This experience was invaluable to my artistic career.
I had gone into this boot camp hoping to find a sense of direction for Wild at Heart, I have found so much more than that. I have more confidence in my abilities, awareness of what my position is, new and positive friendships, and support from the organizers should I need it in the future. I will write this post as a summary of my experiences. My action plan will come soon after.
Artist as Entrepreneur Boot Camp was organized and presented by The New York State Council on the Arts and Arts Services Initiative of Western New York INC.
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Schedule and Summary
10/20/16: I left straight from work on Thursday to kick off the Boot Camp and meet my fellow artists. I had been looking forward to his camp for over a month a this point. I was so nervous when the day arrived though! It was like going back to school all over again. (Daemen College is a lovely campus and I enjoyed my time spent there.)
Once I arrived I was welcomed by so many smiling faces and immediately found myself in conversation with new friends.The representatives for The New York State Council on the Arts and Arts Services Initiative of Western new York INC presented the boot camp and we got our introductions underway. There were a variety of disciplines in our student group. We had dancers, painters, poets, musicians, visual artists, sculptors and craftsmen.
We did a SWOT analysis. I found this to be the ice breaker and something that is valuable to do at the end of the program too. The first time I did the analysis I was battling all my responsibilities and desires against each other. I was able to identify a few weaknesses and opportunities. The SWOT analysis is much easier to do at the end of the boot camp.
10/21/16: Friday's schedule included fundraising strategy in the morning and copyright/legal functions in the afternoon.
Fundraising encompassed the world of applying for grants and appealing to donors of other types. My current goals don't necessarily need grants or foundation support but I did pay close attention when it came to private donors. My donor base thus far has been the "Bank of Mom."
I never thought to seek out donors for other artistic interests such as chalking out of state using crowd funding. An idea I have been stewing on is a chalk festival in Wilson, NY. I now have tools to write a grant should I need to for a project of that size.
The copyright/legal portion of boot camp was presented by attorney, Leslie E. Greenbaum. For a topic that is usually dry, he made each point easy to understand. He used examples of cases he had worked in our industry. There were tips to safeguard our images in social media and to read contracts that involve transferring copyright.
10/22/16: Saturday's schedule included finances with a focus on how they measure up come tax season. Then in the afternoon we went over marketing and promotion.
Finance is not my favorite subject. Taxes are pretty much Greek to me. Our presenter, Elizabeth Friedman, went through tax forms and terms and gave us a fantastic document to refer to when its time to do our taxes. This session was a good kick to the pants on where I stand in business.
Takeaways:
- I am still very much a night and weekend warrior. I am a hobby creator yet to make the leap to business. "In business" is an ongoing material effort-500 hours a year.
- Get a separate business credit card and checking account-this helps with record keeping.
- On New Year's Day you will shuffle your butt out to the driveway to get the starting mileage number from your car. You can write off mileage on your tax form.
- Home based businesses can break down utilities into percentages to use as business expense.
- There is a Freelancer's Union for disability coverage, insurance, and pension plans when you are officially a full time business owner. Fracturedatlas.org is a good resource for insurance.
The afternoon session included a panel of industry professionals to discuss promotion and marketing challenges. It was brought up again during this session. Scheduling yourself keeps you consistent. I already thought I was a planner by nature but I now realize that there is room for improvement.
Takeaways:
Takeaways:
- Be selective with your online presence. I chose my 3 to focus on.
- 1. Home Website-I will be using this blog to its full potential as a home website.
- 2. Facebook-Learn how to use my Facebook page and pay for promotional ads or posts.
- 3. Instagram-Sign up and use as an easy share online gallery. Instagram gets far more traffic than Facebook. Each hashtag is an audience. Follow other artists too!
- Set a time limit each week to work on social media postings.
- Public relations is free, marketing is often not. However, do NOT pay more than $50 for a website there are so many free or under $20 options. Always have full control of your website.
- It is wise to have a landing page for your website. (Doable with Blogger just have to read up on it.)
- Word of Mouth will always be the best advertising channel.
