When jotta comes to Manchestta

It’s not quite time for the degree shows at Manchester’s various university art schools, but I imagine that artists, photographers, animators and the like are frantically putting together their final portfolios and, in any spare moments, wondering what comes next.
It still surprises me how few in the visual arts have their own blogs or even web presence, though there are honourable exceptions, such as the long running blog of Apartment, and I think it must partly because of the need to concentrate on the creative work, as well as a sense that the industry looks elsewhere – e.g. degree shows and the like – to identify talent. It is in this context that a few movers and shakers from the creative industries in the city were invited to hear about jotta, a social network/online portfolio site for “arts, design, and communication.”
Although jotta is currently London-based and has good relationships with a number of London colleges, they understand that the market for talent is not just national but global. By providing an easy, and free place where artists, designers and others can promote their work, they are wanting to create a social network that is both niche and high quality. What was really interesting was that they have promoted the website through having offline events – and they realised that in order to grow beyond the capital – and Manchester is very much in their thoughts – it is this combination of on- and offline activity that works.
In many ways, an online incubator for new talent, the success of the site to date has been both the quality of work on it – with now over 11,000 pieces in the porfolio – but also how much interest it has generated from the commercial world looking to find talent. For Manchester graduates and new designers, it offers a shop window that doesn’t require a ticket for the North West mainline.
There’s going to be a wider opportunity in the late Spring for Manchester creatives to find out more, but even now, anyone with a portfolio – and they reckon they cover 51 different disciplines, from animation to sonic arts – might want to give it a look. There’s a marketplace for opportunities on the site (which is moderated) – as well as some nascent social networking functions – but its the nice way that portfolios are showcased that I think will be of interest to most visual artists in particular. If any Manchester artists sign up, it will be great to know how they find it.