News & Events Past Events
AES Past Events
Artist Business Training - offered Spring 2010 - a Success!
75 artists from Western Massachusetts joined us for this series. Congratulations to all who worked hard and participated in the follow-up consultation! See details on what was offered below.
The Arts Extension Service at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and its partners at North Quabbin Woods, C3, Art for the Soul Gallery and Springfield Technical Community College announce that registration for three upcoming Artist Business trainings is now open. This one-and a half day training will be held in three locations- one each in Franklin, Hampshire and Franklin Counties. Attendance at each training is limited to 25 artists, and pre-registration is required. Each session will consist of four key components: (1) A 1 ½ day artist business training led by Arts Extension Service (AES) instructors Maren Brown and Dee Boyle-Clapp, which includes Business Basics, Marketing, and finding income in the new economy; (2) individual phone consultations with AES staff; (3) facilitated Networking meetings with Site Coordinators who will host monthly meetings to help build artist peer groups; and (4) handouts including a copy of the Arts Extension Service’s Artist in Business workbook, and access to a private Artist Business Resource area on the AES website.
Interested artists should register with the site coordinator at each location or contact the Arts Extension Service at aes@contined.umass.edu to be referred to a site or follow the links from the News page at www.umass.edu/aes.
- The Franklin County training will be held on April 21-22 at the Petersham Town Hall. To register contact North Quabbin Woods’s site coordinator Sarah McMaster at office@northquabbinwoods.org or 978.544.3332.
- The Hamden County training will be held on April 28-29 at Springfield Technical Community College. Site coordinator Tracy Woods of Art for the Soul Gallery, is accepting registrations online at: https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGpORUx4bjZLcGRORHp6Q0I4emdwLVE6MA and can be contacted at artforthesoul@verizon.net.
- The Hampshire County training will be held on May 5-6 at the former Dynamite Records space, Thorne’s Marketplace, and is coordinated with Commonwealth Center for Change (C3) co-director Julia Handschuh. Register by visiting Valley Art Share at http://www.valleyartshare.com/page/so-you-want-to-learn-the or contact C3 info@commonwealthcenter.org.
This program is offered free of charge to resident artists with support from the Community Foundation of Western MA’s Buxton Charitable Foundation Fund, Bank of America, Trustee, and the Credit Data Services, Inc. Fund and the Springfield Cultural Council.
The Arts Extension Service (AES) is a national arts service organization located at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. AES offers online arts management classes, two Arts Management Certificates, workshops and trainings to artists and arts managers across the country, and conducts research with a focus on cultural and creative economy work.
According to Arts Extension Service Director, Maren Brown, “We are grateful to the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts for their support of the region’s artists. The economic downturn has deeply impacted the arts in the United States and the region. Across the country, artists are experiencing vastly disproportionate unemployment rates: 50% more than other professionals with equal education, according to a recently released National Endowment for the Arts report. According to a recent report by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, our region has a 61% higher proportion of creative workers than the national average. If our artists and their small businesses fail, our region’s economy is at risk.”
Says AES Program Coordinator, Dee Boyle-Clapp, “Artists are the backbone of the Creative Economy, and their work has defined much of how we enjoy life in the Pioneer Valley. While their contributions are appreciated by visitors and residents, the nature of the work can make many artists economically vulnerable in the best of times. One of our goals is to provide artists with a network of similarly focused artists, so they can not only turn to their Site Coordinator and AES for business-related ideas and information, but to one another for support for the work, awareness of the issues, and mutual understanding that only another artist can provide.”
Joomi Chung to speak on campus, March 2, 2010
The new UMass Alumni Art Stars Speaker Series presented in partnership by the UMass Arts Extension Service and Art Department, kicked off on Wednesday, February 24th (despite the snow!) with a lecture by Larry Bamburg, and continues Tuesday, March 2nd with a lecture by Joomi Chung at 4:30 p.m. at the Studio Arts Building, located at the campus entrance on North Pleasant Street. The UMass Alumni Art Stars Speaker Series, made possible in part by a grant from the UMass Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, is free and open to the public.
