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Chp. 19-21 Profitable Artist

Fundraising

3 concepts:

-what kind of funding options are out there

-how to find them

-how to apply

Commercially viable artists borrow money.

Grants: most common type given by government or foundations

Awards/fellowship: by outside source in recognition of achievements

Scholarship: funding for academic programs

Donations: company or organization

Partnership: professional relationship with a stakeholder partner gains stakes in exchange for contributions

Sponsorship:advertising

Residencies: funded opportunities for artist to focus on their work

Barter: trading goods or services

Funds can be broken into unrestricted and restricted.

How to identify and find opportunities:

Ask yourself what do you need funding for? 1. Your time- think of it as an expense

2. Services and labor

3. Supplies

4. Space

5. Training and education

Chp 21: Applications and asks. Work begins prior to assembling proposal, reach out to finder via letter or email.

-project description: about, why does it matter, background, don't assume knowledge

-executive summary: summary of key points of the project

-resume:multiple resumes for different purposes

-bio

-artist statement

-budget

-work samples

-references/ letters of recommendation.

Really pitch and make sure it represents your work best

The ask: soliciting donations from individuals Do your research and develop talking points!

Q’s: 1) have you ever used a type of fundraising option before during your artistic career or during your time at school? If so, what type? Were you successful in your attempt? This year alone we used t-shirt sales as a fundraising option. It was very successful because the shirts were clever and were very marketable to the campus audience.

2) Which type of fundraising option seems the best for you and your artistic practice? what do you believe to be the best ways to search for them?

Grants, fellowships, and residencies seem to be the big ones for fine artists. I use buds to search and also creative capital.

3) It can be difficult for starting artists w/little experience to win grants; how would you go about building your resume up and getting noticed?

Just keep volunteering, doing internships, and entering open-call shows.

Chp. 17 & 18 Profitable Artist

Sales and Networking

SALES: Will you have web sales?Web sales require credit card payment service (PayPal,ccbill,Google checkout, propay). If you sell a lot you can open your own merchant account at a bank.

How will you price your work? Price of raw materials, production time, prep, medium and quality. Do market research to figure out pricing structure.

Once you have an established price you don't want to lower it.

Start low and get higher not the other way around.

Don't decrease your credibility; analyze work similar to yours; look at resumes of artists of the work you analyze.

Advantages to gallery:Promotion, prestige

Disadvantage: standard is to take 50-60% of sale

Not for profit take 10-30%

There is no formula it's a constantly changing market What other paperwork and administrative details do you need to consider?

NETWORKING:It is difficult to get access to successful people without knowing them, this is why they have secretaries and assistants. Successful people are impossible to reach because they are always working and busy, get your info out quickly and clearly

Personality: have a like-able personality and being outgoing

-many artist are solitary absorbed in work, defiant, and fiercely independent

-qualities for good artist make for bad networkers (aka you. be more friendly!)

Q’s:

1. How would you go about starting your search for work that is similar to yours in value? What resources would you use?

Artist websites, talking to others that have just entered the field, auction websites, go to galleries on your level and look at their price list! 2. What are some skills that work for you when introducing yourself for the first time and getting to know someone?

Handshake, Looking them in the eyes, Being friendly, Asking them questions. Take advantage of Social media and technology. 3. Do you have thoughts on how to start making connections to greater opportunities after graduation? If so, explain. As of right now I am applying for a lot of reach goals and just being as friendly as possible to the people who respond. Networking isn’t easy when you need to get your foot in the door. I am thinking internships will be the way to go for right now.

Weekly Progress (Installation time!)

This week I haven’t had much time to think about projects because we are installing the show. It is a full-time commitment and very exciting. I have been working really hard designing a moveable shelving system for my tv stacks, and have come up with an additional video to complete the project. I am coming into this entire experience feeling mostly calm and confident about my install. Having a show last semester has really prepared me with how to approach the time management of the install. This is the fun part, a lot of work, but something I find extremely satisfying and almost meditative. Next round of updates I will be posting the photos of the work and finishing things up on the blog!

Chp. 15 & 16 Profitable Artist

Branding and Promotion:

To start this chapter, we must ask ourselves what is a brand?

a brand is what the consumer first identifies with your project. It can have logos but doesn’t always have to. The brand is the first impression the client will have of you.

- Are branding and artistic integrity mutually exclusive?

yes and no! having a brand doesnt make you a sellout it just makes you identifiable.

-Can you brand anything?

yes! but it should have integrity and be true to who you are. If you can brand water you can brand art!

Pillars of Good Brands:

-Authenticity: What are you values etc

-Consistency: Having all aspects of your brand line up (website, business cards, philosophy).

