fun guessing fame. Street Art Ideas Congratulations ArtsKeeper is made up of so many talented people - come read what's been shared, and add your own!

As many of you know, I am writing a book. I call it a novel. When asked what it is about, I say that it is a study of several characters. But that is not entirely true. This book is pieces of their lives. Each character expresses himself or herself differently. Jake in thoughts and extracts of his life, Dvora in her blog, Sharon in stories. Some want to express themselves and don't really know how. They express their reality. Or bits of it. They display parts of their world. To put it together, I use a structure, the structure of the Torah (the Jewish version of the first part of the Bible) written in 5 books and read in the synagogue (shul) in sections (parashot) throughout the year. When I went to the Chagall exhibit in Montreal, I saw bits and pieces of life on canvases, on walls, in costumes, in set design, on stained glass accompanied by music. When I write my book, I write bits and pieces of their lives as they come to me. To try to explain that I don't write in order, I have said that I am writing pieces of a puzzle, and then put them together. But that too is not entirely accurate. I do not know how to do puzzles. I just place them on my canvas of words where I think they belong. Somewhat like Chagall placing his characters and scenes on his canvas. Wow. An illumination. A revelation. The way I write my novel is the way I look at art, at the arts, all the arts and crafts . The way i understand the world. All the arts together as part of a disjointed whole. Apollinaire writes (I read this in the exhibit) all the arts are one: “Poets are preparing a new art that is more vast than the art of words alone. One day, they will direct an orchestra of prodigious dimensions, an orchestra that'll include the whole world, its sights and sounds, human though and language, song, dance, all the arts and all the artifices.” My vision for ArtsKeeper. All the arts are one and all art and artists integral parts of it. Does that sound too much like "all the world's a stage"? But not merely players. Important integral players without whom the art threatens to fail. How is it that others don't see it? How they don't see all the connections between writing, painting, music etc. like Chagall and Appolinaire did? Not only painting, but also music and sculpture. Aĺl the arts. I look at it as all the senses working together to create one gigantic work of art, to which all artists and artisans contribute in their own way. I wanted to understand how we organize our understanding of the world; so I studied philosophy. But with a few exceptions, our organization, our understanding, is lacking. So why not the organization of our pictures of the world as we express it in the theatre, music, movies, the circus (I cannot forget Chagall's clowns). Not only Chagall. I think of my friends. I think of David Kaufman a singer and poet who became a filmmaker and photographer. I think of Stephen Lack, an actor and painter, who did pictures for my first book of poetry. I think of Peter Adamakos who started a film company, Disada Productions. His memoires will be on this site. What we do need is to help artists, to give them (to give us) the infrastructure, the tools, the resources, the apps to make it easier. Not necessarily to create the art (that too sometimes), but to make it easier for them to create. That is ArtsKeeper. We look at what the artist needs and we put it into 4 categories, not necessarily the only or best categories, but useful ones: exposure, community, resources, and marketing. Enable the artist to expose his work, show it to others, his fellow artists, enthusiasts or fans, a group or the world, as he requires or wishes. Enable the artist to participate in his Community, be it a community of peers in a virtual artists colony, with his friends or with his fans or those who are interested in his/her art. Enable the artist by making it easier for him/her to have the tools and resources he/she needs. Enable the artist to market or sell his art or better put, earn money from his work. Some artists succeed beyond their dreams, and have exposure, community, resources and money. But most do not. Most struggle or eke out their existence. Would it not be great for patrons of the arts and there are many, large and small and those who have succeeded to help them out by donating, by investing, by volunteering time and talent to ArtsKeeper? Who is a patron? Anyone who helps, by giving money, a place to stay and create, tools, resources, even encouragement. Noah was commissioned by God to build an arc. Noah did not know how to do this project or have the money for it, so he went to his in laws. He thought that they would be his patrons. Shem's father in law was very well to do; he had many profitable investments. But unfortunately, not very generous. "Look at the risk inherent in the project, he said. Too risky for me to invest." Ham's father in law was a carpenter, perfect for helping him out. "I have too much to do, too many paying jobs. I'd love to but I have no time." Yephet's father in law was a self made man, who thought that independence builds character. "Never depend on anyone else" he said "just yourself. Otherwise you will owe success to others and if you fail, you will blame them for your failure." So maybe it's best not to look for help or investment from friends and family but from others who believe in you and your projects. We believe that ArtsKeeper will succeed in every way, bring help to artists who need it, help create the great canvas of all art, help us with advice, encouragement and talent and if it is an investment, result in fabulous profits. So I ask you, what is your art or craft? What drives you even when the prospect of making money seems far away? Or are you the enthusiast, the fan who loves jazz or a special kind of woodcarving? Or are you the patron, who wants to help certain artists? In any case, help ArtsKeeper. Tell us what you can do or wish to do, what you think ArtsKeeper can and should do, by filling out our online survey. ArtsKeeper is dedicated to helping artists with their needs, to make their lives better and to make the costs less for the patron and the enthusiast.

