Lisa Degliantoni on Inside the Skev Transcript

Aaron Masliansky (00:05):

Welcome to Inside the Skev. And I'm your host Aaron Masliansky. Today. I'm delighted to be joined by Lisa Degliantoni Lisa D, a huge part of the Evanston

Aaron Masliansky (00:17):

community in terms of the art world, the media world, and, uh, it's just a delight to, uh, to have here. So thank you, Lisa for being here.

Lisa Degliantoni (00:26):

Thanks Aaron. I'm so excited.

Aaron Masliansky (00:28):

Yes, I am so excited too. And you know, we met several months ago and, um, we had coffee together, which is such a foreign type of thought right now. Um, but, uh, you know, you made an impression on me and you know what, when I got out of that conversation was you're, you're very driven. You're very, uh, you know what you want and you're precise about it, um, in terms of your timing and everything else. And I think, Mmm, you could see it by the things that you're doing. So right now, you know, you're, you've got Evanston Made, you've got the Lisa D show, you do a lot of different things around the community. Um, how did you get involved in this?

Lisa Degliantoni (01:10):

Well, um, you know, there's the pre Covid activity and then post Covid activity for the most part. I mean, like you, I'm vastly interested in the people in my community. I'm really interested in storytelling and reporting and sharing, but I have a really narrow interest in that. I'm just really interested and intrigued by, um, the creative. So like architects and landscape designers and logo makers and graphic designers and painters. I'm really interested in people who make and create. So I think it was like three years ago I started the Lisa D show podcast just as a sort of census taking of the creative community in Evanston because I was doing a lot of arts initiatives and arts production and arts promotion and I just kind of, I kept hearing that there were like more creatives living in Evanston than any other city of its size in North America. And I just felt like there wasn't a model for me to get to know them all immediately. So I thought, well, a podcast where I just do weekly interviews with people would really enable me to get to know the creatives. And I think last time I checked, um, I interviewed 115 visual artists. Wow. Which is a lot of talking, Aaron.

Aaron Masliansky (02:38):

Well, a lot of talking. You must like talking, I mean your background is, is in the media space, isn't it?

Lisa Degliantoni (02:45):

Correct. I am, I have a, um, you know, my journalism degree is an undergraduate degree in English, but all through college I worked at like the college newspaper and then I moved to New York to work in magazines and I worked for Psychology Today and spy and mother earth news and really thought that I was going to be on this sort of like print media trajectory. But then I got sidetracked to El Paso, Texas where I got introduced to television, news production, web daily newspaper, weekly newspaper. I really like had this massive explosion and sort of like exposure to all media production. And in El Paso, um, I had the chance to get in front of the microphone and in front of the camera, which I had always been behind the scenes and that was really intriguing to me. Um, cause I do, I do like to talk and I'm uh, I like to have easy conversations with people and I just feel like the live interview really allows for very interesting, authentic, um, cool storytelling and interview connection. So this kind of moving to Evanston then I've, all the media that I've done though has been strictly on my own platforms. I'm not like working for an NBC affiliate. Yes,

Aaron Masliansky (04:05):

yes. I mean is that some of your, is that one of your goals?

Lisa Degliantoni (04:09):

Um, you know, I thought that when I moved here I was like, of course WB easy is going to hear about me and call. Um, but it would, I would never like pitch a major news outlet and be like, put me on your desk. I don't, I don't really, I don't, mainly because I don't want, I don't want to give up petty editorial control over what I talk about. And I really just only want to interview creatives. I'm not interested in know interviewing the banking industry. And I feel like if I worked for a major news outlet, they'd be like, Hey, we got the sponsor. And they're like a Shoemaker. So you have to talk to them about where they buy the weather.

Aaron Masliansky (04:45):

Right. Well, one of the things that you've done since Kobe has started is you've transitioned your show, uh, to be, um, an Instagram live and you're doing a lot of different interviews with people who like the mayor of Evanston. Um,

Lisa Degliantoni (05:02):

yeah.

