Noelle Brooks, Choice Premiums’ marketing coordinator and owner of Noelle Brooks, LLC, will teach a marketing series for artists August 21, 28, and September 4 at the Ampersand Guild.

“One of the biggest challenges artists face is knowing how to market their work and get paid,” Brooks said. “I feel this is particularly important with the loss of spaces like the Contemporary Art Exchange. Artists need skills to build sustainable businesses. I want this to be the first step towards that.”

The workshop is for creatives such as performance and visual artists, photographers, musicians, and writers. Brooks chose this demographic due to their struggle to carve profitable spaces and their importance to the Macon community. Part one covers identifying your brand by defining your mission or artist statement. Part two discusses protecting creative works and receiving funding and part three provides strategies for marketing. As a writer, Brooks understands the importance of these lessons.

“I want to help others figure out how to properly tell their stories and artists have amazing ones to tell,” Brooks said. “The key is connecting these stories to the right people.”

Brooks is a Macon native and an active member of the arts community. She has worked for arts nonprofits such as the Macon Arts Alliance and the Douglass Theatre, was marketing director of the Lost Keys Literary Festival, and leader of the improv troupe, “Aren’t You Steve?”  

“I would love to say that all my creative endeavors were complete successes,” Brooks said. “But to be honest, I think if they had, I wouldn’t have the drive and passion I do now. It pushed me to diversify my skills and become a better writer and marketer.”

This drive and passion have fueled Brooks’s mission to empower others through marketing. Her goal is to demystify the process. She believes that with the right support and resources, anyone can profit from their passions. The challenge is finding people willing to pay for it.         

“It’s hard being a creative,” Brooks said. “We want to make things, not promote them. We want to follow that nagging feeling in the pit of our stomach that says, ‘this is what you were meant to do.’ We know the value of what we do and why it matters. We just have to learn how to show others the value as well.”

Tickets are $15 for the whole series or $7 for those who can only attend one. Workshops start at 6:30 p.m. Brooks hopes this will be the first of many marketing events for the community, bringing her one step closer to building a more connected and creative world.