Artists use their imagination to write, to paint, to create or play music, to create, direct or act in movies, to design buildings, etc. Marketers use their imagination to create marketing plans. Good investors use their imagination to find good investments. Everyone uses his imagination. Pres. John F Kennedy once said: “Some people see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say, why not?” This was frequently repeated by his brother, Robert. I believe the original lines were said by the serpent to Eve in George Bernard Shaw’s play, Back to Methusaleh. We use our imagination for more than art, but art is the paradigm case of when we use our imagination. Not only professional artists use their imagination or create art works. How do you use your imagination? Do you create art? What kind? The role of ArtsKeeper is to help artists and support the arts. How can ArtsKeeper help you use your imagination?

It would be pretty impossible not to have noticed that there have been major changes to our lives over the last two years. It has affected the way we work, as well as the manner in which we shop and greet people. The trends of social interaction have definitely been challenged. As we fast approach our second anniversary of ‘Lockdowns’ and all that these changes have meant, we give thanks for being alive but miss the way we lived, worked and played. In my case, I miss the way I create and innovate. Maybe I should say a little about me: Well, I am Gibraltarian born and moved to the UK in 1985. I am married and have 3 children, all adults with their own families for which I am really pleased to say I am a grandfather to 5 smashing and lively grandchildren with number 6 due in August. My main role in working life has been as a Respiratory Nurse Consultant although I am semi-retired and loving having more time on my hands to pursue my hobbies, one of which is writing. I have written several professional papers and now written a few works of fiction which I self-published through Amazon. My writing aspiration is for someone to read my stories and maybe adapt one into a film or TV serial. The ones that lend themselves to this are the “Phantasms in the Infirmary” series and Mental Dental (Murder by Proxy) [R1] and its sequel Obsession of the Damned. If you were to ask me which was my favourite, it would definitely be Mental Dental (MBP)… so if one of you reads it, you will hopefully agree it is a nail-biting thriller with twists and turns to wrong foot the reader and make it an even more enjoyable read. Getting back on theme: My main job and function is to deliver respiratory care; writing a book is a pleasure. The pleasure of pursuing the idea and creating a relevant track and story line with interesting and innovative characters that the reader will relate to is why I write fiction. It is also a release from the seriousness of my nursing role. So the pandemic has been difficult for me to remain inspired and creative. Through Covid-19 there have been countless sad losses of colleagues who delivered care to our patients and lost their lives in this unselfish sacrifice. We lost neighbours, friends and in many instances, family. Although officially retired, I still maintain a degree of remote clinical work and therefore keep in touch with what is happening within the sphere of respiratory care. Many of the patients I was reviewing had been affected by the Corona Virus and its many variants. Some had been infected by the virus and survived to tell the tale, some had lost loved ones. I was especially saddened to hear of one of the patients I spoke to, an I.C.U. survivor who had contracted Covid-19 and had been intubated and ventilated for some time. Whilst in the induced coma, her husband had developed symptoms, was admitted to the same unit and had passed away. The sad moment was when she told me that when she was brought back from her coma, she was told about her husband’s death. Her voice broke and like me, she had developed a ‘lump in her throat,’ concentrated emotion, helplessness and anger, all mixed in to that moment! Like with this lady’s experience, there have been far too many deaths, sad experiences and loss! What has made the repeated lockdowns is that as a father and grandfather, the isolation and inability to see my kin, especially our grandchildren, brought a shadow to my heart and soul. We missed having time with the little ones, and the transition from seeing them at least 3 times a week to none was a bitter pill to swallow. Our youngest grandchild was born during the lockdowns and therefore we were unable to properly meet her, hold her and welcome her to the world. We did not get to hold and play with the other four and when we visited, from a distance, communicating through a fan light window or open door, it was heart wrenching for my wife and I. We so wanted to say ‘Hi’ properly but in doing so, we may have harmed them by spreading the bacterial invisible killer. The emptiness felt by so many was not all bad. This meant that we had time to spend at home and therefore lots of time to keep the house work ‘in check,’ to be creative, write, to strum my guitars and paint. The hours of solitude would serve to get the creative juices flowing and ideas onto paper, or PC! Wrong… for me, with the time, oodles of it, there were so many days, weeks and months with the lack of inspiration, ideas and drive that were accompanied by, blah. So what is “blah”? Well Greta Thunberg has adopted this to mean ‘empty words’ and according to the web, “blah” is used to refer to something which is boring or without meaningful content. It’s actually not far off the feeling of being held captive by this germ, locked down and locked in with a view to surviving and generating few if any ideas and appropriately, no words. So for heaven’s sake why not, why was so much time yielding so little if anything? With the time on our hands, the dream