In the past 10 months my father died of a heart attack, my core family dynamics imploded, my apartment burned to the ground (more specifically, the roof was set on fire and caved in - yes my partner and I were home, no-one was hurt.), and the United States… Well, I think I'm watching my entire country crumble in real time which is surreal, tiring and scary all at the same time. Through all this I only missed three classes of teaching. I work as an adjunct at three schools and I do not qualify for paid leave at any of them, so I only missed one day of work at each.

Most importantly I have continued to make art while grieving.

Some of this art was bad because I was too angry to pull all my facilities together for a good performance, but most of it was brilliant because losing so much all at once made me both vulnerable and brave. I will reveal anything during a performance right now and while some may have thought I was doing that before, grief has unlocked another level of openness in me. I also needed money so any gig booked before the foundations of my life started falling apart, I kept.

And I used chatgpt to get some application proposals in on time. (I'm not proud of this because Ai is killing our environment but I was too foggy in the brain to get everything done properly and on time.) - Now you do need to check and edit chatbot writing. It will take disjointed sentences of a proposal you have an outline for and organize your thoughts beautifully - honestly it did this better than I could on my best days and I will be using its suggested proposal categories and layout from now on - but don’t forget that something weird WILL BE included if your proposal is produced by an Ai application. It's a helper not a miracle worker.

All of this might be expected…

What I didn't expect was that all of this grief made me obsess over marketing tips. I have become the person whose IG feed is half marketing advice as the algorithm doesn't show you your friends anymore, but it definitely shows you whatever topic you look at the most. Why marketing… If my world is falling apart I need to rebuild it right? But it seems to me I needed to rebuild it with more of a plan than I had in the past. Reinvent myself socially so to speak.

I needed new clothes anyway… I needed more eyes on my work… I needed to make more money. I needed a new public persona - one that wasn't grieving and crumbled. Wearing a neon zebra print catsuit was no longer enough. And I had come to the sad conclusion that academia was never going to “make me whole.” I've been passed over for a tenure track job twice both times it hurt. The second time was after a failed Zoom interview with the Art Institute. - older locals did not grow up saying SAIC - During that interview I could feel myself losing the plot but I couldn't get it back - it was cringe - but now it feels like a wake up call. I need to become undeniable as an artist and that takes marketing. It seemed and still seems like the only solution to losing so much, is to take what I can control in my work and MANIPULATE THAT to my advantage. - So I landed on studying marketing online.

Here’s who I am looking at the most now for marketing advice:
Oren John, fast talking marketing guru who if you go back far enough used to be a surfer dude and changed his public persona ON PURPOSE. He spent a year focused on remaking himself…not just his clothes but his whole personality and focus. This performance (which I know he doesn't view as a performance) FASCINATES ME. WARNING: he is bro-y… he seems to love capitalism and almost never mentions that the sky is falling in the US. BUT for streamlining your work flow and picking quality towels (he has a series called product vs brand) he’s our guy. And I needed new towels when I found him online. He takes time to explain how broad interest items like towel analysis may be what brings you in, but a core niche audience stays for the marketing nitty gritty. Niche-maxing he calls it. I love this, as I am a very niche art-maker who stands on chairs in traffic and rolls on the ground or licks chocolate off of glass windows often in my work, all while wearing a neon striped zebra print catsuit, (see website ayanaevans.com for more on this. I promise it all makes sense.) Oren has gone from virtually no presence online to 680k plus in the past three years. This also fascinates me. He started when most people would consider it too late and too saturated… I should also mention he's a middle aged dad. He could have easily convinced himself that he had missed the influencer boom - instead he is finessing it.

I am also obsessed with Amelia Hurbby’s “Off The Grid - a podcast for creative small business owners who want to leave social media without losing all their income” - what a great tagline! It’s sincere but it's also really good marketing. Now Amelia is the OPPOSITE of Bro-y. This is where you hear about late stage capitalism and what it means for artists and business owners. Here is where you get neuro divergent perspectives on marketing and moms with chronic illnesses balancing work and promotion. I needed this perspective as much as I needed Oren’s. Oren encourages the fearlessness only cis white male privilege can offer. But this podcast offers how to land softly and deal with the chaos capitalism creates. Newsletters are highly encouraged by this podcast.

Though he HEAVILY pushes for making social media content that is either educational or entertaining as a brand building strategy, Oren has a newsletter too. - and YES I am now constantly thinking is this entertaining or educational content? Or the ultimate sweet spot - BOTH! (bōf - said with a Chicago accent)

And all that led me to make this newsletter. This is where I’ll share career lessons, residency recommendations, performance art survival tactics, and occasional reports from the front lines of being a mid-career artist in New York. Lucky for you, I am feeling more honest than ever.

Buckle up.

Xx,
Ayana

PS, Some news from the Department of Logistics and Dreams:

1. I have a performance sponsored by the Flea Theater on June 16th 6:30pm at the corner of Church and Nordstrand in Brooklyn. Come ready to dance and take a short ride on the subway.

2. I also have a mini-performance June 13th

3. at the Flea theater in Manhattan this weekend as part of the closing for The Worthy - a processional performance by Niegel Smith, Director of the Flea. The procession ends at the theater.

3. My video “TEASER” is currently showing outside CAM ST Louis

4. I am guest co-host for the next 5 episodes of the Agony Podcast - I will be back there from time to time during other seasons. Episode one (Part 1) and Episode one (Part 2)

5. My website has an awesome redesign… https://www.ayanaevans.com/

NOW BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING…

Marketing tips from varied sources… These are my fav episodes!! - My advice here, watch it all, don’t pay for anything immediately. Nothing has a quick fix:

OFF THE GRID https://offthegrid.fun/shownotes/2026-marketing and https://offthegrid.fun/shownotes/creative-world-building

OrenMeetsWorld https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKeZ5XK2vp4 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa13iuKa8zA

For the World Builders; Seeda School Podcast By Ayana Zaire Cotton: https://open.spotify.com/show/0eQGOBhW8Ue85UaHEHh4oL

Anatomy of a Dream interview with Grace Andrews https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r5aCyNKAOI

And lastly… A WARNING, BEWARE OF ONLINE MARKETING SCAMS… Video on that here: https://youtu.be/4WHdHYSAIYU?si=OTUb6TSEMdnE689a