Aaron Masliansky (05:02):

You've talked with Beto O'Rourke. I mean, you've, you've talked to a lot of different people who may not be necessarily in the arts, but are, you know, important people to speak to. How has that changed your and what you're doing?

Lisa Degliantoni (05:17):

So what became evident, and I had never, um, when I did the podcast, it's always been audio. I've never incorporated with video, but I got invited to be on Beto O'Rourke show and I was like, Oh, Instagram live. That sounds kind of crazy. But I did it and it was so fun. And what I've noticed since the shelter in days, what people are dying for, Aaron is eye contact, right? So they don't just want to hear the voices, they don't want to see people walking by. They literally want eye contact with humans. And it, it was that aha moment where I was like, Oh, with Evanston Made, all the work we do is connect our artist members to the public. Right? And it's like, how do we do that if we can't have art openings? How do we cross that barrier if we can't gather?

Lisa Degliantoni (06:02):

So I basically took the Lisa D show platform incorporated video and Instagram live was one of those things where it's, it's just, it's, so, it's a super easy platform to do. I was going to try Facebook live today cause I've never done it before. But if it came like this, immediately our artists were like, Oh yeah, we'll talk to you. But then people were like, well what's the mayor's plan? What's downtown Evanston small business owner management plan. What is like people want to know how they're going to get back to the new normal. So I kind of feel like I've, when, when it is right, I've gone off the art grid and brought in people who might be part of putting the puzzle back together of how we do arts engagement.

Aaron Masliansky (06:47):

Yeah. I think that's important that you're doing that. And by the way, I just want to say I'm, I'm, I'm so happy that the mayor is the mayor because his background in disaster response and his, his company is for disasterresponse. It's amazing. I mean that's, that's all you can really ask for to be leading in this type of situation.

Lisa Degliantoni (07:07):

Yeah. And he's so calm and he's so like, you know, we're going to make decisions about reopening based on the numbers and based on data and based on science. We're not going to get pressure from the business sector or the education sector. And I got so much great feedback from people who we're like, he's so calm, he knows what to do. Like, you know, but it's, it's unfortunate. And he pointed it out that like his whole entire, um, you know, career's sort of been getting him prepared for this, which is, it's such a strange, weird confluence, but lucky for us.

Aaron Masliansky (07:46):

Yeah. Yeah. We could benefit from it. Um, but you are also doing some other things in the art space right now, which, um, you reached out to me about the Evanston Arts Connect. Now that is, you're trying to promote art and having people do things all around town, um, through, uh, June 9th. Could you tell us a little, a little bit about that?

Lisa Degliantoni (08:09):

Yeah, so one of the, um, one of the things that started happening, um, as we got to shelter in his, I, I kept getting phone calls from people who were like, what are you going to do Lisa? How are you going to fix this for the arts community? How are you going to get, you know, like, and I just really didn't have an answer. And then I'm talking to the mayor and he's like, what are you going to work on? And I'm like, I people, I don't know. But then I got invited to be on a nonprofit leader call. Um, cause I'm the executive director of the nonprofit organization, Evanston Made. And in that class we will um, you know, just join this call organized by the community foundation just to EDS who were like, what are they doing? And at that point Jenni Rook from the Institute for Therapy for the Arts had reached out and was like, Hey, we're on this call.

Lisa Degliantoni (09:00):

There's all these community leaders. Is there something that we could do to just say thank you to the helpers and just put a piece of beauty and art out into the public sector in a way that isn't just, you know, professional career artists but really just anyone for just like a month and just hang signs and take pictures and really just celebrate and push art out into the public. And so I think it was like 30 organizations on the launch weekend got together, we, you know, designed a beautiful little logo. It's the map of Evanston, two hearts art connects to Evanston than the SSA's Downtown Evanston and the Main Dempster Mile are like, we've got all these empty, these storefronts. This would be great if we could put art in them. Memorial day weekend, we're going to do like a sort of guide, self guided tour and certain restaurants will have like a picnic lunch because for the first time a lot of people well aren't going to go camping this Memorial day weekend or they aren't going to go see their grandparents in Iowa.

