Artful Entrepreneurship:
Ignite Your Creative Business
5-WEEK ART BUSINESS SERIES
If you’re an artist, you have a business. We want you and your art business to thrive. In this interactive online workshop, a small cohort of artists across the disciplinary spectrum will meet weekly to identify our values, strengths, and goals and translate that into a healthy business model. This workshop is ideal for the emerging or established artist or cultural producer who is ready to level-up, make a better living, pay off debt, or pursue new income streams.
This training is a cohort learning model – participants are not anonymous watchers (think peer to peer learning and breakout rooms.) The relationships you build are an important part of the experience. Some content will be recorded, but your live participation is important.
In this virtual workshop, you will:
Identify & affirm your core values, mission & goals.
Gain confidence & skills in the business side of your art practice.
Clarify & articulate your business model.
Share knowledge & build supportive relationships with other artists.
Time commitment: Expect to spend 2 hours/week in class, plus 1-2 hours/week reading and completing exercises from the Business of Art workbook.
This workshop is presented by West Business Development Center.
PROGRAM OUTLINE
WEEK 1
Welcome, introductions, grounding & what to expect
“Your art practice vs. your art business.” How to think about the business part of being an artist. Finding balance.
“What roots you?” Core values, mission, who you serve & who serves you.
WEEK 2
“What do you offer to your people?” Understanding your customers and the needs you fulfill. Writing your value proposition.
“Marketing = connecting your people with what you do.” Using your core values, business goals, and customer understanding for more meaningful branding and promotion.
WEEK 3
“What do you need to earn to thrive?” Personal expenses & cost setting. Creating thoughtful budgets that reflect your goals and values.
WEEK 4
“Where is the $ coming from?” Earned, contributed, and hybrid income strategies. Pricing your work.
WEEK 5
“Moving forward with accountability.” Strategies for planning and goal setting.
Celebration of accomplishments!
Tuition: $75 for the 5-part, 10 hr series
Registration deadline: June 20
ALLISON WYPER, WORKSHOP FACILITATOR
I am an artist, consultant, and arts entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience providing administrative, marketing, and production support for individuals and organizations. I am also a movement-based performance artist with a background in dance, theater, performance art, and site-specific performance.
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 don't think of this work as separate from my work as an artist; it is simply another expression of my 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.
I am a Master Facilitator of the Business of Art curriculum created by the Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI). As Artists Knowledge Manager at CCI from 2017–2023, I curated and produced up to 40 professional development workshops annually for artists in all disciplines and career stages. In total, I facilitated 16 Business of Art bootcamps, and oversaw publication of the 3rd Edition of the Business of Art (2020) workbook. In 2024, I led a training for facilitators and wrote the Business of Art Facilitation Guide (forthcoming).