News: SiftGroups launch young artists community for Louis Vuitton

On Thursday 9th June Louis Vuitton launched REcreative a community site for aspiring artists in partnership with London art institutions including the Whitechapel Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts and Tate Britain. The site aims to help aspiring artists find audiences for their work, learn how more established creatives built their careers and follow arts events and exhibitions through exclusive online content.

Lead by Account Director Nick Torday, the SiftGroups team worked with Louis Vuitton, the London art institions and the students themselves to define, design and build the site over a 3 month project this year.

The journey began back in August of last year; every step of the way the decisions, from the strategy through to the brand development and even the content creation, were led by the young people from across the capital who formed the core project group all the way through. The concept behind the site is a simple, strong message: art doesn't have to be a mystery.

By unpacking it, seeing the creative process all the way through and indeed sharing that process with each other, it becomes more accessible and easier for young people to aspire towards. With features such as the Ideas Factory, the project-based community, the Experts video content and the chance to win amazing opportunities in the art world, the site is a rich blend of content and function that makes for a compelling experience.

Louis Vuitton are investing money in the arts at a time of huge government spending cuts to the sector, and we are really pleased to have been the fulcrum in such an exciting public/private partnership - working with the South London Gallery has given us a really valuable insight into the world of contemporary art and we strongly believe this community will play a vital role in years to come.

Another key learning we took from this was the power of co-creation, if handled properly. Throughout the project we had to work really hard to ensure that the integrity of the young people's vision was maintained, in the face of predictable pressures from the other key stakeholders in the project. In the end the strategy that was defined by the group held out and the brand was entirely of their own choosing. This means that the community has a much better chance of success as the underlying framework is driven by genuine audience need.