As part of the recent Arts & Culture Summit program, I was invited to contribute a short interview about the work behind Optimize.art and GreatLakes.art — two projects focused on strengthening how arts, culture, and conservation are represented and connected online. The interview touches on the intersection of digital strategy and the arts, the idea behind “Field Notes,” and why I see this kind of infrastructure-building as a creative practice in itself.
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Not every creative practice looks like art on the surface.
Steve McQuown is a digital strategist working at the intersection of data and the arts, building tools like Optimize.art and GreatLakes.art to help artists and organizations better understand how their work connects across a region and its evolving digital presence.
We asked Steve a few questions:
What is this stuff you’re building?
I’m building a set of projects designed to strengthen how arts, culture, and conservation show up online:
- Optimize.art is focused on helping artists and organizations make clearer, more informed digital decisions.
- GreatLakes.art is a regional field guide—mapping arts, culture, and conservation, and layering in short “Field Notes” from people who’ve actually been there.
The work draws on my background in the performing arts, and more than a decade in digital strategy, advertising, and analytics.
How have you found yourself integrated with the arts sector?
I’ve stayed connected to the arts through both practice and ongoing collaboration. I spent years in music and theatre, and now work directly with arts organizations on digital strategy.
Over time, I started to notice the same challenges repeating—especially for smaller organizations and independent artists. These projects grew out of that, as a way to make those tools and insights more accessible.
How do these types of initiatives feel creative to you?
Creativity, for me, is in the shaping. My work sits between data and human response—refining tools until they feel intuitive and useful for non-technical users. I think of it like carving from a block of granite, gradually revealing the right form. The goal is to simplify and elevate the digital systems that support arts and culture.
