<p>This month's event is exploring the creative overlap between social media and the arts. Instead of the usual discussion of Facebook fans and Twitter followers, we wanted to take a look at some of the most inventive implementations of social media we've come across: social media art experiments. We'll be taking a look at how artists are incorporating social media... [read more]

&lt;p&gt;This month's event is exploring the creative overlap between social media and the arts. Instead of the usual discussion of Facebook fans and Twitter followers, we wanted to take a look at some of the most inventive implementations of social media we've come across: social media art experiments. We'll be taking a look at how artists are incorporating social media in their art making practice. You want to talk about creative community engagement strategies? Look no further than this round-up.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Schedule:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Doors at 6:30pm&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Artist presentations start at 6:45pm&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mix &amp; mingle over snacks and drinks from 8:00-9:00pm&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;**&lt;em&gt;Food and beverage for this meetup are being generously provided by&lt;/em&gt; AOL Artists.**&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Speakers:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;Josephine&lt;/span&gt; Dorado&lt;/strong&gt; is a social entrepreneur, educator, artist, producer and skydiver. She was a Fulbright scholarship recipient and initiated the&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;<a href="http://www.kidzconnect.org/about/&quot;" target="_blank">http://www.kidzconnec...</a> target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color : #14419a ; text-decoration : underline&quot;&gt;Kidz Connect&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;program, which connects youth internationally via creative collaboration and theatrical performance in virtual worlds. &lt;span&gt;Josephine&lt;/span&gt; also received a MacArthur Foundation award to co-found Fractor.org, which matches news with opportunities for activism. She currently teaches at the New School and is the live events producer for&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;<a href="http://www.thisspartanlife.com/about.php&quot;" target="_blank">http://www.thissparta...</a> target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color : #14419a&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;This Spartan Life&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color : #14419a ; text-decoration : underline&quot;&gt;,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;a talk show inside the video game Halo.&amp;nbsp;Upcoming ventures include reACTor, a location-based mobile gaming app that connects news with social action, as well as ongoing projects in mixed reality and networked performance.&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;<a href="http://funksoup.com/&quot;" target="_blank">http://funksoup.com/&...</a> target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;<a href="http://funksoup.com&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Twitter:" target="_blank">http://funksoup.com&l...</a> @funksoup&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;Man&lt;/span&gt; Bartlett&lt;/strong&gt; is an interdisciplinary artist who currently lives and works in New York. He has created durational performances that use social media to engage virtual and physical audiences in venues, galleries and institutions including a Best Buy, PPOW Gallery, Winkleman Gallery, and The Whitney Museum. His work has been written about in The Daily News, artnet, Art Fag City, Hyperallergic, and The Stranger. &lt;a href=&quot;<a href="http://www.manbartlett.com/&quot;&gt;http://www.manbartlett.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;" target="_blank">http://www.manbartlet...</a>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Graham Smith&lt;/strong&gt; is a New Media Artist living in New York City studying network science, game mechanics, digital identity, social media and fine art. In his piece &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;<a href="http://socialnetworkstories.com/&quot;&gt;Social" target="_blank">http://socialnetworks...</a> Network&lt;/a&gt;,&quot; and its accompanying research, he explores the importance of physical and emotional connections to the success of new media art works.&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color : #484848&quot;&gt; Smith spent a week on the road visiting over 100 &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color : #484848&quot;&gt;Facebook&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color : #484848&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;friends in person in the hopes of understanding the nature of our transformed social encounters. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;<a href="http://socialnetworkstories.com/&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span" target="_blank">http://socialnetworks...</a> style=&quot;font-size : small&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;<a href="http://rblg.me/aqpt8i&quot;" target="_blank">http://rblg.me/aqpt8i...</a> target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color : #000066&quot;&gt;<a href="http://grahamGrafx.com&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;" target="_blank">http://grahamGrafx.co...</a>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color : #888888&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;J&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;ake Dobkin&lt;/strong&gt; is a streetart documentarian. &amp;nbsp;His involvement in internet graffiti began in 1994, as an early contributor to Artkrimes (&lt;a href=&quot;<a href="http://www.graffiti.org/&quot;" target="_blank">http://www.graffiti.o...</a> target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;www.graffiti.org&lt;/a&gt;). &amp;nbsp;Later, he began photographing streetart, focusing on work in New York City and Los Angeles. &amp;nbsp;His streetart photographs can be seen at Streetsy (&lt;a href=&quot;<a href="http://www.streetsy.com/&quot;" target="_blank">http://www.streetsy.c...</a> target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;www.streetsy.com&lt;/a&gt;) and Flickr (&lt;a href=&quot;<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluejake&quot;" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com...</a> target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;www.flickr.com/photos/bluejake&lt;/a&gt;). &amp;nbsp;He is also the programmer for Wooster Collective (&lt;a href=&quot;<a href="http://www.woostercollective.com/&quot;" target="_blank">http://www.woostercol...</a> target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;www.woostercollective.com&lt;/a&gt;). &amp;nbsp;Professionally, he is the publisher of the Gothamist network of sites, and maintains an architectural photoblog at Bluejake (&lt;a href=&quot;<a href="http://www.bluejake.com/&quot;" target="_blank">http://www.bluejake.c...</a> target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;www.bluejake.com&lt;/a&gt;). &amp;nbsp;His photographs have been featured in a number of streetart books, including Trespass: A History of Uncommissioned Art (&lt;a href=&quot;<a href="http://bit.ly/a5jld9&quot;" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/a5jld9&...</a> target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;<a href="http://bit.ly/a5jld9&lt;/a&gt;)" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/a5jld9&...</a>. &amp;nbsp;His talk will be about the positive and negative effects of the internet on streetart culture.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color : #484848&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2 more speakers TBD...&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;About our sponsors:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color : black&quot;&gt;AOL is dedicated to creativity and we are supporting the artistic community by actively commissioning artists from around the world to create the visual identity behind our brand.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color : black&quot;&gt;We are showcasing their work globally and our artist community is growing daily as we continue to discover talented individuals to work with. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color : black&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;<a href="http://www.aolartists.com/&quot;&gt;AOLArtists.com&lt;/a&gt;" target="_blank">http://www.aolartists...</a> &lt;/strong&gt; was launched in May 2010 to showcase the incredible talent that is behind our brand.&amp;nbsp;We have worked with over 80 artists and commissioned over 200 pieces of art as canvases to be featured attached to our brand identity. With the AOL Artists program, we are empowering artists, creativity and innovation. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;