Lisa Degliantoni (10:03):

People are going to be grounded. And so we're like, what's a good way to get people to explore their town while they're locked inside in a way that doesn't cost for them to gather together. So we're just going to have art all over this, like an Easter egg hunt. We're just gonna have art all over and an online map. And the nice thing is, is I just feel Evanston is so full, uh, leaders and organizations who want to do good and give back and people feel bad about the graduates who aren't going to get a party. They're so grateful to the, you know, to all the helpers from the grocery store, people to the nurses. And it's like, how do we honor all of those people through lots of art and signage and celebration. But like at a distance.

Aaron Masliansky (10:46):

Yeah. You know, yesterday, uh, you know, we're recording on May 13th air and, uh, yesterday the Blue Angels flew through town. And I thought that that was a really nice way to, um, to say thank you. It's all these people who are doing that. However you have a lot of people gathering along the Lake front to see it. And it was a little, a little bit scary.

Lisa Degliantoni (11:11):

Yeah. And you have a lot of helpers who, you know, as the Blue angels were flying over, it's possible that they were inside right working or they were at the grocery store and, or they were in the ER. So I mean it is what we want is to have in front of people's space so that when they are driving home from their shift or they are unloading their car and they're like, Oh my gosh, you put this beautiful thank you sign in my window. We sort of just want to put really art in everybody's face so that we don't miss the person working on the overnight shift. And we also don't have the budget for the blue angels. Aaron.

Aaron Masliansky (11:48):

No, not at all. Um, but in order for people to learn more it, they should go to Evanstonmade.org

Lisa Degliantoni (11:54):

Yeah. Evanstonmade.org. There's also, I'm a really big part of the Evanston art connects initiative is we want to get art art kits in people's hands. We've heard from a lot of district 65 teachers who are telling us, Hey, I'm, my students can't make art on plain paper because they only have binder paper at home that they're ripping out of a notepad and like pens. So we need art supplies. So we're working directly with kids create change. Um, and on their website kids create change. You can go and get information about supplies that we need you to donate crayons and pens and paper. Um, you can see videos on how to, cause a lot of people are like, I don't know how to make art and put it in my windows. There's videos on how to make art. What if you don't have art supplies?

Lisa Degliantoni (12:48):

There's info on like go into nature and make a sculpture.

Aaron Masliansky (12:51):

So what's the website again?

Lisa Degliantoni (12:54):

Kidscreatechange.com and then there's also um, artmakersoutpost.com which was started by Valerie Kate Han on South Boulevard. It's a or a really cool organization that collects old art supplies and gives them to people and I can email you all these links, but like what we, in addition to, you know, the making aspect, we also want to help people make art but see that you can make art from junk in your house. You can make art from stuff in the park. We're just asking that no matter what you make, that you share it so that you take a picture and you put it anywhere on social media and you use the hashtag Evanston art connect and then we'll make a big slideshow.

Lisa Degliantoni (13:46):

Totally. Yeah. You brought that up Aaron, because what we would love is we'd love art connects to get just lifted up and taken everywhere. We really want to show people that, you know, cause people are feeling like, Oh I can't go to the park or I can't go get coffee. Right. And just do these normal social engagements. But it's like we can listen to music and share it via Instagram live. We can make art and put it in our windows and our neighbor can see it. Like we can connect through art and culture and so yeah, I'm hoping that art connects,Skevanston happens. Art connects Milwaukee. Yeah. It is not at all meant to be like a territorial thing. Although I have been accused frequently of only wanting to work with Evanston artists in this scenario and this new world. I'm really hoping that just like everybody gets up and makes an awesome sign that says thank you helpers and congratulations graduates.

Aaron Masliansky (14:41):

Yeah. And I think, you know, art is so important for um, our mental health, which affects our physical health and artists create the ideas

Aaron Masliansky (14:52):

for new types of ways of, of life. You know, I see a seismic change in our society right now and um, you know, if we can be creative and think of new, different ways of living and work and whatnot, it can help us get through this.

