This is the ideal time to focus on your business. There are incredible opportunities for artists who go virtual right now. It’s time to do something fun for yourself, meet people, grow, and get out of your shell. Join us digitally for the CHF 2020 Virtualize Your Art Career^TM Conference for Artists October 19th-30th. The Conference is eight sessions of virtual interactive learning for creative professionals, delivered by seasoned business leaders through live streaming video and digital chat. Visit our Conference Hub for details, schedule, and registration. The new normal is here to stay: the culture won’t ever go back to 2019. This is a moment for your business to pivot and thrive: the virtual world is prospering! As one of our partners said recently in a podcast interview: “Artists really have to fend for themselves. And it's not hard. It's a social event; it’s belonging to a community.” —Eric Sparre.

What works about the new normal?

As someone committed to CHF, you’re at the vanguard of a fast-moving arts community. We’re all in the middle of virtualizing. Everyone has gone from pandemic panic, to Zoom fatigue, and back. But as we roll out our yoga mats to stretch online, meet our friends for happy hour on Skype, or book a video consult with our doctors, we’re starting to realize this is a world alive with possibilities. Suddenly, geography is not a barrier. The virtual world is a powerful tool that will serve us long-term, and it’s not going anywhere.

We’re excited about the enhanced possibilities for connection. We’re opening up even richer opportunities for learning and collaboration for visual artists & makers—and the organizations that serve them. CHF is co-producing the Virtual Santa Fe Indian Market with SWAIA and partnering with Artspan to produce artists’ websites. CHF is offering cutting-edge art-business training to hundreds of Native American artists. This is a groundbreaking collaboration with the best possible partners, and we launched August 1st.

Our Digital Campus just got a huge upgrade: it’s a lighter, faster, more powerful experience with a continually growing library of courses in nine curriculum areas. It’s still free to register for your first nine courses and access the shiny new online community, and full access is still less than a Netflix subscription. Stay tuned: we’ll be telling you even more... We’re proud to preview our October conference: Virtualize Your Career ^TM—Thriving in the New Normal: an 8-session series for working artists focusing on Career Blueprint, Sales Strategy, Brand Narrative, and Peer Networking. Supported by data on artists' career needs, aspirations, and capabilities, with a proven track record of success, this conference is bound to change lives, boost local economies, and positively represent our partners. The current class of Executive Fellows in our Art-Business Accelerator is getting 1:1 consulting on an ongoing, virtual basis and actively moving forward. Robin Holder recently shared her powerful, civil-rights focused work to accompany two CHF articles. Steven Lester was just featured in the United States Sports Academy article about his Jesse Owens “Race Against Hate” painting in his Olympic Spirit series. It’s essential that artists build professional networks with one another and with gallerists and collectors—so expanding the virtual space and offering even more possibilities for meaningful connections is a natural next step. Our new Facebook platform for The Thriving Art Exchange is set up to meet the growing demand!

Black Lives Matter. As we continue to engage in an essential dialogue about Civil Rights, at CHF, we’re also thinking about how this conversation applies to the art and business worlds. How does economic inequality play out in the arts ecosystem? Given that the kind of entrepreneurial training we do at CHF represents part of the solution, how can we address the specific entrepreneurial challenges involved in overcoming systemic racism? In the business world in general, The Case Foundation cites that only 1% of Venture Capital-based businesses have an African American founder, and yet companies in the top percentages for racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to have better financial returns than national industry medians. The existing research in Inclusive Entrepreneurship shows us that there are still gaps between merit and opportunity. This makes sense given the wildly inequitable historical precedent that caused this, but as Americans, we’re often slow to realize that as much as we value being self-made, it’s hard to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps if you have no boots. That argument has a limit. We have a cultural mystique about who an entrepreneur is, and that their accomplishments somehow exist independently of who we are collectively: which families inherit wealth and own property, qualify for loans and mortgages, have access to education, clean water and food, health care, safety, self-worth, networks, and respect from other people...these matter profoundly. Class mobility is definitely possible in our society and hard work can be a key factor, but it’s a steep slope, and the more privilege built into our circumstances and racial and gender identities, the more we tend to fail to see the slope. And then there are the specific ways that artists enter the conversation. Artists are in a unique position to innovate, to show us their perspectives, and to give voice to their experiences. How are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) artists leading the dialogue, and how can we best amplify their work to ensure it reaches its target audience? We can teach artists the business skills to ensure that their careers are successful and sustained over their lifetimes—and to put themselves and their own vision at the center of their strategy rather than waiting for the endorsement and support of a gatekeeper. Artists continue to be visible advocates for social justice. Black muralists and illustrators are creating art that is alive in the spotlight of outdoor spaces and social media, showing artists’ ability to teach, challenge, and heal. The controversy over confederate and colonial sculptures is an incredible testament to the power of representation, reminding us of art’s influence over how we perceive our history. When those statues come down, what art, and whose perspectives and agendas will be represented? What does this next group of artists have to say to us about where we’re headed? There is huge potential in this moment for artists to partner with communities to guide us as we move forward. Read Elizabeth Hulings’ latest Director’s View “Creativity is Leading the Way” with co-author Penelope Thomas, with our thanks to CHF Art-Business Accelerator Fellow Artist Robin Holder—who is most definitely leading the way!—for the use of images of her work.

Art is a vital cultural and economic engine. It’s how we think, learn, teach, express, love, connect, and find the strength to get through challenges. Art is essential. Santa Fe Indian Market—Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) knows that. So when SWAIA acted quickly and decided to work with us to continue to showcase hundreds of Native American artists and craftspeople by pivoting to a virtual market this year, we couldn’t wait to be by their side. For almost a hundred years, SWAIA has hosted this world-class market annually in August, attracting artists and collectors from across the US and globally. They are leaders in creating business opportunities for Native artists. CHF has been working in the virtual space for years, and like SWAIA, we’re proud to call Santa Fe home. CHF is committed to delivering effective entrepreneurial education and tools that allow artists to build sustainable businesses, leveraging all instruments at our disposal, including technology. We’re committed to building a thriving art ecosystem, not only in local communities, but with ties to the entire art industry. A pandemic may have made these needs immediate and brought them into the spotlight, but they have been with us for a long time, and they will still be there when we’re well into recovery from the current crisis. CHF will continue to be an active part of planning for the short-term and long-term flourishing of the arts in the SWAIA community, New Mexico, and beyond. We could not be more excited to announce our partnership with SWAIA. “The partnership with the Clark Hulings Fund arrives at a moment when SWAIA is approaching our centennial year—establishing new methods of assisting Native artists and preparing them for success in the next 100 years. We are fortunate to receive the expertise of the Clark Hulings Fund, which offers extensive art-business programming to communities,” —Kim Peone, SWAIA Executive Director “With many summer art markets canceled, we are thrilled to create a virtual Indian Market. The hundreds of artists who participate will not face an economic catastrophe on the heels of a medical one. Now, thanks to the work we are undertaking with SWAIA, artists will be able to showcase and sell their work virtually. Beyond the emergency response, our collaboration also affords the Clark Hulings Fund the occasion to help Indian Market artists—and SWAIA as an organization— develop healthier, more sustainable business models. With our help, Native small businesses will be positioned to thrive over the long-term, economically and artistically. It feels good to be able to step up and deliver valuable assistance at this moment,” —Elizabeth Hulings, Clark Hulings Fund Executive Director You may also enjoy Alex De Vore’s article in The Santa Fe Reporter.