Tokahe Mobile App: Artist Directory and Curation

Creating a marketable platform for local artists.

One problem faced is the lack of platform for the many of the unheard of artists from many different mediums across the Pine Ridge Reservation. 

The project I am proposing is creating a marketable mobile app that local artists can upload their own photos to their own profile to market and sell their own work. Therefore the buyer can have direct conversation with the artist themselves to negotiate pricing. 

The project will provide a link to artists and the masses. This will empower artists of all levels to create, price and sell their work around the globe. The mobile app itself can sell promotional advertisement to local businesses to help strengthen local economy. 

The biggest barrier for my project is awareness but marketing will be apart of the budget. 

A new mobile app will be developed. A mobile app will provide the artist with a page to maintain through their phone with a user account. Each artists profile will be available through search or found in categorized tabs of each separate medium. 

Our project is providing a product that expands the methods of exposure for local artists by creating a specified platform within a local economy. In turn the product will provide advertisement for the local businesses.

The mobile app will be accessible to anybody with a phone and the app will provide a free account for the local artists.

The are over a hundred artists across the reservation selling their artwork in a gas station, outside a gas station, on social media as well as galleries like Prairie Edge in Rapid City. Some artists don't realize their worth and let their work go for way less than potentially valued. The mobile app will provide a basis for the local market which will bring awareness to potential value. The mobile app can also provide links to local programs and reminders of local events. 

The project can be implemented in any community or any other reservation with the help of a local project coordinator. Over time our project will reach as many artists and customers that we along with their help can generate. 

I am applying to Solve because I am a full time artist on the Pine Ridge Reservation and I am faced with the challenges first hand. I make it through with the implementation of social media marketing. Being a full time artist Solve can help advance my work by providing funding to develop the product.

Right now, I work with Lakota Funds in Kyle, South Dakota with my brand Flying High Leather. They have helped me to establishment my business. 

I would eventually like to turn the product over to an organization like Lakota Fund to further curate as I continue my journey as an artist.