Lisa Degliantoni (15:11):

And also therapeutically, we're hearing from a lot of people who are like, it's helping me to knit for two hours a day, helping me to write for like people are using the creative outlets just as a way to keep their mental health on point. And that's another thing that we really want to bring awareness to people that like, yes, you can't go out and do your normal things, but you can stay home and do a lot of creative endeavors that might make you feel just as good.

Aaron Masliansky (15:39):

Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I think it's so great that Jenni Rook got in touch with you about it because what they do, and I've had them on the show and talked to them and to her and I think that, uh, it's, it's so important and valuable to people to have that re that release.

Lisa Degliantoni (15:58):

And it's like we're, we're having to pivot in so many ways as humans, but like a very basic skill. But all of us have, we can do it all. We can draw. It's not, maybe not going to look like we wanted to, but it is an exercise that is absolutely ingrained in us as humans. And so just embracing that again and, and letting yourself doodle or take pictures with your cell phone and on, on a quick walk around the block. I mean it's, it's something that's very inherent to humans.

Aaron Masliansky (16:29):

It sure is. I mean, we, we did it in caves.

Lisa Degliantoni (16:32):

The first thing we did, I mean we burned stuff, made babies and made art. I mean it's like what, we're totally honest. Very Italian.

Aaron Masliansky (16:41):

Yes. Um, yeah. I mean, how do you, how are you coping with like not being able to have these gatherings though in your house? I mean, are you,

Lisa Degliantoni (16:51):

I'm having a heart attack, so you know that I live inside of an art gallery. I live inside of like an old Polish meat shop that we converted into our home. Oh my gosh. And we have this gallery storefront. And really we thought, my husband and I like when, when the shelter and happened, we're like, Oh, we just have to take the gallery offline and shut everything down. And you know our whole, the whole year booked, done, canceled. But one day my husband came in and he's like, you know, we have seven really big beautiful windows. Maybe we could just build a mechanism where we could hang art and the windows. And I'm like, Oh, I don't really know if artists want sun exposure on their work, number one and number two I just, I don't want people to feel obliged to be buying art right now.

Lisa Degliantoni (17:37):

Like people are worried about getting flour. Like I just, I felt like it would just be the wrong message. But then I'm like everybody walks by every day with their dogs. There's little kids and every who we've invited to show has been like sure. Shows my seven pieces in my windows. And then the both shows that we've had, we've had two so far, people have bought art and I'm like, what are you doing buying art in a pandemic? And I've heard from people who were strangers, some, some are people who bought art that I knew, but other people were strangers in there. Like I had to buy a gift. I have a lot of free time and I'm staring at a wall that I hate in my house. I always knew that this guy Jordan Scott made amazing art, but I hadn't seen it in person.

Lisa Degliantoni (18:24):

So it's like people want to be around art, people want to buy art, people want to support artists. And so it just took like my husband's suggesting this one pivot and me being like, okay. And now sort of, I mean as best as we can the galleries online and I can talk to people through the glass door. But yeah, we are probably not, we will not have people back in this space until all of Illinois gets opened up and we're encouraging. Like we have neighbors down the street, Beth Adler, Alice, George, Lindy Stockton and Ben Blunt, they all have art studios. So we've asked them to put art in their windows and now people know that they can come to this city block and they can walk by like four or five windows and see a bunch of arts. So it's kind of like we pivoted, we all put our art in windows and now it's and sort of a new art location and it's been really, um, we've, and we've seen galleries and studios do it across Evanston, which will be another part of the Memorial day tour is that like we really want to showcase how innovative and creative problem solvers so many of these galleries and artists have been because what are we going to do?

Lisa Degliantoni (19:45):

We can't just stop making and sharing because the humans aren't here. We have to activate our windows and our sidewalks.

