Opus Newsletter Contributor

This is the sixth article in a series by Alice Rich who is contributing to both our online and printed newsletters.

Alice Rich is well known to the BC art community for her seminars on business issues facing visual artists and in her own right, as a photographer and painter. Since graduating from UBC and Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design, Alice has worked in professional roles with two major galleries, founded a publishing company, and is presently working as an artist and seminar leader. She also has extensive community involvement on Art Boards and committees.

Due to popular demand, Alice Rich will present her Artrpreneur Seminar in Victoria in April 2004 and Salmon Arm in May 2004. For registration details see the end of this article or email Alice at alice-rich@shaw.ca

In last month's article I introduced my 5 R model for building a functional marketing and self-promotion plan for artists. The 5 R's address the essentials of art career development for the self-employed artist - Reality, Recognition, Representation, Research and Requirements. The traditional Marketing 101 description of marketing identifies the 4 P's of marketing wisdom as Product, Price, Place and Promotion. The 5 R's relate to the 4 P's as follows:

To review briefly the 3 R's discussed last month, the Reality 'R' is 'you' and more candidly the big picture of 'you'. 'You' as the creator of your work need to look inwardly at where the 'you' wants to be in the larger world. In purely commercial terms, the 'you' and your work can be thought of as the dreaded 'p' word Product. But don't go there if you aren't comfortable? As the 'you' coupled with your uniqueness finds a clear picture of your direction, you will align yourself with a plan that takes you there. Remember that whether you get where you want to go or somewhere else, depends on the clarity of your picture of where you want to be. And as Einstein said, "You can't solve a problem with the same mind that created it".

Think five or ten years into the future. Also be aware that immediate gratification may delay the expansion of career later if misaligned with your directional goals. As an example, perhaps your goal is to make an impact into the cultural milieu and have your work in major museums and collections. Instead, you work successfully on the seductive publishing market. The two will not lead to the same goal path in the end, so your pursuit of publishing would be misaligned with your stated goal and direction. This is why a little soul searching (think "Reality") to begin with is so significant. Barbara Sher's book Wishcraft is still a favourite to help clarify one's ideas and get on with them.

Recognition leads your work out of the studio into the hands of a discerning public. Think promotion on a larger scale, presenting your work and ideas as a visual package. Recognition includes many elements describing you and your work: CV, Bio, transparencies of work, mailers, business cards, media releases, involvement in the community, memberships to organizations, website and links to/or with other websites and many other initiatives.

Representation - is 'Place' combined with 'Price' which determines where and how to locate your work so that it is accessible to the client/customer/patron interested in your work. Career growth can be a series of mini steps along the way to finding representation. The first logical steps will be through your own endeavours to build recognition and a sales history, and then to attract venues that will want to represent you.

It is your responsibility to find the 'where' that is right for you, and to discover these opportunities through Research. This includes testing the information you gather and jumping into action if that is appropriate. While Research is the fourth 'R' of my marketing model, it should be seen as the umbrella over the entire building of your art career plan. Research, the information gathering process, determines all other steps. The reality of who you are, for instance, may take some serious research into your own soul and /or research into your personal roadblocks. Yes, it may reveal your negative issues, but knowledge of those can lead to a break through in exposing a direction you have forbidden yourself from until then. There are numerous books to help with this one. Start with Julia Cameron's, The Artist's Way or re-read it.

Research then leads to finding the places where recognition can occur, finding the key people to meet with, and venues in which to network. Research helps you to expose and make available the package of 'you' - your portfolio and promotional material. Many artists have developed careers by growing a valuable mailing list from participating in events locally or internationally. Research lets you identify how to apply and what the expectations of each venue are. Research helps you to decide if you can work within those parameters or if the contact that you are considering is logical. Research determines what exists in the sphere of your professional life, and answers questions like, "Who are my competitors?" and "How do I stack up?"

Through research as you move along your career path, you build a library of information identifying the doors to opportunities and events that may interest you. Continue to look and listen, to ask and attend shows, and network, network, network. One step often begets the next step. You never know where each will lead unless you are open to the experience. Find out who your customers/patrons are (your warm market), and why they are interested in your work. Where do they buy art and what factors determine their selections? Your research answers the who, what, where, why and when questions. The information you collect will lead to answers for the other four R's.

Research is simply the extension of your healthy curiosity, getting you connected and helping you to stay connected.

Requirements - While many of us would like to skip this R, it is as crucial as each of the other four. As a self-employed artist, you need your left-brain skills to sort out the business end of your life. Yes, accounting, tax reporting, banking and financing for your initiatives. You need answers about whether or not to register for a PST exemption or a GST account. Should you get a business license? What about insurance needs and purchasing software to simplify your inventory and record keeping? What are the rules governing copyright, grants, and business loans? This includes 'when' questions such as, when is it time to declare your self-employed status and register as a sole proprietor?

Requirements can make that career sing. You are self-employed, so why not play the game - don't fight the system, instead let the system work for you. Do you report income tax and keep records of your career direction? Or are you outsmarting the system and yourself by not reporting sales, not having a separate bank account, and therefore not focusing on growth? The requirements to set up as a self-employed artist [hint: call yourself a manufacturer of (art) products] are minimal and can yield serious benefits for you. As a sole proprietor of your art business you can apply for funding or grants to assist in your career development. If you have an idea or an export need, grants are available from the small business development branches of the provincial and federal governments. When you are ready, you can take your 'business plan' to the bank for financing or apply for other small business grants. And we need to let the tax department know of our "reasonable expectation of profit" or REOP, so that we can write-off legitimate business expenses. So the Requirements component of the 5 R's is your commitment step/ceremony with the outer world. And of course, thorough Research can help you to find the answers to all of the above.

The 5 R's, reality, recognition, representation, research and requirements function as a guide for developing a complete artist career package. I have briefly outlined these steps, not only to help you to consider the reality of who you are as an artist and your direction, but to assist you in assessing your needs and oversights. Your next step might be to take inventory of what you have completed or are working on thus far, in your career development. Look for any omissions that you may need to focus on as short-term goals. Then look at a more thorough long-term strategy to include the development of each component for a complete package and direction for 'you'. As in the 4 P's model of marketing, if any step is omitted or not well addressed, the concept or 'product' won't fly. With the 5 R's for artists the same is true - everything works together. A checklist for each area can be developed to summarize necessary steps toward completion of your art career plan. Build from your areas of strength, observe and rectify the omissions, then research ways to proceed.

Contributed by Alice Rich
alice-rich@shaw.ca

The Artrepreneur Seminar

Victoria
April 24th - 25th, 2004

Salmon Arm
May 22nd - 23rd, 2004

Register now for Alice Rich's popular Artrepreneur Seminar in Victoria or in Salmon Arm, BC. Opus is very pleased to bring you both of these special 2-day presentations of Alice Rich's popular Artrepreneur Seminar. The seminar is designed to assist artists with the marketing and self-promotion of their work.

For details on seminar topics, the cost of each 2-day seminar and to register, contact registrar, Joanne White at alice-rich@shaw.ca or call 604-255-1010, or visit Alice's website www.alice-rich.com