How an Instagram account is connecting creatives from all over Louisiana

Because of a hashtag, Baton Rouge painter Chad Schoonmaker landed his first art show. Because of a hashtag, he and his family received help from all over the state after their home flooded in August. “I’ve made legitimate friends just from a hashtag,” he says.

That hashtag is #ThatLACommunity, and it’s been used more than 100,000 times by Louisiana Instagrammers.

Schoonmaker oversees the @ThatLACommunity account featuring some of the best of those hashtagged photos. Followers can use the page to discover and connect with new artists, photographers, musicians, restaurants and businesses.

The account was originally started by Justin Posey and Andy Roberts in early 2014, but when they got too busy to handle it, they entrusted Schoonmaker to take over. Today, he selects local curators to take charge for two weeks at a time, picking photos to repost and writing captions.

Schoonmaker sat down with 225 to share a behind-the-scenes look.

How would you describe @ThatLACommunity’s purpose?

Just being from Louisiana and loving the people of Louisiana, I really recognize everyone’s uniqueness and gifts and creativity. I feel like I can draw that out of our community through Instagram. There are people who are hustling in Louisiana. Louisiana is colorful. Scrolling through the page, you’ll see there’s a lot of pretty stuff here. And if you have a good photo, we’ll share the heck out of it.

How do you choose curators?

I like to find people who use the hashtags, comment and like photos on the account. Your account has to be public, otherwise we won’t be able to see your hashtagged photos. You have to have a good eye—I look for people who kind of just get it. We try to have a diverse mix of men and women, different ethnicities and people from different parts of the state posting.

How do people react when you ask them to curate?

They say “I never thought I’d be asked to do this.” They think that it’s this awesome opportunity—and it is. You’re in front of 11,000 people. Sometimes people say they think the page is kind of too cool, but it’s not. When you put your best work out there—cook an amazing meal, make a great photo—people should see it.

What instructions do you give curators?

I tell them to make it your own. Post three to four features a day with a witty caption. Comment and like photos that use the hashtag. One of our curators did this whole week featuring female bosses, so the followers got to see all these local female entrepreneurs.

With 11,000 people following you now, how do you view the account’s voice?

After the shooting in Lafayette at the movie theater, everyone was in shock and very sad. But I kind of liked that I could use the account to draw attention to the way our community was feeling. With the Alton Sterling stuff, the question was: Do we address this? We have to address it. So we made this post basically saying this is a really awful thing that happened, but here are some of the things we can do to get better.

What are your hopes for the future?

I would love for us to do more Instameets and more giveaways with Louisiana brands and makers. We can show that you don’t have to go on Etsy to buy a necklace; you can buy one from Mimosa Handcrafted instead. There’s so much talent here.

This article was originally published in the November 2016 issue of 225 Magazine.