scenario of having legitimate time off and a licence to be imaginative, ingenious and clever, why could I not be bothered to write? Why was my time occupied by “blah”[R2] ? I was not working for a big corporation and therefore had no set goals or objectives to meet and push myself to remain functional. Some may have been okay with being within the same four walls and no separation from work and home environments. I personally struggled. I am an extrovert and having little social interaction is a driver: I needed that incentive of face to face to keep me “on point” and creative. I had some threads of ideas “pre-Lockdown 1” but they remained threads. I could not push myself beyond this; time on my hands seemed to be time wasted. Maybe this was because I thrive and work better under pressure? My many years working in the accident and emergency departments, I.C.U’s and critical care in general were forcing me to work at pace I could not cope with… It was too slow! Forcing myself to work, I used the differing hobbies to push me, spur me on and make my brain take charge. I became more disciplined and created the space to write and enable ways in which to labour the tasks, allowing much more rigid allocations of time for tasks with “Playtime” to rest the brain following on from the sp urts. I wrote 1000 words, read through them and then did something else. My synapses needed to be controlled as I flew from writer to painter and beyond. The novel way of working had finally shown to pay for itself. As we are spat out of the end phase of the pandemic, I look back over the last 23 months and summarise that I didn’t do too badly, all things considered. I’d cracked working from home and managed to meet my 5th grandchild and bond with her. I was able to make time to revise and improve on one of my novels, Mental Dental (Murder by Proxy), releasing it in hardback via Amazon. I have also finished a second draft to a children’s book I will be publishing soon, become adept at Zoom, delivered several lectures on COPD and asthma as well as having painted a front cover for a neurology journal. My only unmet goal is this: I have not written a number one song! To connect on twitter – please go to @Author_man_Ram or find me on: About.me/rpgulrajani and by all means visit Amazon and search Ram Gulrajani.

With the world constantly developing, and new arts and artists continually discovered, it becomes a more difficult task to not just own art, but to boast of one that is unique, and extraordinary. This leads to the question of, how does one own a unique art? SCOUT THE MARKET IN SEARCH OF WHAT IS MISSING First of all, any creative or artist should not jump into the art market with a blindfold. Look before you leap! It's safe for an emerging artist, or even the old ones who seek to re-establish themselves, to scout the market in search of what is missing, for them to create and own a unique art or service that will fill the void in the market. Imagine this scenario: Peter is a graduate of fine arts and ancient arts. He idolizes Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and the rest of the ancient painters and sculptors. There is a forthcoming art exhibition at the Vatican National Museum of Art in Vatican City. Peter is interested in showcasing his talent and skills by unveiling his latest painting at the museum. For years now, Peter has been more of a shy painter and rather sulks and adores his paintings in the secrecy of his studio, than show them to the rest of the world. Acting on the advice of a friend, Peter finally puts his best painting on display, and it's a doppelganger of Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. What sets Peter's painting apart from Vinci's is that Peter's Mona Lisa has hints of makeup, while Vinci's Mona Lisa is still famous for keeping a plain beauty. At the end of the exhibition, Peter's painting is overlooked and gets a score of 4/10 from some of the art enthusiasts and curators who were at the exhibition, even when his painting was as remarkable and more striking than the original Mona Lisa. Why did things turn out badly for Peter even though he is that talented? The unavoidable answer is that he failed to create and own unique art. Over the years, thousands and millions of people must have grown tired of staring at Mona Lisa. Not even a more striking Mona Lisa with makeup can incite the curiosity and excitement that comes with art lovers and enthusiasts. The short fictitious tale must have nailed the essence of this article: being, creating, and owning unique art and services. The next step will be for those of us who believe that for our art and services to be unique, they must not necessarily be something new from scratch —something that has never been seen. REVAMP AND RECREATE AN OLD ART OR SERVICE Even if Peter were to create a painting similar to Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, maybe he would have opted for a male Mona Lisa, and named it, Mona Pisa or some other more masculine name. This simply means, even if we wish to recreate and make changes to old art to make it relevant or stand out again, it has to be changed to influence changes in whatever market or target it was directed at. I want to be a romance novelist, and instead of sticking to the usual pattern of plot development (the hot, cold, and hot approach) I can change it to cold, hot, and hot, or hot, hot, and cold approaches. As a result of these unique changes to the predictable world order, my readers may take more interest in my romance story because it offers them a new perspective on romance and love. At the end of it all, I became a winner and a unique art creator. However, the changes stated in the previous paragraph can turn out to be a complete failure. And why is it so? The next paragraph will answer this question. KNOW THE RULES AND HOW TO BREAK THEM WITHOUT BREAKING THEM In art, one of the golden