-Clarity: how will u get noticed?

-Credibility: have your audience believe in you and products

-Loyalty: Brand names have more loyalty than generic products

-Emotional Connection

Tip: DONT BE GENERIC

Some artists chose to not brand themselves (you may as well).

PROMOTION is defined as: Press release, media alert, ads, blogs, websites, social media. Have an about section on the web, make sure info is something you want them to know and be proud of.

a promotion tip is to create a market by considering offering something free at first and then charging for premium services.

Media Alerts for impromptu public performances are a good way at promoting performances.

Q’s:

1.How do you intend to brand yourself as an artist (if you do)?

I’d rather not brand myself as an artist right now, I do not do very commercial based work and would not want it just all out there for everyone to see. I’d like to represent my brand as a persona, not a logo or anything.

2. How will you use social media to promote your art?

Advertise shows and performances, create a seperate page for my art. Add yourself to groups and make yourself relevant.

3. How do you intend to protect your website content?

I currently do not have any plans to protect my website content, I am ok with my working being shared for free currently and have doubts anyone would try and pose it as their own work, considering the content is so unusual.

Weekly Progress (project 4)

For this week I have filmed the eyes of everyone in my installation class and intend to have them play looped on their own personal cell phones. I have always been interested in the gaze, and have recently taken an interest in how we interact with our phones as a sort of “gaze”. I am designing this project specifically for the class, and still wonder how I would incorporate a wider audience into the experience. I feel this project can really dive deep into ideas about technology, the gaze, and reactions to seeing your own face on your own phone (an extension of ourselves sort of).

UPDATE PHOTOS:

Chp. 13 & 14 Profitable Artist

This chapter details selling and promoting your work, and marketing and networking strategies.

Marketing can be defined as:

the activity set of institutions and processes for creating communicating delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers clients partners and society at large

Actors and musicians are their own product. Some people may not like your art but like you. Network the hell out of things. You are selling yourself!

Marketing assists you with

1. Sales and

2. Audience

If your mission statement for your art is internal and not about sales or audience then marketing isn’t for you!

5 w’s to consider when marketing:

1. who- audience, who are your clients? how do they interact with art? what are their interests?

( Some notes on this: For your practice how do you identify your core audience or clients?

*Know how people percieve your work to shape your marketing strategy, ask friends families colleagues and local art organizations and schools. Talk to other artists and people who may be interested in your work.

*Learn from artists that inspire you (view their websites) where do they sell or exhibit their work? Do they have international national or regional reach? What galleries are venues are interested in their work?

-When you have identified your market, What are different ways you can reach your market?

Use U.S. census database to even further reach your market.)

what -art

why -money

when

where

What do you do to make sure you keep your market or audience?

-keep making work, keep showing them what you’re working on. Go to events or organize events for the people. Personal contact is really valuable. Maybe you got a retweet or something. Show them snippits of stuff you do outside your work. It is really good to have your own support community.

Q’s: 1. How do or how will you identify your core audience/clients?

Observing who responds to the work both online and at showings. Following those who respond to your work and continuing to make work.

2. When you have identified your market, what are different ways you can reach them?

You can reach them through social media, having an updated website, having a mailing list to send announcements of show openings!

3. What do you do to make sure you keep your market/audience?

KEEP MAKING WORK! Staying friendly and kind with your audience and keeping them updated

Weekly Progress (Faculty Critique and New Projects)

I wanted to spend this week reflecting on the faculty critique and writing about some new projects. I feel like the critique went very positive for the most part and the faculty only had minor advice for technical changes and moving forward with my stacked televisions. I feel they all responded to the work the way that I had wanted to or in new ways that were unexpected, but still positive. I am relieved that things went well and am feeling confident moving forward to the show. When it comes to projects I have been thinking about the gaze a lot still, and it’s relation to technology. I think I would like to create a piece with cell-phones and the gaze tailored for my installation class by shooting looping eye contact shots and displaying them on a phone.

Chp. 12 Profitable Artist

This chapter was about making negotiations! a negotiation is a discussion aimed at reaching an agreement. some things to remember about negotiations are:

-it doesn’t have to be mystifying

-it is an opportunity to build social capital

-Doesn’t have to be adversarial

-No “Zero-Sum” thinking

- can have long-term benefits

5 guidelines for making negotiations are:

Seperate what you believe from what you know: know as much as you can (yourself, the situation, the other party’s info etc)

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should: remember you want long-term relationships

Understand Benefits and Cost: weigh pros and cons, don’t let power go to your head

Keep a little mystery: only share informations that relates to the negotiation

Know when you’ll walk: identify your “must-haves”

Q’s:

What are some "must-haves" you already have set in your mind for negotiating your art practice as a business?

