As with many events in 2020, the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts had to make a quick decision on if they were going to proceed with their famed Santa Fe Indian Market virtually or postpone the fair until 2021. The organization opted for the former and mounted a successful show all online, building websites for artists who had never had an online presence before as well as creating an interactive virtual world and mounting several online festivities to continue the excitement even with being unable to meet in person.
Renderings of the Indigenous Collections website that will be unveiled during Santa Fe Indian Market.
From this, SWAIA executive director Kim Peone realized that the Native American art marketplace needed one spot for artists to promote their work year-round so they can reach a wider audience of collectors outside of Market season and reach those who cannot attend the show. The organization will launch its brand-new online platform, Indigenous Collections, in conjunction with this year’s fair and will continue to expand the business for years to come.
Renderings of the Indigenous Collections website that will be unveiled during Santa Fe Indian Market.
“As an organization we really felt it necessary to build a business plan around microsites for artists,” says Peone. “That’s essentially what Indigenous Collections is—it’s digital marketing, SEO management in order to help artists with regards to selling online. We’re in the process of building that; we’re going to be creating this platform that allows artists to have an online presence, but not necessarily with them having a website, not necessarily from the perspective of social media. All are SEO platforms to help launch a digital marketing platform with microsites on them.”
Indigenous Collections will be its own business model that kicks off as part of Santa Fe Indian Market and will include artists who have booths at the market and those artists who are participating virtually. This year, along with the e-commerce section, the website will include a livestream of the fashion show and the Best of Show ceremony, and the virtual reality platform NDN World that SWAIA created last year returns.
Renderings of the Indigenous Collections website that will be unveiled during Santa Fe Indian Market.
In the months and years to come, Indigenous Collections will only continue to expand and will be available for all federally recognized tribal members to use, not just SWAIA juried artists. Peone adds that the platform will enhance the sense of community and create more opportunities for the artists and for collectors to find their work.
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