RECENT STORIES

'Haunt with No Name Yet' appears again ( Janet Baas )
CSUN music professor records original compositions ( Carmen Ramos Chandler )
CSUN Film Festival explores globalization ( Carmen Ramos Chandler )
Canoga Park Elks donate dictionaries ( Peter De Santis )
City recognizes County Supervisor Yaroslavsky ( Brian Haworth )

share a story | more postings »

YourHub.com \\ The Valley \\ Stories \\ News \\ About Town

Local man launches new website TheTalentPlace.com

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

NEXT › ‹ PREVIOUS

Contributed by: Pam Vetter on 9/29/2008

Need an acrobat? Need a contortionist? Need an actor or model? Need a funeral celebrant? Need an animator?

Imagine finding a Web site that offers your odd job title and a free way to educate the community about your talents.

That is exactly what owner, photographer, designer and Woodland Hills resident Joel Galston is doing with the launch of his new website TheTalentPlace.com.

"I'm a photographer by trade with 21 years in photography. It was hard to find a site that you could network with the right kind of people that offer diverse abilities. There are different websites available to people that are talent specific. But, there aren't sites to bring all of those unique talents together into one community. TheTalentPlace.com does exactly that," Galston explained.

"As a photographer, you work with stylists, costume people, models and other talents, but the problem is that a lot of these sites don't offer more than one service," he said. "For example, I work with graphic designers but I couldn't network with them because other sites don't allow that. There are individual freelance sites but they don't interact with photographers."

The best part about TheTalentPlace.com is that it's free to all talent.

"I came up with the idea three years ago. I didn't reinvent the wheel, I only modified it. Why can't there be a site where there can be all the talent? On TheTalentPlace.com, a graphic designer could interact with model. An illustrator could interact with an animator. No one community that interaction to everyone," Galston said. "We're encouraging several different organizations to get them on board. There are many associations and organizations who need a place to share their talents, educate the community and share resources to improve what they currently do," Galston reminded. "For example, music professionals who want to teach classes can post jobs if they want to use other people's talents on the sites. This is a way for other outsiders who are looking to mingle for talents can come together to build a career."

If you don't see your specific talent listed on the site, Galston welcomes your suggestions for additional talents.

"There is no cost to the talent. You can post images or post videos. It accepts YouTube videos and you can post them right to the site," Galston noted.

When it comes to performers with disabilities, Galston does not plan to separate them out of categories.

"I am willing to list unique talents and ability. An actor is an actor. I don't care whether he or she has a disability, if they have a talent they should be listed with everyone else. I believe in inclusion. A writer is a writer and it's based on that writer's talent. TheTalentPlace is open to any talent," Galston explained. "I'm not a separatist and I don't believe in separating people with disabilities from everyone else. This is based strictly on their talent. If you separate anyone out, that's why they're getting separate billing. They should all be together in one community on a website where they're together with everyone else."

If you want unique talent, just look over the talent list Galston has created.

"We have acrobats, cross dressing divas, graphic designers, comedians, and a hundred more. We have as many talents as we can list because there are the people who are lost in the mix. There has to be a place where all these talents come together, create a huge talent of community that allows them to work together. There's a private messaging system, event calendars, contests and all sorts of opportunities to connect."

Galston says that anyone can sign on as a visitor and mingle amongst the talent.

"This is an international Web site. We have people who have already signed on from United States, England and Australia. The reach is wide. If you need a barbershop quartet, where are you going to go to find that talent? Or, if you need a cartoonist for an event? TheTalentPlace.com is a place where you can go to find those unique abilities," Galston said.

"My bottom line hope is to keep the arts community alive. I see how the school art programs have been cut and I want people to have their talents be seen. I want people to work together with each other in an artists community as well as agencies come to site and look at site. There will be job postings so people can work together and gain freelance work," he added. "We want to keep the arts going. That's the backbone of society. The goal is to gain progress in our society for the arts and create a platform where they can show off their artwork in a good clean form so they can utilize multiple tools. Whether you're an animator or video game designer or inventor, you can share your work or your vision in a forum where it's welcome."

To recognize the talent pool, the Web site also has valid talent ratings.

"If a person does a good job, they've given five stars in their profile ratings. I've rated some models I've photographed for their professionalism and a job well done. If a person isn't doing a good job and doesn't gain the professional ratings, they won't stay on our site. We're definitely monitoring the response," Galston said. "My goal is to keep the website free because so far, people are grateful for this site. It's a platform to present your work with photos and videos as people willing to help each other, mentor each other or work with each other. This site benefits everyone who joins."

To join or for more information, visit www.thetalentplace.com.

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above story