Whether legitimate or not, the folks at ATcultura are persistent. I received my third email from them today (first one in early November, second one in mid-November) , and the persistence makes me more suspicious of their legitimacy. Search results for ATcultura continue to be inconclusive, with a red herring being their name showing in the resumes of many artists who have profiles with artist directories (and in few other places). Why a red herring? Because these artists are the easiest targets for scammers (like fish in a barrel). Proceed with caution!

I recently received a call for artists for the International Exhibit Contemporary Art "STRAPPI E FERITE", organized by Sabrina Falzone. I couldn't find much on either the exhibition or the organizers which is in English. The Google-translated version of the call can be found here, and the Google-translated version of Sabrina Falzone's website can be found here.

Today, I got another email from ATcultura soliciting my work for inclusion in one of their publications. I have not been able to find any conclusive evidence about whether they are a scam or a legitimate enterprise. At worse, they are a full-fledged scam; at best, they are a vanity publisher (which isn't very good at all).

There's a relatively new website, freerangestock.com, which offers two things: free stock photos for users and ad revenue-sharing for content providers. Unlike most sites, this one goes a step beyond the concept of "content in exchange for webspace/publicity/tools". I'm a bit cynical about how much money an artist can really get from ad revenue alone, but this is a step in the right direction.

I received a very professional-looking e-invite to the Matruh International Granite Sculpture Symposium, which has a very professional-looking website. I haven't been able to poinpoint exactly whether this is real or a scam, but I suspect it's another elaborate cheque scam.