rules is to follow the steps of our predecessors as we try to navigate our paths. But to truly stand out and become a force to reckon with at the end of our journey, it's advisable to bend the rules at some point to create room for our unique art or services. This simply means that art is more changes over time to create more changes. It is always fun to break the rules and guidelines that govern a particular art creation or service provision. But it's unfair when we naively break these rules and thus, create more of a monstrous art or superficial service than a unique art. To be on the safe path to creating our unique arts, it is better to have an understanding of the old art, what is reoccurring about it, what is missing, and what will be cherished if added to the old one to create new art. BEING IN AN ENVIRONMENT THAT WILL STIMULATE THE CREATIVE MIND INTO CREATING UNIQUE ART AND SERVICES Last but never least, our art and services are originators of our environments. This means we don't create them out of a void or aimed at isolation. The environment will always be a healthy stimulant and muse to incite those radical and unique thoughts that are often the foundations of mind-blowing and unique arts. It's safe to be in an environment that influences these changes in us. And this is where ArtKeeper.com comes in—a community of artists and intellectuals, where several heads can be joined towards giving you tips and advice on what to create to make your art and services a unique one. ____________________________ Nsikan is an emerging Nigerian fiction writer and poet. He has published three of his poems in three renowned online magazines; Praxis Magazine, Dreich magazine, and Inkbabies magazine. He is currently working as a professional ghostwriter on Upwork, while also studying for a B.Sc in Political Science. When he is not writing, or working, he spends his free time playing video games, watching football fixtures, and streaming movies.

Art Agents are the people that an artist goes to increase their chances of getting noticed, to get work from their industry officials, with the overall goal of getting an audience at the end. There are a lot of advantages of having an agent, one of the most important being: Having an art agent will get all the tension from the creative individual as they would focus only on creating their art and not finding spots to promote it or fulfill any other task that the artist wants. So, The Question Is: Do Artists Have Agents? Yes, most artists of different creative fields have agents which help them to get work. Though, the contracts of an artist may differ from one to another. Agents play an important role in an artist's journey as they can quickly increase the timespan of the artist's discovery to the world. Here are the features of Art Agents that help in the career-building of the artist: ● The agent represents their client to their various connections: By using their links, the agent does a good job of representing the artist to established people. This is something that would be hard to do by yourself since the competition today in the industry is fierce. ● The agent negotiates the payment for your work: They would analyze the sum from different individuals and companies who want to get you and get you the best of the best deal while working on a particular project. ● They negotiate your work schedule: They can also negotiate your work with the people/companies who are recruiting you. This would be hard to do by yourself. There are different agents for different art people, for example: For an author/ scriptwriter, they would be a literary agent. For a musician, there would be a musician talent agent, and so on. For a piece of more detailed information about agents and their roles, take a look beneath: Following is the work that a particular agent would do for the artist: ● For Artists: An artist's agent can: Find the spot of gallery openings for their artwork to showcase. License and bring commission opportunities for their client, etc. ● For Authors: An author's literary agent would help in getting boo k deals for them. They also, then, help them to choose the best option from business interests. ● For Performers/Actors: Acting Agents do a lot of things for their clients as well. The agent will set up meetings with different production houses, directors, and other important people. They will negotiate the pay rate for their clients. ● For Directors: Just like performers, these talent agents will get your directed performances, movies, or shots with the right people. Make sure to have a resume filled with your work done before finding a talent agent. ● For Musicians: Music Talent Agents or Music Booking Agents show your performances to different music producers, movie or tv series production houses. Where and how to find an art agent? ● Research on the internet: This is the first and the easiest step that one would do to get a creative agent for them. Just go through the listings and location of your area. You will definitely find an agent close to your home or workplace. You can contact and make a schedule to meet with. Add your art on websites and discuss your requirement of an artist, just like at places like ArtsKeeper. ● Go through different artist agencies: Depending on your creative profession, you can check out agencies that have agents and send your resume to them. ● Do the networking, both online and offline: There are many apps and websites where there are communities, groups, and individual people with whom you can connect and meet with an agent via just searching and communicating. As for the offline option, attend different types of networking events where creative visuals are gathered. ● Advertise yourself on different forums related to fields: Depending upon your creative field, you can join different forums and communities. While joining, add an advertisement(s) for your