Posts Tagged ‘arts resource’

Professional Arts Business. Artist’s Wear Many Hats.

Wednesday, June 24th, 2015

Artist’s Wear Many Hats. Professional Arts Business.

Wouldn’t it be nice to get up everyday and just create and not have to worry about running an arts practice. Being an artist today means you are in business. You can’t survive on sales alone and have to create opportunities for yourself for those, who want to make a living from it.

According to the Australian Tax Office,“A professional arts business is a business you carry on as an author of an artistic work. This can be the artist, sculptor or photographer who created the work.”

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Artists need to wear many hats: creator, promoter, product developer, maker, writer, photographer, record keeper, shipper, packer, marketer, customer service rep. and so much more.

There are no hard and fast rules, or right or wrong way, on how, to run an arts business. Just use your creativity, trust your own artistic impulses and have fun. A few of my tips . ( Not in any order)

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Get plenty of rest.

Eat and sleep well.

Exercise daily. Walk, even if it’s only around your own garden.

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Make an effort to create everyday, even if it’s only for 10 mins. I have bouts of creativity, every few days. They can last days, weeks, or months. When I am working to a deadline though, I just have to create and everything else needs to take second place.

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I try to have enough work ready, for 2 exhibitions, just encase I’m asked to have a show, suddenly. (It has happened to me 2 times this year)

I have finally, learned, to say NO in my life and business. I am now, very selective in choosing, exhibitions and work I do. Once upon a time, I took on everything offered to me and suffered severe burnout.

Write down ideas and visuals in a small sketch book, journal. Keep it beside you everywhere. I make, or, bulk buy, sketch books when school sales are on.

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Ask for help when you need it. Partners, family friends or professional help. Barter with your art if your unable to pay someone to help.

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I find sitting at the computer in short bouts helps, as, I have back, neck and arm problems.

Tweaking my online websites, is a full time job, in itself. I get it done, in small bits, daily.

I check my emails when I get up in the morning. Any sales, or urgent things, I try to deal with straight away, otherwise, I worry all day and night and won’t get anything, done.

I make major lists of all the biggish, events, exhibitions, grant writing, gallery submission, residency applications, I want to apply for, over next 12 months. I then, cut down the jobs, I need to do into small steps, to achieve my goals. I recently found a good site for this Evernote I use the basic free plan.

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1 or 2 days a week I photograph and document my artwork.

As soon as I make a sale, commission etc. I document it and keep a record of my customers, contact details and which artwork they bought.

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A website is a must for every artist, as most galleries want to see an online portfolio, for submissions, including, awards and arts residency, jobs and courses you apply for.

Social media sites, all help you to get your art seen. Link up your website/blog post updates, to automatically post to your other social media sites.

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A blog is like your own personal space to create in. I use mine, as an art journal, to share, ideas, work in progress and a bit about, who I am. As well, it’s a place to see and buy my artwork.

Make a video of your creative process. People are interested in what you do. Make sure to have your website details in the credits so they see more art at your website.

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Take risks. Be resilient, flexible and find innovative ways to make money to fund your art.

Diversify with your art, without diluting it, so you can make a living. Doesn’t mean you are compromising yourself, or art. It’s just another, clever way, to get your art out there, make an income and continue your creative ideas.

Example: Limited edition art prints and quality home-wares etc. Teach from your studio, or create, online art courses. It all helps you make an income, so you can continue creating the art you want to do.

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(I sold a selection of my art throw pillows and prints, which were curated, into an exhibition, at Federation Square, in Melbourne in, 2014) Helped fund, new art materials petrol and food.

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Make an arts mailing list. First, ask people, if they want to be on it. ( suppliers, customers, friends, collectors, galleries, magazines, interior designers, architects, director’s, artists and all those who have shown an interest in your art etc.)

Have packaging ready and try to reuse and recycle packaging where possible for when the sales come in.

I also, buy custom made boxes for my artworks and rigid mailers, cello bags for smaller ones. Every couple of months I do a inventory of packaging, to see what I need to replenish.

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Ship only a couple times a week so your not having to go out everyday.

Most of my art sales are overseas. To save money,  I package them myself, weigh them and go to the Auspost website, to calculate domestic and international costs.

