Project spotlight: Stephanie Diamond + Listings Project
This month I'm spotlighting a "sister-project," by which I mean, a creative, artist-centered, share-based entrepreneurial project by an artist who seems to see the world much like I do! STEPHANIE DIAMOND is a social practice artist who says: "I believe we all tasked with taking care of ourselves as individuals within a public. We have to create the system we want to live in."
Stephanie Diamond (photo: Lauren Hermele)
Tell us a little about your creative and professional practice. What do you do in the world?
I am an artist and entrepreneur. My work ensures that humans take care of themselves as individuals within a public. My projects explore self care, personal practice and individual awareness as a catalyst for being of service to communities. I employ art as a vehicle to bridge gaps and provide access to places and people that would otherwise never come together. My art project / business Listings Project, a free weekly email of real estate and opportunities listings serving creatives, is a staple within our community.
How did the Listings Project come about?
Listings Project started over a decade ago from my personal email list. At the time I lived in Queens and wanted to move closer to school, so I sent out an email to my personal email list asking for recommendations.
By then, I’d built an amazing network of artists and friends, so I got a lot of good leads — so many that I couldn’t keep them to myself. I started sharing the listings, and as a result people kept sending them to me.
At first I just used my personal Yahoo account, reformatting emails in Microsoft Word before copying and pasting to my list. Soon after, the email list got so big that Yahoo thought I was spamming people, so I made the leap to working with an email provider and added a sign-up field to my website. The list kept growing organically, and I sought out friends and associates to give me guidance on how to make it into a business. Now it’s grown into the leading resource for artists’ studios, creative spaces and beyond in 70+ countries and across the United States—all through word of mouth!
How does this project support communities of artists?
Listings Project connects sincere seekers with listers, helping people find opportunities, artists’ studios, apartments, live/work spaces, rooms for rent, houses for rent and for sale, sublets, swaps, offices, coworking spaces, house sitting, as well as exhibition, rehearsal and event spaces.
We personally review every listing and individually correspond with each person posting in order to weed out brokers, managers, listings with fees or spaces offered by any third party service. We help artists find their place and connect with other creative, interesting and thoughtful people.
"Community of Community at the Queens Museum” is a series of ongoing retreats, created by Stephanie Diamond, where social practice artists gather around a theme, skill-share, support each other and ourselves, and explore the lineage of the field while living cooperatively together.
How does your business support your creative life? What have you learned about the shape a creative career can take?
Because of Listings Project, my team and I are able work flexibly from many places — the East Coast, the West Coast and the Midwest — and we all share a commitment to creativity and community as well as to our own artistic practices. I’m grateful that Listings Project has become something that supports and sustains so many people. I believe we all tasked with taking care of ourselves as individuals within a public. We have to create the system we want to live in.
What's coming up next?
We are actively expanding Listings Project and we want our LA Listings Project family to grow! I would love for everyone to check out Listings Project and sign up to receive our weekly email.
To kick things off, here’s a coupon to post your LA listings for $5 now through the end of December, 2016:
Use code: laloveslp
Our community is completely built on word of mouth. Help spread Listings Project love—share this code with your LA friends & family!
