No voiceover artist is an island (Meetup Group)

I have been thinking about it for sometime, and I decided to create a Meetup group for local voiceover artists to get together, collaborate, and have some fun in the SF Bay area.

I did this, because I think there is a need for a group of this type in my area. I am lucky in a sense due to geography and culture. The SF Bay area is rife with artists and creative types, and I think this is an excellent place to build from.  And yet from what I see, the voiceover community seems scattered, at least for the beginning and intermediate artists building towards true professionalism.

To be honest, there are several very good voiceover institutions and organizations in the area, but they can cost a fair amount to get into, or are built for those with greater resources, as well as predominantly in San Francisco. Meetings for the organizations are at hard to hard to reach times. Slogging through both San Jose and San Francisco traffic during the weekday afternoons?  Pretty difficult especially when one is still a wage slave. This leaves folks like me pining for artistic companionship and support.

While this group I am forming cannot and does not hope to compete with these finer institutions for quality, that is not the point. I wanted to create an information and social hub, a place where people could talk about our niche group, learn some interesting information and guidance, as well as just have a good bite to eat and shoot the breeze.

To clarify more, a good reason to have this group is simply pointing people in the right direction for those who are interested in more academic pursuits of honing their craft. Acting lessons, music lessons, improv are all instrumental to the learning process of what we do. They are are part of what we need to grow, and while we will use all of these tools in this group, there will always be better resources in that regard  If coaches are interested in joining I would love to have people meet them, and use this group as a feeder for greater business and student opportunities.

Still we can maybe offer something more. I want this  group to be a place where people who know or at least want to know about what its like stepping up to the mic, understand the trials and tribulations of editing, and casting. A place of free exchange of thoughts and creativity where people looking to develop relationships with voiceovers can join and visit. Animators,  and audio engineers, feel free to join, and we can pool our resources for collaborative projects together and bring more opportunity to all!

If you are interested, please check us out at http://www.meetup.com/SF-Bay-Voice-Acting-Meetup/

Thanks!