Life Outside the Cardboard Box: Making a Living in the Arts - Completed 2009!
Life Outside the Cardboard Box: Making a Living in the Arts is a new 7-part lecture series to be presented at 227 Herter Hall, above Herter Gallery, on Tuesdays 5:30 - 7 pm, from March 24th to May 7th at the University of Massachusetts. This series is a collaborative effort between the Center for Research in Art and Technology and the UMass Arts Extension Service, the School of Management, and is supported in part by grants from the UMass Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The lectures are free and open to artists of all disciplines to explore opportunities to help them build successful careers in their chosen field.
Contact the Arts Extension Service, we will be happy to teach this series at your institution!
John Nugent, Visiting Artist to Speak April 1st, at Studio Arts Building
What do UMass, a Hobbit and the Matrix have in common? UMass graduate, John Nugent, who is the Visual Effects Supervisor and founder of Sandbox FX, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Nugent has a degree in fine arts from UMass Amherst and 16 years of experience in feature film visual effects, including five Oscar winning features: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Matrix, and What Dreams May Come, as well as The Jumper, Night at the Museum and The Chronicles of Narnia.
Arts Extension Service Director appeared on WGBY's WATERCOOLER with host Susan Kaplan
" THE CREATIVE ECONOMY", Rebroadcast on Wed. May 20th, first appeared Wed. March 18, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.Panel includes: Maren Brown, Director of the U-Mass Arts Extension Service, Helena Fruscio, Berkshire Creative Economy Council and Greg Liakos, Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Broadcast options: Wednesday 3/18 7:30, ON DEMAND on Comcast, video-streaming and podcast on wgby.org (beginning Thursday March 19, 2009) Click here to see the video!
The Creative Economy
The Creative Economy plays an increasingly important role in Western Massachusetts, in job creation, revenue growth and quality of life. Thanks to the rich array of talent in performing and visual arts, the Creative Economy abounds in our region. This program will highlight two of our best known artists, Josh Simpson and Scott Prior, who will speak about their work and their marketing efforts. The program will also include an opportunity to see the outstanding new studio arts building built this year at the University of Massachusetts. This program is free and open to UMass faculty, students, staff and alumni; all others, $25. For more information or to register: please call the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network at 413.737.6712 x 100 or register online at http://www.msbdc.org/wmass/training.html#creative.
Tuesday • Dec. 9 • 4 - 6:00 p.m. • Studio Arts Building • University of Massachusetts • Amherst • Co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center, UMass Arts Extension Service, UMass Art Department and UMass Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts. The Arts Extension Service's on-campus programs, such as this, are made possible, in part, by the UMass Arts Council.
Workshop Series offered through the Arts Extension Service and the Wisconsin Arts Board
October through December
The Arts Extension Service is offering a two-day Workshop series for the Wisconsin Arts Board in Grant Proposal Writing, Succession Planning and Program Evaluation this fall. Thanks to the NEA's Challenge America grant, these workshops will be offered free of charge!
Creative Economy Class Offered
This Fall Arts Extension Service is pleased to announce a new class addition to our Certificate in Arts Management! Click here for more information on our Creative Economy class!
Fall 2008 registration open now! Click here to register!
Crossroads for Community Arts: Strategies for Success on the Road Ahead
October 17-19, 2007 in Lewiston, Maine
The UMass Arts Extension Service is pleased to present a full-day training on how to initiate and sustain effective cultural economic development programs in communities at this conference on October 18, 2007. Whether you are a city planner, economic development expert, health agency representative, artist or cultural organization representative, this workshop will provide you with best practices for evaluating and sustaining cultural economic development programs in your community. Click here to download the conference brochure.
Evaluating Your Cultural Economic Development Programs
Monday, September 10, 2007 and Monday, September 24, 2007
UMass President's Offices, Shrewsbury, MA
On September 10th and 24th, the Arts Extension Service, together with the UMass Donahue Institute and the Center for Public Policy and Analysis at UMass Dartmouth, will work with MCC Adams Program grant recipients on how to create effective evaluation plans for their cultural economic development programs. These training sessions are only open to Adams Grants Program recipients.
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