Aaron Masliansky (19:52):

Yeah, absolutely. I love your neighborhood that you live in. It is like a few blocks there. It is. It, it just feels um, or unique, you know what I mean? Yeah. It's got, the housing stock is very diverse. There's a lot of storefronts that have been converted into homes. There's a ton of brick matched with a ton of modern clapboard architecture. Like it's a very mixed neighborhood and it's just, it looks unlike, I feel the rest of Evanston. Like it looks old and tiny and even the streets feel thinner and it's got a name, what did they call us? The, the West Village arts district. And it's basically like Greenleaf from Dodge to Asbury and the surrounding areas.

Lisa Degliantoni (20:45):

Super tiny. It's like our borders, Asbury, Maine Dodge and Dempster.

Lisa Degliantoni (20:50):

And it's just like all these tiny little streets and it's adorable. And when we were doing Evanston made and started the studio tour map, one of the things that we discovered is that there are tons of artists and studios in this neighborhood. And I don't know whether that's because there's a lot of like ADU accessory dwelling or like garage studio situations that there are, there's a ton of artists in this neighborhood just lends itself already to being cute and artsy. People like Amanda Evanston did a huge mural on her garage door. You know, it's just, it's a very colorful and active neighborhood.

Aaron Masliansky (21:28):

Yeah, it is. And I think that the, um, there's potential for more of it accessible dwelling units being permitted. And I was talking to one of the cofounders of this organization that does it the other day, not on a podcast talking to him about it.

Aaron Masliansky (21:47):

But I think that that could really open up a lot of, uh, economic opportunity and opportunity for artists live in these places, make art and sell it within the area and kind of build ourselves back up from whatever the devastation's going to be.

Lisa Degliantoni (22:04):

Absolutely. And I like, you know, there's a lot of cities that have adjusted models of where they've taken old industrial neighborhoods and they've put TIF overlays and there aren't districts on them. And now I would love for the city of Evanston to potentially do that in warehouses that are empty and or in accessory dwelling units and make them like, you know, give tax benefits if artists are moving into them. That would be excellent. And yeah, cause I feel like we are, the city of Evanston is going to have to pivot in a way that makes tax bases more diversified. And if we can possibly do an arts district and, or a whole entire sort of arts overlay that would be ideal.

Lisa Degliantoni (22:47):

And of course I want that to be in my neighborhood.

Aaron Masliansky (22:49):

Of course you do. What got you so into art in the first place?

New Speaker (22:55):

Mmm. You know, I turned 40 and I accepted that I wouldn't be Oprah Winfrey and, or Anna Wintour. I just like had one of those like grownup aha moments of like really a lot of personal self evaluation. And I was working on a project with a guy named Mike Miners at Hack Studio. And one of the things that he talked about all the time was you have to find people or a group of people who you can give yourself to, who you can help, who you can, um, work with to just sort of like, not give yourself away but give up your time and give up your money and give up your hope and give your everything. And I was just like, I don't really, you know, I don't have that group of people. I don't, I'm not like supporting all the environmentalist or I'm not like working with, you know, animal shelters. And I'm like, I really, I got to pick a group of people to help cause I'm getting old.

Lisa Degliantoni (23:53):

And it became, you know, I'm married to a visual artist so I really, I have the firsthand experience of understanding. I feel like the trials and tribulations of how difficult it is to make and share. And I had moved to Evanston at 40 and kind of needed a group to start folding in with and I was invited to be on the Evanston arts council and about six months in I was like, these people need a lot of help. And I'm very hyperactive. I'm a producer by nature. I do a million things. Yeah. And I'm just like, well why don't I help the artist? And I didn't like go out and poll artists, but I started making events and artists just started folding themselves in because nobody had made a studio tour. I mean there, there were like studio tours like in the eighties and Evanston.

