Quad City Arts on Tuesday launched the Artist Index, inviting artists to create a free profile on their searchable online platform with a built-in filtering system.

Meant to be a digital resource for the community, the new index can help in searching for artists to hire for commissions, purchasing regional art, getting hired for corporate/city projects, or just exploring and seeing the talent in our region, according to a Tuesday release from the Rock Island-based nonprofit.

You can find the Artist Index at www.quadcityarts.com.

Area artists can register for the site at no charge and create their own profile, including bio, photo, their own social media and websites, and samples of their artwork.

Quad City Arts will use this index when clients approach them looking for artists and commissioned works, and being listed will be beneficial and lucrative to artists who choose to be a part of this index.

This searchable platform has been the center of input sessions for several years, said QC Arts executive director Kevin Maynard. “The goal is to provide more business for the artists in our community by making them more accessible to the public,” he said.

The index currently features 27 artists in the region, broken down by artistic medium, among several categories.

The Artist Index platform is open to all artists that are 18 years old or older, with original works of art, residing within a 250-mile radius, the current area that Quad City Arts services. There are presently 27 artists on the site — ranging in media from acrylic painting to tattoo and woodworking.

Quad City Arts helps businesses find art that represents their company culture, their community, and their aesthetic. A sample of previous projects includes:

Paintings done last year by QC artist Jaime Foster for the Quad City Bank and Trust board room in Davenport (courtesy of Quad City Arts).
  • 2022: New commissioned work for the Quad City Bank and Trust board room at their Brady Street location. 
  • 2021: Two murals painted through the Metro Arts Youth Apprenticeship Program at the TBK Bank Midwest Division Headquarters in Bettendorf.
  • 2018: Commissioned a custom-built sculpture for a fountain at the Genesis East campus in Davenport. 

Quad City Arts has been a flagship arts organization in the area for over 50 years and frequently received inquiries from corporate businesses and the public to find artists fitting very specific parameters, the release said.

Depending on the need of the client, Quad City Arts will place a public call for an RFP, or reach out to specific artists that we know in the community that fit the requested criteria. But artists move, some decide not to continue creating artwork, and there are many new artists who have moved to the community seeking a smaller city to reside in after the pandemic.

The index has been a project crafted by long-time art supporter, Twin State Technical Services, Davenport. A project that has taken roughly nine months to complete between developing, testing, and further alternations. Quad City Arts hopes that this platform is as inclusive as it can be to all artists in the region.

Creating a robust index will allow them to be better advocates for creatives in the area, connect artists with clients, and show off the creative backbone that makes our region unique, the release said. “We would like to welcome those artists to our community and connect them to our resources and opportunities.”

To see the index (which is easily accessible from the QC Arts home page), click HERE.