About me
ALLISON WYPER, Founder
I am an artist, consultant, and arts entrepreneur with nearly 25 years of experience providing administrative, marketing, and production support for individuals and organizations. I specialize in thoughtful professional development program design and facilitation, art business coaching, and collaborative website design.
I am a movement-based performance artist with a background in dance, theater, performance art, and site-specific performance. Offstage, I have always been an organizer and supporter of other artists, and that has taken many formal roles, from curator to bookkeeper to workshop facilitator. I founded Rhizomatic Arts in 2014 as a way to formalize the various ways that I support artists under one conceptual umbrella, to claim my space as an independent entrepreneur, and to conceptualize that work as a creative social practice. I understand artists and their art businesses because I am an artist who cultivated a business model that reflects who I am and what motivates me to help others.
In 2024, I was certified as a Master Facilitator of the Business of Art by the Center for Cultural Innovation. From 2017-2024, I produced and facilitated 17 Business of Art bootcamps, oversaw publication of the 3rd Edition of the Business of Art workbook, and wrote the Business of Art Facilitation Guide (CCI, 2024).
I am personally invested in cultivating a healthy ecosystem for creative practice. I don't think of this work as separate from my work as an artist; it is simply another way in which I am working to create the future that I want to live in.
About the company
Mission
Together, we cultivate sustainable creative lives. Rhizomatic Arts’ customized design services, professional coaching, workshops, and peer network help creative people work independently, not alone. Artistic projects premised on collaboration and exchange nourish us as a community. We believe that it is our responsibility to care for one another and empower every artist to thrive.
Core Values
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We recognize the whole human in our encounters together. We take our real lives into account when working on a project, setting timelines, and making goals. No deadline is more important than our health and wellness. We believe in a creative environment where we can bring our full selves, everyday. We believe in kindness and laughter, and creating the conditions necessary for radical honesty, empathy, and vulnerability. We have bodies that thrive on movement, touch, and nourishment.
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We believe that knowledge is power, and that learning expands our creative potential. We recognize the power in cultivating our craft and sharing that knowledge with others. There is an element of coaching in all of our services, just as our artistic projects are rooted in collaboration and exchange. We believe that seeing how something is made is as exciting as seeing the end product. We believe in curiosity, power sharing, and radical transparency.
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We advocate for a living wage for all arts workers. Artists have been historically underpaid and undervalued, which has led to a culture that asks us to work for free (or “exposure”), creating a class of economically disadvantaged individuals in competition for scant resources. We believe in healthy artist fees and salaries, and an end to student debt. We will never ask an artist to work for free; instead, we support a sociable barter system, where the exchange of goods and services from artist to artist cultivates a community that thrives together.
Business Model
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Rhizomatic Arts models community care and artistic exchange to support and enrich artists’ lives. Our programs, services, and grassroots advocacy work provide alternatives to the modes of isolation and competition found in the art world.
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Our collaborators, clients, and workshop participants become part of a mutual support network. As a plant uses its leaves to photosynthesize, we are nourished and grow as a community.
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One-on-one services, such as web design and workshops, feed all of our activities. These are the projects that provide the foundation artists need to survive and thrive, and every dollar earned helps to germinate Rhizomatic Arts programs.
What’s in a name
In botany, a rhizome is a horizontal underground root system that enables many plants to survive even the most challenging season. Ginger is a rhizome, as are grasses and some flowers, like irises. Rhizomatic describes strong, horizontal structures: alliance that supports resilience and diversity.
Est. 2014
Rhizomatic Arts was established in Los Angeles, California. I am now based in my home town of Grass Valley, California, and work with clients and collaborators across the country.