Art for the Soul Gallery, Springfield Technical Community College and The Arts Extension Service are pleased to present a one and a half day Artist in Business Training Program for Springfield and Hampden County artists on April 28 and 29 at Scibelli Hall on the Springfield Technical Community College campus. This training program, presented by the Arts Extension Service, a national arts service organization based at the University of Massachusetts Amherst will focus on three main areas of Finding Funding for Artists, Marketing, and Business Planning for artists of all disciplines.
Funding for this series is provided by the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, and the Springfield Cultural Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. With the support of funders and site coordinators, this workshop is offered free of charge to 25 artist participants on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants must sign a contract committing them to attend the one and a half day session and attendance at monthly peer networking sessions. To register or learn more, contact Tracy Woods at artforthesoulgallery@gmail.com or call her at 413-788-3903.
According to Maren Brown, Director of the Arts Extension Service, “Artists are suffering disproportionately in this economic downturn, and Springfield area artists are deeply dependent upon their artists and their creative economy. This Scibelli Hall training is designed to address business basics and key issues that artists confront in this new economy and new era of globalization. We will explore what it now takes for artists to compete and will bring examples of how other artists are taking advantage of new opportunities and technology to enhance their own businesses.”
The trainings will be presented by the Arts Extension Service’s Maren Brown and Dee Boyle-Clapp who teach online arts management classes and provide trainings for artists and arts councils in New England and across the country. “Artists will leave with workbooks, a direction, goals, homework, and as chock-full as the presentations are, we will do more than introduce a concept and then leave the artists alone to find their own way.” Each participant will have the opportunity for a one-on-one follow-up business consultation with Brown or Boyle-Clapp.
Rosemary Tracy Woods, site coordinator, will facilitate an ongoing once-a-month gathering of artists at her gallery Art for the Soul to help them form their own peer advising network. Adds Boyle-Clapp; “Artist, musicians, writers, and artisans’ business needs are vastly different from a Nike or Reebok, so who better to encourage an artist than another artist?” Tracy Woods stated, “With the arts you have to remember Nathan Branch Miles who once said,: “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail”.