The City of West Hollywood has partnered with Rhizomatic Arts to present the 2024 Artist Bootcamp.
If you’re an artist, you have a business. We want you and your art business to thrive. In this workshop, artists across the disciplinary spectrum will meet weekly to identify our values, strengths, and goals and translate that into a healthy business model.
This bootcamp 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.
In this virtual workshop, participants will:
Identify and affirm core values, mission & goals.
Gain confidence & skills in the business side of their art practice.
Clarify & articulate their business model.
Assess personal strengths & available opportunities.
Create structures to meet business goals.
Receive peer feedback & insights from a leading art business professionals.
Share knowledge & build supportive relationships with other artists.
A digital workbook, The Business of Art: An Artist’s Guide to Profitable Self-Employment, 3rd Edition (Center for Cultural Innovation, 2020), and an online toolkit will supplement the workshop with readings, worksheets, and additional resources.
Time commitment: Expect to spend 3 hours/week in class, and another 1-3 hours/week reading and completing homework. You will also prepare a short talk about your art practice in week 1 and give an art business pitch (with pitch deck) in week 10.
Some content will be recorded, but live participation is important for this Zoom workshop.
“After each class session I couldn’t wait to share my experience with my peers. I left each session feeling empowered and supported.”
PROGRAM OUTLINE & DATES - Meets via Zoom on Wednesdays from 10am-1pm PT, on the following dates:
February 21: Artist Presentations
February 28: “What roots you?” / Core Values
March 6: “What do you offer to your people?” / Customers + Business Models
March 13: “Marketing = connecting your people with what you do.”
March 20: “Debt + Taxes.”
March 27: “What do you need to earn to thrive?” / Financial Goals
April 3: “Know your rights + protect your work.” / Legal Protections
April 10: “Where is the $ coming from?” / Income + Pricing
April 17: “Moving forward with accountability.”
April 24: Art Business Pitches
The program will be free to those participants selected. Priority will be given to City of West Hollywood residents and grantees of the City of West Hollywood Arts Division.
FAQ:
Q: What if I know I have to miss one or more classes? Can I still apply?
A: Priority will be given to folks who can commit to attending every session. The relationships that develop from artist to artist are an important benefit of this workshop. That said, sometimes life happens and you may have to miss a class.
The 10 virtual sessions will be recorded and viewable for at least 90 days.
If you know in advance that you will have to miss a particular session, please indicate which date(s) in your application.
Q: I am not a visual artist. Will this Artist Bootcamp be relevant to me and my work?
A: Yes! The bootcamp curriculum is designed to be relevant to artists and creatives working in any discipline or medium. We select a diverse cohort representing visual, performing, media, literature, social practice, and multidisciplinary arts practices, and a variety of career stages.
ALLISON WYPER, WORKSHOP FACILITATOR
I am an artist, consultant, and arts entrepreneur with 20 years of experience providing administrative, marketing, and production support for individuals and organizations. I specialize in thoughtful professional development program design, one-on-one coaching, marketing and communications, intuitive website design, and economical administrative systems.
More about me →
GUEST PRESENTERS
JEREMIAH OLAYINKA OJO (Core Values) is the Founder and Managing Director of Ilèkùn Wa, an art business advisory firm facilitating & cultivating opportunities for visual artists of African descent to create, sustain and thrive. Over the last decade, Jeremiah has become a sought after arts and culture management consultant, working internationally in artist development, gallery management, and art fair operations. His collaborative work with minority emerging contemporary artists, art institutions, corporations, and collectors has carved a pathway of connectivity for creative professionals throughout Africa & its Diaspora. Jeremiah is also the Founder of Creative Milieu, LLC, a creative professional development enterprise that sources, trains and connects creatives through an integrated online-learning and staffing agency for the Creative Economy.
AMY SMITH (Debt + Taxes) is a dance and theater artist, educator, and facilitator. She works to dismantle oppressive structures in non-profit organizations and other groups so that artists and low income folks can achieve collective liberation. She does this through financial well-being workshops, one-on-one work with clients giving financial advice and doing tax preparation, consulting with arts organizations, co-facilitating anti-racism sessions with co-facilitators of color, and as a dance and theater educator. Amy co-founded, co-directed, and performed with Headlong, a dance theater non-profit that transformed into a community arts organization over 25 years. She leads financial well-being workshops through Creative Capital, Assets for Artists, and in many other settings. She holds a BA from Wesleyan University and has been greatly affected by her learning as part of artEquity’s National Facilitator Training and other anti-oppression trainings. Amy wrote the money management chapter of The Business of Art: An Artist’s Guide to Profitable Self-Employment, 3rd Edition (Center for Cultural Innovation, 2020).
JON TOBIN (Legal Protections) is an attorney focused on helping creative professionals and businesses use the law to succeed. A graduate of the UCLA School of Law, he studied intellectual property, business law and international law under the nation’s top-ranked practitioners. While at UCLA Law he served as one of two editors-in-chief of the UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs. Before studying law he worked for years as a designer and software developer, so he knows what it means to work in creative industries and how things actually get done. As Parter at Counsel for Creators, he deals with matters involving copyrights, trademarks, software, design, licensing, business, art law and contracts. Jon speaks and writes regularly about legal issues facing technology and creative ventures and has given talks for the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the California Community Foundation, UCLA Law, and at a variety of design and technology conferences. Admitted to practice in California and before the federal court of the Central District of California.
ELAINE GROGAN LUTTRULL, CPA-PFS, AFC® (Income + Pricing) is the founder of Minerva Financial Arts, a company devoted to building financial literacy and empowerment in creative individuals through education and coaching, and her workshops and presentations have been featured nationwide. Elaine spent 10 years in academia, teaching at the Columbus College of Art & Design and serving as the Department Head for Business & Entrepreneurship from 2014-2018. Before that, Elaine served as the Director of Financial Analysis for The Juilliard School and in the Transaction Advisory Services practice of Ernst & Young in New York. Elaine is the author of Arts & Numbers (Agate, B2 2013), and she contributes regularly to industry guides, including those from the Center for Cultural Innovation and the Joan Mitchell Foundation. She is based in Dublin, Ohio (Kaskaskia and Hopewell indigenous and cultural lands) where she serves on the boards of the Short North Alliance and Healing Broken Circles.