“The arts are not just an amenity, they’re a critical function of society and a part of the fabric of social, cultural, and also economic life and livelihood for our country.”
Audio
Classical Skills for Modern Art Careers: The Case for Training and Tradition—Mandy Theis
“With the advent of Modernism, there was this idea that training would ruin your creativity.”
Fearlessly Take On The Big Daddy Ugly Goal—Willy Bo Richardson
“The challenge was to make [the goal] so scary and big that you can never accomplish it, and I’m making small steps towards that.”
If You Build It, They Will Ignore It. Unless…—Mary McBride
“I think people who know what their values are…know what their values are! So yes, they’re trading, yes they’re ‘sacrificing,’ but what they don’t trade off is what they value.”
Tighten Your Sales Strategy, Then Refuse to Compromise—Donna Lee Nyzio
“When you decide what you want to do, you become more intentional about what you choose to do.”
Lock Down Your Rights to Your Own Art—Emily Danchuk, Esq.
“If you don’t file a copyright application in a timely fashion you pay a very, very significant price. […] Artists really need to copyright their works I would say, immediately.”
Make the Gig Economy Work for You—Angela Heath
“If you always give more than you ask, then networking is effective.”
Getting to Emerging Artist Status and Beyond—Bonnie Clearwater
“There are so many platforms now for an artist living in obscure or out-of-the way places to get their work out and be seen.”
Leverage Your Non-Art Expertise for a Career Blueprint—Kristin LeVier
Kristin makes work at the intersection of art and science that connects us to the “extraordinary, strange beauty of the natural world.”
Getting Art Into Hotels and Corporate Spaces—Rachel Berg
“Make sure you’re always retaining the rights to the work. If someone is asking you to sign the rights, there’s a problem. Because we are asking permission to use it; not to own it.”
Identifying Pivotal Opportunities for Business Growth – Nadia Fairlamb
“I consider myself a business owner, and my business is art. So I know that I’m running a business, and every artist that I know that’s making money is doing it the same way.”
Generate Powerful Publicity: A Sistine Chapel Mindset – Todd Scalise
“The tipping point in my business was being able to educate people about why what I’m doing is different.”
Leverage Your Creative Skills to Improve Your Finances – Christina Empedocles
“Your art practice will change; it’s absolutely necessary to plan for it. I don’t want to hustle to find rent money when I’m 80!”
Build a Brand That Gets a Response – Jenny Darroch
“The thing that trips students up the most is embracing that a commercial approach to art is OK.”
How Creative Entrepreneurs Build Investment Capital – Alice Loy
“Creatives can, and should, own the companies that creatives work at—creative people are uniquely suited to understand opportunities and problems and therefore develop solutions for market opportunities.”
Do Art Fairs Pay Off? – Ray Beldner
“Having one-on-one face time with an artist is what the viewer wants, it’s a good way to sell art and look at art.”
How to Grow Your Customer Base and Increase Sales – Steve Pruneau
“It doesn’t matter what your art is, if your intention is to earn a living from it and thrive in your art, that proposal will help you figure out how you’re going to get there.”
Engage New Sales Avenues to Increase Art Income – Aaron Laux
It’s been an evolution to be a professional artist, and it’s taken me a long time to get here….I’m coming around to really seeing this as not only what I do, but my lifestyle and my income.”
Identify Product-Market Fit for Entrepreneurial Success – Arree Chung
“The best way to learn business is to start doing it.”
The Learned Skills of Successful Entrepreneurs – John Furth
“Successful people say ‘Yeah, I failed, but I did learn, and this is how I’ll apply it to the next thing I do.'”
What Independent Publishing Can Teach Visual Artists – Eric Rhoads
“One has to focus on strategy instead of tactic: tactic is the thing you’re going to do, strategy is the plan of how you’ll get respect, get well-known and get people to buy your work.”
Why Are You Working for Free? Examining Arts Labor – Alexis Clements
“There is a shame around making money off of swag or reproductions or something else that isn’t art—but that is making money off of art.”
Best Practices to Engage With Curators – Dr. Catherine Futter
They’re not separate at all—the market and museum—there are galleries now where there’s very little work in the exhibition that’s for sale. They’re publishing books and ‘competing’ with museums. The lines are becoming blurrier and some of that is positive.”