Tip: If you are a designer, charge more for additional corrections after the first one.

You might want to negotiate the rights for your work and how it is used!!!!!!!

A job also may be a big negotiation, salary, benefits, also know your yearly salaries, what are those benefits worth (13-20% of your salary) health care, requirement, sick days, overtime.

On the topic of jobs, here are some job tips:

Don’t be too pushy because you want to get the job, if there is some promise for advancement you might be willing to take a little less for trial time (aka internship).

In regards to freelancing: what kind of hourly wage or money do you want to make? Where does it get you?

2. How can you best prepare yourself for success before you even walk into a negotiation?

Know what they are offering for starting salaries, know the market of starting salaries in similar positions, know their history of the operation, KNOW what you want and what they want.

3. Negotiations can often be seen as intimidating. What are some ways you can arrange meetings/negotiations to make them more comfortable?

Pick a less business-like meeting place (coffee shop), have a friendlier conversation and less of a formal business one.

Weekly Progress (project 3)

I am pretty happy with the way this video installation turned out as it’s sound and imagery is very aggressive as I destroy the glasses. I am confident that this will go well with my body of work and I plan to show it in the faculty review.

To see the file on my website check it out here:

http://www.eculbertson.com/#/consistency/

Chp. 11 Profitable Artist

This chapter went over business law, which is something I am totally unaware of. It began with answering what is a business structure; a legal entity by which you conduct your art business.

Some Considerations when thinking about business law are:

-The IRS

-The types of commercial activity

Some types of commercial activity are sole proprietorship, partnership (limited and limited liability), c corporation, s corporation, LLC, and Non-profit

sole proprietorship: you are your own boss but you are legally responsible for everything. Advantage is you report losses and gaines under individual income tax returns

Partnership: General-partners share equal rights and responsibilities

limited - two types of partners general and limited, limited partner has less control

limited liability- not liable for certain things

C Corporation: aka shareholders, for profit, double taxation and higher

S Corporation: sheild shareholders from personal liability in the event of a lawsuit for profit, single taxation, max of 100 shareholders

LLC (limited liability companies): owners are members rather than shareholders, limited liabilty to owners unlimited to members

NON-PROFIT: allowed to make money but cannot benefit individual, can be a vehicle to even get one aspect of your life going. Non-profit galleries allow group exhibitions group events etc. The group helps make that happen and it is a cheaper way to make that happen. Pick group of people wisely.

Q’s:

1.Have you thought about starting your own business with your art practice? What are some of the ways you can make your art into a business?

I have thought about it, and I think I would pursue a sole proprietorship. Although I have also thought about opening a gallery or other art related business which I would be interested in opening as a non-profit.

2.What option would you most likely consider if you were to start a business? Why?

I would consider the budget, the type of business in relation to what services I am providing, and I suppose I would get someone to help me make legal decisions.

3.Many artists believe that NFPs are more important in the arts and entertainment world. Do you agree with this? Why or why not?

I agree with this, first off because I have had many good experiences with NFPs. It seems to be a very successful way to run a gallery and it benefits the participants as a whole much more than a for-profit might.

weekly progress (project 3)

In printmaking I have been thinking a lot about identity and personal barriers. I specifically decided to do a print revolving around my glasses as a metaphor for a barrier. I think I would like to make it into a performance by destroying my glasses (destroying my barrier or shield from the world). I am interested in the intensity the sound will create along with the compelling visual. I already have ideas for a clean and cropped shot. Next week I will post updates and screenshots for sure!!!

Chp. 10 Profitable Artist

This chapter had to deal with copyright and intellectual property. I actually was really interested in this information because it has so much gray area to it. For my own practice I don’t see myself running into a copyright issue quite yet (I don’t think anyone would want to steal my work), but I do want to be prepared in case I decide to take a more commercial route in the future.

1. What do you think to be the intellectual property' in your work? Despite intellectual property not being a physical thing, your ability to claim for damages is still based on a physical creation of some kind.

I think of my physical sculptures and videos to be my intellectual property. Ideas in theory should be but there is always the issue of proof when it comes to claiming an idea with no physical manifestation as intellectual property.

2. Do you think there would ever be a circumstance where you would consider a sharing your work in creative commons license? These was created mostly for digital media, but how would you handle collaboration or derivative works, if you potentially see that in your future practice?

I don’t think so. I think if I were a photographer it may be of consideration to me, but because I work in an unconventional area I don’t see myself having a need for it. But it is nice to know the option is out there.