need for an agent to represent you to people. ● Use of social media platforms: You can use different social media handles and search for art agents. Connect with them over there as well and just send them a message with your resume on how you want them to represent you. Beware, do not get the first agent who you meet, they should know everything about your plans for the future. You should feel comfortable with them as you will confide in them. At a different stage in a creative career, you should find an agent who respects them and takes you to the roles that you want to achieve. Getting in touch with an agent inclined with your creative field will make your career a perfect one! One has to pay a certain percentage of their contract to their agent for them to represent them. And, that's where Artskeeper comes and helps you! By connecting to their services, you can fasten your career of being discovered early on and start living off your art, the thing you are most passionate about! __________________________ Sahiba is a writer, blogger, bookstagrammer, and learning illustrator. Whenever she's not writing, she's probably reading, or, listening to audiobooks.

In this day and age, the need to promote your art is the highest in creative individuals. Any type of artist has to work extra hard to get the audience just to see even a flake of their work since the competition is super high. Thus, exposure becomes almost a necessity. Why has it become extremely important to promote your art? By promoting your art in different places, you get exposure. The views are very important as they make you popular. You can make your hobby into your income, and doesn't every artist want that? Social media has circulated a kind of notion to get the likes, views, and comments of people. Only the popular pages get the love of users though. So, even though it does help some creative individuals, many of the creative artists struggle because of not enough followers. When they don't get enough response from their audience, it makes them discontinue their art. And thus, an artist needs to find a positive place where they can freely publish their artwork, and that's where ArtsKeeper comes in. ArtsKeeper- The go-to place to promote your art. At ArtsKeeper, any type of artist belonging to any field of art can publish their content and promote their artwork. Whether you are a singer, writer, photographer, or any other type of creative individual and you want to find the right spot to promote your art, ArtsKeeper is your best option. Following is a brief description of the fields in which you can submit your work: ● For authors: This is one of the best options for independent writers to get their writing (both book authors and article writers) to a wide audience. The exposure brings them the attention of the audience. The platform will also have an ebook reader soon, which you can use to read the articles and publications of the authors. In the sites, Books section, you can find books of numerous genres! ● For artists: In comparison to music and videos, painters don't have as many platforms where they can show their artwork. Everybody, every artist knows how hard it is to find a painting exhibition to place even a single artwork in, let alone a whole collection. ArtsKeeper is really a great way to submit your artwork where you can also publish the necessary information and facts related to the painting and the artist. ● For Performers: Artists can submit their videos of singing and performing on the platform and link them to their preferred page or site. This way you can find various types of performances in a single place from independent performers. Again, this is one of the competitive fields and who knows from where you could get discovered. ● For Photographers: Not only can you post different collections of your images and photographs here but you can also write the main topic and the surrounding of what made you click those photographs the first time. Click this link to get a look through to see what is already published on the site by artists. ● For Musicians: Music artists need to have a certain high volume of an audience to get a music deal. There have been numerous artists born out of the love of internet audiences that they showed to the musicians. No, they have millions and millions of fans. But, since the competition in the music industry has become more fierce than ever, you need to be on your toes and get an audience from anywhere you can. You can add your music on the website with a small description of yourself so that if someone is interested, then they can search and learn about you. Take a sneak peek of the site here. ● For article writers: If you are not an author and rather an article writer, you can also send your articles and publication on the website increasing your chances to attract an audience. They also have an advice article section from different art people for creatives who are starting on their journey! Take the Advice from Pros here. ● For filmmakers: Lastly, filmmakers can also add their video short movies where they can show their talent. You get all of these creative selections of arts in just a single place. The main idea of ArtsKeeper is for artists to get a living for their craft. The best thing about the platform is that they can also get it for free or at a very nominal fee; these services include guidance on marketing tools like social media advertisements, and joining communities that include other artists that have the same passion as yours, and many more to come! Just go through the website and you will have the option to either send your art piece to sell or promote your art there! You can join the community by following this link. _______________________________ Sahiba is a writer, blogger, bookstagrammer, and learning illustrator. Whenever she's not writing, she's probably reading, or, listening to audiobooks.

