BREAKING INTO BUSINESS
DAY 1: BUSINESS PLANNING FOR ARTISTS
9:00-4:00 Business Planning for Artists
If you want to turn your art into a profit-making enterprise, a business plan is an essential first step. Business plans help you to fully consider your business concept, define goals, serve as your blue print for action, and prepare you to secure bank loans for your artist business.  This workshop will introduce you to a step-by-step process for developing a business plan, providing you with a template that you can use to begin the process of writing a business plan.
DAY 2: MARKETING FOR ARTISTS
This day-long workshop is designed to help you to develop the first stages of a marketing plan for your artist business and will conclude with step-by-step goals for you to implement when you return to your work.

9:00-12:00 Marketing Basics for Artists
Marketing is the most important tool to build awareness of your work as an artist and can help you to reach new audiences and cultivate loyalty in those you already serve. This workshop will introduce you to the fundamentals of marketing for artists. You will begin by learning basic marketing concepts, such as the "4 Ps" of marketing (product, place, promotion, and price), how to better understand and reach your customers, how to use free media sources to reach and build your customer base, and how to create effective "offline" promotions (printed materials, brochures, press releases, etc.). Discussion will also include how to measure the success of your efforts. Please bring examples of any printed materials you have that promote your performing, visual, literary or media art, including business cards, brochures, press releases, artist’s statements, your photo, etc.

1:00-4:00 What's All The Buzz About E-Marketing?
If you are in the beginning stages of using the internet to promote yourself as an artist, this highly-interactive session is for you! Building on the introduction to basic marketing concepts presented in the morning session, you will learn what free and low-cost e-marketing options are available, and then examine affordable ways to implement your e-marketing strategies. If you are confused by all the social networking options that have recently cropped up (like Twitter and Facebook), this is your opportunity to unravel the mysteries of this topic and learn about the multitude of options that exist, and determine which ones are right for you. If you have a web site, but are unhappy with how it looks, the workshop will help you to create a more effective site. We will cover how to structure an effective web site, hire outside help, and -- through group discussions -- understand what on your site can be improved or expanded. You will apply your newly learned concepts to your own arts business in small group sessions with other participants. Please bring printed examples of attractive web sites or compelling e-marketing promotions that you have received, and bring your personal marketing challenges (such as a brochure your neighbor recently created for you, the business card you used to love, or a print out of your web site’s home page) to share with others.
 
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS
Maren Brown, M.B.A. has over 25 years of experience in the field of arts management, primarily in museums (art, history and science museums) and higher education. She received both her graduate (MBA) and undergraduate degrees (BA, arts management and women's studies) from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is a practicing egg tempera painter, and currently serves as the Director of the Arts Extension Service at UMass Amherst. During her career, Maren has directed an arts council (funding organization) and a museum school, founded a regional creative economy initiative, originated a family program series, developed school tours, curated an exhibition series of regional artists, and served a variety of other functions in museums. She is the co-editor of Fundamentals of Arts Management, and leads workshops and training sessions on a variety of topics throughout the nation.

Dee Boyle Clapp, M.F.A. is a sculptor and installation artist and holds bachelor's degrees in art and art history from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, an MFA in sculpture from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Master's in Nonprofit Management from Regis University in Denver, Colorado. She has taught a variety of studio and art history courses at UMass Amherst, museum schools, and at community colleges. Dee co-owned the Artemis Gallery which featured the work of contemporary artists.  She was a founding member and the first director of the Art Bank art school, gallery and performance center in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, where she was responsible for the programming of two galleries, ongoing studio courses, the Children’s Blue Snow Performance Series, the Adult Performance Series, festivals and community events. Dee also served as the program manager with the Fostering the Arts and Culture Partnership working to build the Franklin County (MA) Creative Economy by providing business and marketing training, exhibition and web opportunities, and networking for artists, writers, actors, musicians, tech artists and others. She currently serves as the Program Coordinator of the Arts Extension Service.