3, Do you feel the VARA guidelines offer enough protection for artists? What do you make of relinquishing the rights to your art once sold, and would you want to put conditions in a contract for sale?

I am ok with relinquishing the rights to my art once sold, but I am not ok with the idea of someone being able to freely distribute it after a sale. I would definitely be putting conditions on sales contracts that a copy of a disk or sculpture would be for personal use and not for redistribution. I guess because I work in video I can sort of understand how musicians feel about copyright and how difficult it is to prevent illegal spread of digital material. Thankfully my work is extra uncomfortable so I don’t think many would want to own it personally....ha.

Weekly Progress (Project 2)

After making a variety of videos I have selected 3 that go nicely together and presented them in my Installation class on older television stacked up on top of each other. Two of the videos have to do with interactions with the body, and for the last one I chose was a ticking clock, to indicate uneasiness and time passage. I don’t feel that the project is quite finished and I am open to playing with arrangement of the televisions and also additional videos. I like the physicality of the structure and am interested in the way we interact with the screens. I also was really interested in sound and creating some sort of weird symphony in a sense.

Chp. 8 & 9 Profitable Artist

This was the week I presented on the chapters. Chapter 8 was an introduction and Chapter 9 focuses on Contracts. There are 6 elements commonly seen in a contract (offer; acceptance; counter offer; consideration; competency, consent, and legality; statue of frauds) and there are 7 common clauses seen in contracts (Whereas; Merger & Integration; Indemnifications; Arbitration; Attorney’s fees; Choice of law and choice of forum; serveability)

1. In what circumstances may you want to produce a contract for your business as an artist?

You may want to produce a contract when you are working with another artist, or with a gallery. In most circumstances you would want to produce a contract.

2. What are some examples of times where a verbal contract may be more appropriate than a written one? Is it better to always have a written contract?

There are very few circumstances where a verbal would be better, because it is hard to prove in court. You would seriously have to trust someone to have only a verbal.

3. Did you find this chapter helpful in describing contract terminology? Is there anything that you felt should have been expanded upon?

I found this chapter to be extremely informative in defining terms related to contracts. I feel confident that I would be able to understand a formal contract after this chapter reading and I don’t feel there was any expansion needed

Weekly Progress (project 2 ideas)

So I have been continuing to make a few short videos a week for inspiration and I am really thinking about the good ones and how I can use them in a larger scale project. Also I have been thinking about my glasses a lot (which is kinda weird to think about I guess). I recently made a print for my printmaking class of my glasses because the assignment was identity, and I really feel like my glasses have become a part of my identity here at TCNJ. I didn’t always wear them, actually I never did until I came to TCNJ. I had a series of bad eye infections that made it difficult for me to keep wearing my contact lenses. They have become a part of my identity, and also a protective shield for me. The project I have in mind is to destroy my glasses. I want to destroy them by stepping on them over and over until they are completely broken. More updates to come on these thoughts next week as I need time to incubate the idea for a bit.

Chp. 6 & 7 Profitable Artist

QUESTIONS:

1. A budget helps you see profit/loss in your practice and artists may not always experience a profit in the beginning of their careers. What do you think is an acceptable loss to suffer as an artist?

Supplies, your computer, cameras, studio equipment, art supplies etc. are all investments in your career and not a loss in my eyes.

2.If you wanted to take on a big project, what expenses could you compromise in order to have enough money to devote to the project?

I could sacrafice the fluff in my life; no more netflix, no magazines, spotify subscriptions, cable tv, etc. I already am planning to give up a few of these things to pay for things this semester. Being in college already prepares you to live simply in order to accomplish other things, so I feel like I could easily compromise for a big project if it was super important to me.

3. If you have a choice between a $200 project and a $1000 project, but they both only offer 100$ in profit, which would you take and why?

whichever provides a better learning experience probably since the profit is the same. It also depends on if I am spending the money or if I was given the money to spend from an institution or grant. If I was given the money, I would pick the project that was of more interest to me despite one having a higher budget than the other.

NOTE: If you want to apply for grants or funding you have to have a budget prepared!!!!!

Weekly Progress (project 1 final)

Filming has wrapped up and the project feels like it has gone well. I spent time this week performing the “ash bath” where I collected the ashes of the burned hair and rubbed them all over my body. Monday I had a critique in my Installation and Performance class where the suggestion was made to have physical ashes on the floor under the video. It is still something I am thinking about because after my last faculty critique I am starting to think I may not need physical manifestations of the performances. I am really happy with the final product (as it came out just the way I had intended, and in the art world that is such a rarity).

EDIT: The project can now be viewed on my website here! http://www.eculbertson.com/#/burnreturn/

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