Lisa Degliantoni (24:48):

But then I think the ringleader left and like then they went to the side. There was a, there used to be like a film festival, but then that the leader of it left. And so like I wanted to sort of bring back a lot of the arts layers that were happening, but then also create an organization that when the leader of that thing left, there was an organization and a group of volunteers and humans to keep it going and make it sustainable. And that's where I went from figuring out to help artists, starting a group show in a studio tour to creating a nonprofit organization with a board and a budget so that when I, whatever get hit by a bus, as I say all the time, which is I'm going to eventually make a true Aron or move to Barcelona because why not?

Aaron Masliansky (25:37):

That's better, you know, that say that.

Lisa Degliantoni (25:44):

Then the infrastructure of the robust arts environment will live. And I also, I lived in, so I'm from San Francisco, I lived in Brooklyn for many years. I've lived in El Paso, Texas. I've lived in places that have, I lived in San Diego, places that are very robust, well-funded part of the city government. Economically driven. You know, arts organizations and I was really shocked that Evanston didn't have that, but we're in the shadow of Chicago where we are like the second best art market in the United States is in Chicago. And I think people just sort of drive through Evanston to get to Chicago. They, they take their money and they give it to organizations in Chicago. I kind of was like, well I've been, deserves a little love and attention and an infrastructure and it's been, I've only been here seven years. It feels like so much longer.

Lisa Degliantoni (26:40):

But I feel like if anything that I have worked toward in the last seven years is just building awareness and community around the arts and that's started, that's phase one. Now there has to be a sustainable model that just keeps it going for forever.

Aaron Masliansky (26:58):

Do you consider yourself an artist?

Lisa Degliantoni (27:01):

You know, I like to say that I don't make things. I make things happen. I actually like really don't like making things because I um, I am a, I'm way too controlling and I need the outcome to be very specific. I'm not like, let's see what happens. On the canvas and we'll sit like that's totally not my nature. I want there to be metrics that are specific with deadlines that come with it, but there isn't art to producing and there is an art to convincing people to get on board and do something that maybe they just can't really see the value of out of the gate.

Lisa Degliantoni (27:39):

And art is, it's so subjective and it makes people oftentimes feel like they don't know or it makes them intimidated because they can't afford it. But really it is. It's like, like you said earlier, it's you started doing first really, and I feel like it's a a thread line that we just don't really acknowledge and appreciate enough, but what you can do, I think the most powerful thing about art is the community building aspect. It's like you can get to know your neighbor, you can gift art, you can make art, you can express yourself and you can then be part of something much bigger. And I feel like that's what Evanston, like it had all these raw materials, it had the artists and it had the beautiful landscape and it had art studios and had all of that. It just needed a bit of like a, a glue.

Lisa Degliantoni (28:30):

And it's the glue part that I would say is probably the artistic part of me. But unlike an artist who is really open to what happens, I'm very specific about what I want to happen.

Aaron Masliansky (28:43):

Yeah. Well I would say that the art that you create through your media is art as well. You know, your conversations, your, your interviews with people, you know, I think you're living it.

Lisa Degliantoni (28:56):

Oh yeah, that is true. And I, I mean I really also, when you go to writing school for instance, they're always like, write about what you know or, you know, paint what you love. And I do think my, my favorite thing on the planet besides eating is, um, talking to people. Like I'm so nosy and I'm so interested and I want to know why everybody makes the decisions that they make. And I feel like if I can do that, and even in my own little bubble on my own little platform once a day and do the thing that I love and it connects me to other people, that's just awesome. So that's what I'm just going to keep doing.

Aaron Masliansky (29:34):

That's winning. Biglee.You know, I, I,

Aaron Masliansky (29:42):

I really though I, what you say about art I think is so true and I, I don't know, like the pieces of art that I have in my own home, I, you know, some of them might be pictures, a lot of them were pictures from my father-in-law. He's a photographer as a hobby, but he's incredibly good at it and it's just so nice to see some of those photos up and their memory and, um, you know, something that was really cool. Uh, last summer I was in Southeast Asia for a trip, a trade mission, and I decided that on a whim, you know, I was in Thailand and I'm like, I'm going to take a day, I'm going to go to Vietnam. I wanted to see it.