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Most important! Take time out to do something different, or relax and do nothing.

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I need to get out of the studio occasionally, to spend time with other artists, family and friends.

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Spoil yourself, or someone else.

Have fun!

Back to “Free Tutorials”

Further, marketing & promoting your art online

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Continuing on from my last post …

I would like to share with you just a sample of what can be done through marketing and promoting your arts business online.Without the computer I couldn’t have done any of this and ANYONE can do this if you are willing to put in the time and energy….while still saving time for precious creative pursuits

I have included parts of a letter I sent to an arts body in Australia “explaining” (as typically artists constantly have to do)… How serious I am about what I do…

To whom it may concern,

I wanted to write this to let you know how serious I am about my arts business and how I have great expectations for its continual growth internationally.It takes time for artists to establish themselves; we have to approach the” business” of being an artist slightly differently, from the usual manufacturer of goods and products because our income can come from many different creative areas, not always with the one product.

Also to be a “successful artist” doesn’t always mean a huge income though this helps.

My main objective is to expose and market my art to an international audience.
To do this, I regularly network with my peers, directors, collectors and with other artists to get known and to find spaces and galleries to show my work for sales, invitations to international events, engagements and commissions.

Australian Contemporary art is much sort after in Europe and USA however, New York has never had a major exhibition of important Australian art but, it will happen.

Since 2001, I have concentrated on exporting my art overseas. I have been part of an Australian exhibition in New York in 2004, Leipzig Germany and Spain 2005 Berlin & Paris 2007 and more in US… I have traveled to England, Europe and was awarded an arts residency in Barcelona Spain. In 2007 I went to Paris to set up a network in France and to oversee my Melb5 art exhibition opening in Berlin Germany 2007.

I spend at least 2/3 hours daily (depending on my physical self) at the computer contacting potential clients and exploring all areas of the International markets. I upload my images onto websites all over the world. I have numerous international spaces and have just released a new series of digital artworks onto the international market.

My main websites and blog, draw in various people who contact me. I receive invites to art fairs, international exhibitions in galleries and online solo & group exhibitions and collaborate with artists worldwide on projects. I also apply for and enter art awards, exhibitions, photography competitions and arts residencies.

Lately, I have collaborated with other international artists in art projects worldwide and received magazine work and published a book of my art in Australia and US.

Included are sites for selling my original art pieces, limited edition art prints, a design site for images on products such as t-shirts, cards, etc. Art, photography and crafts sites. Blog sites let the world know who I am and what I do. A video site where I can create a short video advertising my artwork or experiment with new work.

I am represented by Ausgallery with Austrade in Australia for International representation.

When overseas, I market and promote my work by approaching and meeting with gallery directors, managers. I attend openings of other artists work for networking and researching market trends. I always have a good supply of my professional gallery package I designed. The package may consist of a CD of my images, CV, digital prints, postcards, of my work and an exhibition history all in a folder.

I am in the process of developing a short video of my practice to add to it. When I travel I always leave my art packages at the airports I pass through.

When I don’t have funding and income to travel, myself, I send my work all over the world to events. Example : I’ve also had invitations to the Florence Biennale 6 times, Louvre complex in Paris twice, Sala Barna Gallery in Spain, Galleria Gora in Montreal, Mont Serrat Gallery in New York, Armory art fair NY, Singapore Art Fair, Miami, and may be a possibility for me to attend the next Cityscape in Dubai and much more.

I have just spent 3 months in Paris where I networked, visited and negotiated with gallery directors for future exhibitions, projects and events. I have put in many applications for arts residencies and studio spaces in Paris and in other parts of Europe. In Paris, I developed new work in an area, I had never ventured before. I experimented with video and digital work, an extension to my arts practice. In Berlin, I had an exhibition at the Bob Curtiz Contemporary Movement Gallery with 4 other Melbourne artists in which members of the Australian Embassy in Berlin attended. Recently, I was asked to go to the Shanghai Art Fair with Chaira Goya from Goya Galleries in Melbourne.

Through hard work and determination I feel there is a market out there for my art.

Finally after many years of knock backs I did receive that grant …….