A week into the new year and there are already plenty of interesting new ideas buzzing around the Imagekind office. Most of us got a little break, and with that, some time to reflect on where we have been, where we are going, and what all of our members and customers have been saying – all of which points to a bright and innovative future for this service and marketplace.

Our community is growing so rapidly, and we have so many new features in development, that one of the most obvious needs for the new year seems to be better tools for communication – and fast. We want to let everyone know what we are up to and when we’ve made changes, and we want to always hear your comments, ideas, and questions. This blog has worked well to get the ball rolling, but it isn’t really the best format for a conversation. We are going to continue to use it for announcements, news, reviews, and featuring member artworks and events in a more immediate and in-depth way than we can usually facilitate on the site. The blog will definitely continue to be the best way for us to reach out to everyone quickly about interesting subjects, so keep yourself subscribed or checking back often!

In addition, though, while we continue to develop and improve our other community tools built into the site, we are going to start and maintain a real discussion forum. This will be an area on the Imagekind site where members can discuss various topics amongst themselves, look for tips and tricks for promoting their art and galleries, let everyone know about events and openings, as well as get collaborative support from both Imagekind staff AND member artists.

We really believe this new format will be a better way to talk back and forth within our community and learn from one another. To that end, along with our curators and other staff, we will be asking a few of our member artists to come in and moderate! This way the conversation can grow wherever it needs to organically. If this sounds like something you would be interested in, send us an email and we’ll get back to you with what we are looking for.

The forum should be up and running very soon (likely this week), and when it’s announced on this blog there will be some more information on how we’ll use both areas to allow our great community to best get together and continue to make Imagekind the fastest growing and most unique fine arts marketplace and service on the web!