Lisa Degliantoni (30:19):

Oh, cool.

Aaron Masliansky (30:21):

And I went on a, I went to Saigon, ho Chi Minh city. And uh, when at night in the morning, um, tour guide picks me up who by the way, like we're Facebook friends now and like always comments on my stuff and I think that's like the coolest thing.

Aaron Masliansky (30:36):

And I love it. It's such an interesting experience taking me to different places and seeing things. And they, he took me to a, um, an artist studio and all the artists are sitting outside and they are, um, either descendants of or survivors of, uh, agent orange and they're sitting outside, they're making whose artwork with, with eggshells and lacquer and paint and all these things. And it's for the dingy, you know, outside there, it's hot and you go inside to the store and it's beautiful and there's art all over the walls and everywhere. And I saw a piece that I thought would be great in my dining room. I video chatted with my wife from 9,000 miles away.

Lisa Degliantoni (31:21):

Oh, how cool.

Aaron Masliansky (31:24):

So cool. We taped up on the wall at our house to see the dimension, to see if it would fit. I bought it, shipped it, and now it's at my house.

Aaron Masliansky (31:30):

And I looked back at that and it has so much memory meaning to me. Uh, you know, I think that on one hand that shows exactly why art's important. You know, what it expresses to the person who views it. Um, and I think it also shows you that, um, you know, art can be bought and sold no matter what the logistical issue is. So it gives us hope for this type of situation where we can't be inside but you know, the creatives like you and another, um, to be able to express it and show and showcase the art importance and we need to keep that up.

Lisa Degliantoni (32:05):

Yeah, that's a beautiful story. And it also goes to show you that there, there can be connection through not only massive amounts of miles, right, geographically, but also socially, economically, gender. Like it's really such a connected way too. Get to know other humans who you might never engage with or talk to or have anything in common with. It's really beautiful.

Aaron Masliansky (32:31):

It was one of the most meaningful things I've ever seen in my life. It just, it was that day was was uh, yeah.

Aaron Masliansky (32:40):

Yeah. But art is important. So, um, where can people go to, uh, Oh, by the way, before I ask where, you know, you have memberships to Evanston, Nate, right? We do.

Lisa Degliantoni (32:52):

So we have, we started the membership model about a year and a half ago were patrons of the art businesses and or just individual artists can join our organization for anywhere between 45 to a hundred dollars a year. And you, on our website it says join Evanstonmade.org and what we're doing with the membership chip model is like for artists, one of the benefits is you get to be inside of an annual group show and we showcase your art or we build you a portfolio page on our website. We found that a lot of our artists in Evanston didn't have websites. They didn't have a web presence at all. You'd Google them and it would go to like the yellow pages.

Lisa Degliantoni (33:37):

So we'd thought, well, we'll build a beautiful clearing house for all artists. So like we have an all artists page that we were just talking about. Oh, that's fun. On our members page on. Yeah. If you go there and you go all artists on the lower left hand side. Yeah. This is what's so crazy. So we have tons, I think we have almost 300 and then start scrolling slowly down the page cause it will be overwhelming. I mean we have painters, we have fabric designers, we have photographers, we have, I mean it's woodworkers. BAAs Cumberbatch from my Maui moved here. We have people who do fiber arts. And so the idea is just to really help the public connect with, if you are needing someone who does mosaics with glass, if you're needing someone who does portrait work or someone who can take a picture with you and your pets.

Lisa Degliantoni (34:38):

We just want to help people connect with artists really. And so we found that, you know, if, if you're a member, what we're going to help you do is promote your work, sell your work. But then another big part of being a member with us and it's open really to anybody, is you get professional development. So we teach you how to use Instagram, you how to, you know, price your art. A lot of people don't even know how to price art because it's so difficult. We teach you how to do art fairs, we teach you how to, you know, build out almost anything as it relates to the layout of your picture, framing any of that. And then if you were a business, let's say you're like, we have business member Jen Martinson who does a lot of really good work helping artists, sort of do the admin backend part of their um, work.

