A few years ago, I was spending half my time as a web design business owner and half my time as a professional opera singer. I was surrounded by a community of artists who were growing and excelling in their craft, yet dealing with similar challenges. Chief among these was the lack of digital resources to help them build their careers. I saw talented peers and colleagues struggling to advance simply because they couldn’t tell their stories and make and sustain connections effectively online — or even worse, because they couldn't afford to. There was no solution out there that fused smooth technology, eye-catching design, and career tools, and I wanted to help.

I founded a design studio to provide solutions to other artists. When I wasn’t singing, I was building websites and site templates. Over the course of three years, a small team and I built and maintained 200 websites and distributed templates to over 600 artists. I was proud to be able to offer beautiful work that would accurately represent my industry peers as the contemporary, successful artists that they were. But, in the process, I realized that those sites were only one piece of the puzzle. 

For artists, so much depends on your ability to promote yourself; showcase your work; create resumes and other materials that fit industry specifications and look good; build relationships; and proficiently use social media platforms, YouTube, and Microsoft Word. Even though the sites were helping individual artists surmount many of those challenges, I didn't have the bandwidth to create websites for all the artists in the world — and even if I did, I still wouldn't be solving the bigger problem, which was artists' lack of agency over their own careers and a need to distribute those sites within their network. I felt like there had to be something more powerful and connected than individual portfolio websites for us while the rest of the world was thriving on Linkedin.

That’s when I had the idea for Stagetime. On Stagetime, artists could take charge of their careers. They could build out their personal brand, what makes them unique, and easily share with other artists and with arts employers. Building out a network would be drastically simplified; no longer would they need to share professional updates on personal social media accounts to keep their connections informed. There would be no need to pay to make a portfolio website and ensure that it would be beautiful, functional, and memorable. And artists could more actively share their work with relevant audiences, rather than crossing their fingers that the right person would stumble upon their website and offer them a job. Eight months later, in summer 2020, we launched the platform to begin making this better experience a reality.

Of course, 2020 was also notable for...other things. And for artists, those other things underscored the true necessity of career-building resources, especially in an industry where relationships are critical. Never has it been more crucial for artists to have the tools they need to tell their network what they’re doing and make connections. As the performing arts begin to come back to some version of “normal,” artists need something better than “normal” — they need the power of a tool that gives them true agency over their careers. A tool like Stagetime.

We’ve already seen proof of this need. Our platform has grown to 5,000+ users, plus leading arts organizations. People are now using Stagetime to ask their peers questions like “what do I need to know about the COVID-19 protocols at the Zürich Opera?” or “do you know a Latinx conductor available for performances in Maine next month?” 

We’re just getting started at Stagetime — and we hope you enjoy the show.

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Jennie Moser, Founder & CEO