- Iphones have quality cameras and will work if you can't go professional with your photos.
- Don't underestimate the power of a glossy postcard mailing or hand written thank you cards.
- "Grassroots Press"-Write your event like a news story in the text of an email and send it to a local newspaper. They will more than likely print what you wrote.
Be who you are and what your art is-be true, basic, consistent and authentic.
10/23/16: Sunday's schedule included 1 on 1 consultations with industry professionals. After the consultations, artists were able to formulate some action plans and bounce ideas off one another in break out groups. We ended the day with a presentation from a former boot camp graduate, D. Chase Angier (performance artist).
My 1 on 1 consultation was with Bruce Adams (no relation) and it was eye opening. Bruce is a visual artist and a big part of the Buffalo arts community. He brought to my attention that I was having an artistic identity crisis. I didn't know what my goal was anymore. I had once dreamed about illustrating children's books full time. I still would like to be a published illustrator but it may take a decade to get there. He put it rather bluntly, "Would you quit your day job and do this full time without promise of a paycheck?"
Hells to the no.
Not a luxury I can afford. Not many can. I have a family and they come first.
So we formulated from there what my priorities could be with what time I have to devote to my art.
Takeaways:
- Sign only my initials and put dates on the back of my work.
- Utilize adds on Facebook-relatively inexpensive
- Teach art classes on the side with local galleries. This can provide additional income and give me that soul satisfaction I get when I work with kids.
- Get my work into galleries! Reach out to a few.
- Sell prints at vendor shows
- Target the niche audience
- Do dogs 100% for business
- Work on your illustration portfolio-get out of my comfort zone
- Find a way to describe your style.This was challenging because I do have a style to my work that is not true realism but is not cartoon-ish. We were both stumped on adjectives.
Takeaways:
- Use 1 medium
- Film your process and post videos!!!
- Get new business cards-show your work on the front and information on the back.
- Price my work higher-worth the hours put in.
- Frame and mat your work ALWAYS
This beautiful soul is Kara:
She is a dancer striving to hold a space as well as teach classes for adults (16+) who want to learn to dance or meet goals health goals using dance. Check out her business: Free Soul Dance.She told me about Wordpress and recommended that I look into selling my pieces with groomers, vet offices, and specialty stores. The most important thing is what she said to me was when I was feeling a little defeated about letting go of the full time illustrator dream. She told me "its not giving up its giving it time." I will get it off my career bucket list one day but right now I'm giving all I got to something I can do now and enjoy-pet portraits.
Stephanie Dubin and I got to talking about photography. She shared a knowledge gem. You can actually get a Photoshop membership for as little as $9.99 a month. There is also Gimp but I prefer Photoshop. Check out the Adobe Creative Cloud. She gave me a lot of insight on Instagram and resolution. She an incredibly bright and resourceful chick. I can't wait to see what she does.
Colleen Darby encouraged me to keep the goal of illustration in mind. She worked in the children's book world and has an amazing story. Read here. She recommended that I go to conferences and ask questions and see what I can learn there. My illustration portfolio will need work and I can find out what to add to it.
So I plan on going to a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators conference. There is one in New York City in February but I may have to wait till 2018. One thing at a time.
Colleen recommended I get an Ipad to show my work on the spot versus maintaining a photo album. I told her about my my missed chalking opportunity in Sarasota due to budget and she agreed that a Kickstarter campaign is a way to keep my goals with chalk art going. I will be checking in with her in the future.
Rachel Macklin Olszewski manages the NACC. (Niagara Arts and Cultural Center). This girl is so cool. She invited me to see the center and possibly teach there one day. They host a variety of shows in their gallery throughout the year and I plan on entering one or two in 2017. She is a fantastic sounding board when it comes to figuring out problems as a woman with many hats. A trip to the falls to get some Violas and visit the center is sure to come soon.
I already miss my friends Dan, Tony, Jason, Ricardo, and Robert too.
Thankfully we all want to meet up again!
I would recommend the Artist as Entrepreneur Boot Camp to anyone pursuing a creative career.
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