National art organizations offer informational sites, but are often restricted to paid members or specific to one art form. I asked the artists to write back if they found something good. The closest model for a specific part of the site was the Pleiades Women's Forums, which made me realize how useful forums could be, and inspired me to set up the forum pages. My division of information is based on a newsletter I used to publish for San Francisco Women Artists, which had separate areas for shows, classifieds, news, places to hang work, resources. After 2 years, Artist Resource now gets 25,000 visitors a month, resulting in an average of 120,000 'page hits,' the number of times different pages were accessed.
Visitors are often newcomers to the area.
The dramatic jump in the number of visitors to the site clearly demonstrates a need for community support for artists. Overwhelmed by the site's success, Li is actively seeking help from webby-savvy artists and writers. From her experience as a member and board member of non-profits, Li observes that most local organizations struggle from week to week. She feels that her concept can provide better services and real help on a personal level. She envisions Artist Resource as more enduring, offering more services with less overhead than other groups.