Lisa Degliantoni (35:38):

You can be a business member and then have access to our members and you can offer them professional development. So the idea is just to really like create an inclusive community of all artists and patrons who can join together to elevate the arts. Um, and that model has been happening for about a year and we launched it and thought, you know, it'll be great if 25 people sign up. That'll be fantastic. 300 humans. I've joined Evanston Made in the last calendar year. And granted, some are more active than others, but it's been incredible. And even in the pandemic, I just opened up five or four new membership renewals. So I mean, it's like people are still just so excited to be part of something that's helping elevate all artists. And it's been, it's been so fun to work on, I have to say,

Aaron Masliansky (36:34):

Would you call it an incubator in a way?

Lisa Degliantoni (36:36):

Yeah. I mean, cause we, we've, and trying to like finesse the language for grants and funders. We've talked about being like an 18 one, but for the creatives, so like we're doing business acceleration and we're helping people build out models, but it's not for traditional business. It's for small business owners in the creative arts. Ideally, let's pretend someday there's a huge building. Um, and a lot of us can be in it and we can have classrooms and we can have environments where people can pilot their different small businesses in the creative arts. So yeah, it's, it's absolutely, it's an arts accelerator. Um, but it's really small. Right.

Aaron Masliansky (37:23):

You're better off now than it's small. That's true. We'll have as much exposure.

Lisa Degliantoni (37:30):

So true. Yeah. And we don't, right. We don't have an overhead yet. We don't have a staff. We don't have a building, you know, like we are just in this sort of Groundling a year into our nonprofit status where we have all these budgets and big dreams. [inaudible]

Lisa Degliantoni (37:45):

yes, we were having to pause them for a bit, but we might be poised, like you said, to do great work when the time comes available.

Aaron Masliansky (37:52):

I hope you do. And your podcast, how often do you record and how can people tune in?

Lisa Degliantoni (37:59):

So it's on sound cloud, so it's like sound cloud, forward slash Lisa dash Dagley and Tony, right? It's my whole entire last name. Or if you Google the Lisa D show, you also just get to all the, cause there's parts of it on YouTube. Um, I daily, I'm doing the podcast once a week. Um, but yeah, and I have a blog. That's right. At least the D show. Dot blogspot.com. Thanks Aaron for paying attention.

Lisa Degliantoni (38:32):

Yeah. And I mean some times it's, it's or famine. It's, um, but really what I try to push people to is the archives. Because what I want is for someone to be able to connect the dots. So like let's say they see an Ellen Green painting, but they can't find her website, but they want to hear her voice and they might Google it and then jump into a situation where they're like, Oh, here's the conversation with her and this girl. Like I sorta just want to build the under lying layer of arts content so that anyone who's looking, whether it's to purchase the art or to get to know the artist will find it.

Aaron Masliansky (39:11):

Yeah, I think it's a, I think it's a good idea. I mean it's um, you create a hub for it.

Lisa Degliantoni (39:17):

Yeah. And it's, and it's really, I mean, as you know, it's all about content, right? So if somebody is going to find you to get a house, they're first going to spend a significant amount of time Googling and if they can find content that shows the whole you, they're more likely to trust you enough to do an engagement with you versus if they can't find a darn thing about you or they don't understand your interests. But like, Oh, Aaron's like minded, he's connecting people he loves where he lives. Check out all these cool projects. It makes it so much easier to have a conversation with you by the time they find your phone number.

Aaron Masliansky (39:52):

Oh yeah. There's no ice involved at all at that point.

Lisa Degliantoni (39:56):

That's totally, yeah.

Aaron Masliansky (40:01):

Well, I love talking with you. I'm so glad you joined me and, uh, you know, everyone, please tune into the Lisa D show and you know, we got to support our media friends here in Evanston and definitely support the arts. Um, but, uh, thank you so much for joining me today.

Lisa Degliantoni (40:18):

Thanks, Aaron. I love being on the show.

Aaron Masliansky (40:20):

I loved having you.