Life Outside the Cardboard Box: Making a Living in the Arts continued...

“The stock market is a shambles, jobs losses are mounting, and artists, like everyone else, are struggling.  In the worst of times, as in the best of times, artists have one distinct advantage; they are by their very nature creative.  Artists fill quiet space with music, turn trash into art, and transform a few words into poetry; but we haven’t been taught how to create a business, find a job, or make a living, Through this series  we ‘open the box’ and discuss these important issues.” says Dee Boyle-Clapp. “In our first lecture, we explore ideas that will help emerging artists find or create jobs, raise their profile, build their resume, and consider alternatives that will help artists meet their goals.  In future lectures we will discuss funding one’s work, copyright and legal issues, business practices, marketing, and a wrap up event will feature UMass alumni who will share their stories in  If I Knew Then What I Know Now... .”  

Boyle-Clapp is the program coordinator and instructor at the UMass Arts Extension Service and teaches Fundraising, Financial Management, and Marketing courses.  Boyle-Clapp is a sculptor who earned bachelors’ degrees in art and art history from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and her MFA in Sculpture from UMass, and is completing her Masters in Nonprofit Management from Regis University.   She was a founding member and first director of the Art Bank in Shelburne Falls, and co-owned Artemis Gallery.  She taught studio art and art history classes at the Art Bank, the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Garden in Lincoln, MA, the GWV Smith Art Museum in Springfield, MA, and Mt. Wachusett Community College in Gardner, MA, and was the coordinator for the Franklin County creative economy project Fostering the Arts and Culture Partnership.

Two lectures presented by members of the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (VLA) on March 31st and April 7th will cover copyright law and contracts.  VLA a not-for-profit organization established to meet the legal needs of the state's artistic community. Since its inception, the VLA has expanded its services to include legal services for artists and arts organizations as well as educational opportunities for artists, arts organizations and attorneys. VLA also assists local art and cultural institutions in finding attorneys to sit on their respective boards of directors who embrace the mission of the individual organization.

UMass School of Management professor James Theroux who will present the lecture Risk and Reward in Business on Tuesday, April 7th notes, “Every business, new and old, faces six main types of risk. Being aware of them and knowing how to cope with them can separate those businesses that succeed from those who don’t. Examples from UMass alums will be used to illustrate the point.” Professor Theroux is the Flavin Family Chair in Entrepreneurship at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He received his M.B.A. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts. He is known for his work in creating a new type of business education know as Real-Time Case Study (RTC) which is allows students to follow the progress of a company over the course of a semester, analyzing the issues and solutions the company encounters, and even making recommendations of their own to help the company progress further.
 
According to Carolyn Depp, “The series will conclude with a panel discussion featuring University of Massachusetts alumni who have made their way in the arts. The lectures are tailored to be inclusive of all forms of the arts including visual arts, music, theater, dance, literature, and art history, to name a few.  All who are interested in learning new ways of turning their creative goals into a career are welcome to attend.  The lectures are free and open to the public, but we ask that artists please RSVP by emailing thecenter@art.umass.edu a week before the event so we can be prepared.  Light refreshments will be served.” For those who might be unable to make it to the UMass campus for the individual lectures, we will also be experimenting with streaming the lectures live online through our website at http://www.people.umass.edu/ratc/CardboardBox/main.html
 
The Center for Research in Art and Technology is run by Associate Professor Patricia Galvis y Assmus and provides a working studio environment on the UMass campus where students can gain experience and a unique first-hand perspective on what the working world will demand. The Center welcomes clients from New England, across the U.S.A., and internationally, and student artists and technicians work together in the Center to create modern, technological and visual solutions to their clients requests.  Projects ranged widely from website design, to interactive installation artwork, and designing and building a motion capture device.  The students and Galvis y Assmus of the Center for Research in Art and Technology are always looking for new ways to further the relationship between technology and art in our time.
 
The UMass Arts Extension Service, an arts service organization, is the nation’s leading provider of professional arts management education.  AES offers Online Certificate Program in Arts Management; workshops and training programs for artists and arts managers, and online bachelor’s degree with a concentration in Arts Administration—the first in the nation- as well as publications, work kits, and research for the field and for clients, including the recently completed the Creative Economy study for the UMass College of Humanities and Fine Arts (CHFA), conducted with the Donahue Center to better understand the impact that UMass CHFA alumni had on the region’s creative economy.  For more information visit their website at www.umass.edu/aes, or contact Boyle-Clapp at 413-545-2360. 

For a campus map, click here.

Lecture Schedule:
Tuesday March 24th – 5:30 – 7 p.m.   Making a Living in the Arts: Opportunities in the Best of Times and the Worst of Times; presented by Dee Boyle-Clapp of the UMass Arts Extension Service in 227 Herter Hall, above Herter Gallery. 
  
Tuesday March 31st – 5:30 – 7 p.m.  An Artist’s Rights, presented by Peter Irvine, Northampton, the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of Massachusetts, at 227 Herter Hall, above Herter Gallery. 
 
Tuesday April 7th – 5:30 – 7 p.m.  Copyright Law; presented by the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of Massachusetts, in 227 Herter Hall, above Herter Gallery. 

Tuesday April 14th – 5:30 – 7 p.m. Risk and Reward in Business; presented by Prof. James Theroux of the UMass School of Management; in 227 Herter, above Herter Gallery, UMass campus

Tuesday April 21st – 5:30 – 7 p.m. Find the Money - Finance Your Work; presented by Dee Boyle-Clapp of the UMass Arts Extension Service in 227 Herter Hall, above Herter Gallery, UMass campus. 

Tuesday April 28th – 5:30 – 7 p.m. Marketing and PR: Today, and Tomorrow; presented by Dee Boyle-Clapp of the UMass Arts Extension Service in 227 Herter Hall, above Herter Gallery, UMass campus.

Friday May 8th - 5:30 – 7 p.m. Alumni Q&A Panels: If I Knew Then What I Know Now…; featuring successful alumni from the University of Massachusetts, with tips and advice on how to start out in your career in 227 Herter Hall, above Herter Gallery, UMass campus.