I’ve been a copywriter for two and a half years now and it’s been a really exciting journey. Writing came easily to me and jumping on a full-time opportunity that allowed me to do what I love seemed a match made in heaven. Reflecting on my time as a writer so far, I’ve come up with a few lessons that can help you embark on your own writing journey, which you can find below: 1. Start by putting in the work Assuming you already have writing skills, the first step is to get started. The blank page is intimidating, but word by word, you get to tame it. Give yourself the time and the grace to do so. In my experience, you can do it if you try. 2. Read others’ work daily Balance out writing with reading. You need to replenish your writer’s well with others’ writing. Read anything. Novels, magazines, newspapers, cereal box copy. Basically, help your brain process words, ideas and turns of phrases that can become a sort of mind repository for all things writing. It keeps you in touch with the trends in the world and it will eventually better inform your own copy. 3. Keep your audience in mind Your purpose in writing is to reach your audience. Keep this goal in mind before you start researching. Ask yourself questions about your audience from likes, dislikes and how your copy can help. Once you establish a clear picture of your reader and how you can help them, you can get started. 4. Create a writing process to alleviate the blank page jitters Do you research first and outline later? Always do that. Or perhaps you outline as you research. Either way, every writer has a personal work style. Find yours and streamline it. It basically creates a habit that will eventually help be a better writer. You’ll feel less nervous every time you start a new project because you already know which steps you’ll take. 5. Research before and during drafting Research is a very step of your writing process. It helps you not only to get acquainted with your topic, but it’s the best way to know your topic inside out so that you can select which information to use for the purpose of your copy. Keep research in mind as you start drafting, as fact checking is important in making sure the information presented is accurate. This help to build trust with your audience. 6. Draft freely Write freely to get the first draft out. It’s easy to get caught on wondering whether an idea or a turn of phrase is perfect. It’s counterproductive to do that. Instead, get all ideas out on paper to produce that first draft. You can always edit out the rough edges. 7. Self-edit Once you finished writing, read your work out loud. Hearing yourself read is a great way to see whether there’s a natural flow to your copy. Additionally, it will help you catch errors that you’d otherwise miss. Change to font to trick your brain into thinking it’s reading new material for the same purpose. Finally, use Grammarly to further check for anything wrong, but be aware that it’s not a perfect tool. Grammarly can’t catch misspellings of a word that also happen to spell another word. 8. Send your work to a proofreader You already self-edited your work so it should be ready for publishing, right? Not quite. A different pair of trained eyes can catch mistakes you’re likely to miss. Making sure your copy is error-free is the best way to publish and keep your credibility as a writer. 9. Have a support system Join writers’ groups to connect with other writers in order to share your thoughts about the craft. It’s a great opportunity to meet like-minded people who also share a passion for writing. You could learn a lot from more experienced writers, and it helps you too to share the wins and the challenges of the day. 10. Connecting ideas is fun Last but not least, writing is all about connecting ideas that seem disparate. Putting copy together is a lot like solving a puzzle. You get immense satisfaction from shifting ideas around to see how they could fit together. And when they make sense in a certain arrangement, it’s like seeing a Christmas tree light up for the first time. What is your writing experience like? Let us know in the comments section below.