Mark Walmsley of the ACN

The Arts and Culture Network is a growing global community of over 120,000 across 8 arts and culture LinkedIn groups. The pulse of Mark’s community is a series of free random speed networking events on Zoom at which new connections are made, conversations started, and opportunities for collaboration explored. Guests have been hired at these events, new companies created, and intercontinental digital art shows arranged.

Having been one of the first 100,000 users of LinkedIn, Mark started the community there in 2010 and then promptly forgot all about it. It grew on its own, as increasing numbers of arts and culture professionals embraced the platform, and by 2020 it had 18,000 members. Mark started hosting networking events on Zoom through the Covid lock down to give members the chance to meet and network, despite the imposed isolation.

Those one-hour events continue today with three Zoom meetings each month to cover all global time zones, with one face-to-face meeting each month in London at The Royal Society of Arts. They are all free to attend.

The ACN is decidedly independent with no sponsors, advertisers, shareholders, or grant-making bodies influencing its future. Rather, it is entirely member-funded with full members paying just £10 per month ($12/€12) with the ability to cancel any time. At the time of writing, the ACN had around 250 full members, just about covering its costs.

You can learn more about the Arts and Culture Network at www.ArtsAndCultureNetwork.com.

You can reach Mark on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/markbwalmsley/ and by email at mark.walmsley@artsandculturenetwork.com