The twenty-first-century art world offers performers and professionals an unrivaled variety of opportunities, but also requires a never-before-seen investment in skills beyond artistic talent. Today’s artists must build sustainable success in this new arts economy through collaborative big-idea thinking that celebrates a continual engagement in creative process. Presenting creativity as a process with unlimited applications, The Artist Entrepreneur empowers young artists to step into the new arts landscape and build their own careers. Along the way, the book demystifies essential business skills from self-promotion, branding, touring, and intellectual property exploitation to contracts, revenue sources, and bookkeeping. Addressing students from across the artistic spectrum, this book offers practical exercises to develop individual skills while empowering a new generation of artist entrepreneurs with the promise of a new arts economy.

A deeply researched warning about how the digital economy threatens artists' lives and work—the music, writing, and visual art that sustain our souls and societies—from an award-winning essayist and critic There are two stories you hear about earning a living as an artist in the digital age. One comes from Silicon Valley. There's never been a better time to be an artist, it goes. If you've got a laptop, you've got a recording studio. If you've got an iPhone, you've got a movie camera. And if production is cheap, distribution is free: it's called the Internet. Everyone's an artist; just tap your creativity and put your stuff out there. The other comes from artists themselves. Sure, it goes, you can put your stuff out there, but who's going to pay you for it? Everyone is not an artist. Making art takes years of dedication, and that requires a means of support. If things don't change, a lot of art will cease to be sustainable. So which account is true? Since people are still making a living as artists today, how are they managing to do it? William Deresiewicz, a leading critic of the arts and of contemporary culture, set out to answer those questions. Based on interviews with artists of all kinds, The Death of the Artist argues that we are in the midst of an epochal transformation. If artists were artisans in the Renaissance, bohemians in the nineteenth century, and professionals in the twentieth, a new paradigm is emerging in the digital age, one that is changing our fundamental ideas about the nature of art and the role of the artist in society.

In The Entrepreneurial Artist: Lessons from Highly Successful Creatives, Aaron Dworkin offers an engaging, practical guide to achieving artistic fulfillment, both personally and professionally. Based on the accomplishments of Shakespeare, Mozart, and several contemporary creatives, these lessons will help you realize your goals—no matter your medium. Among those Dworkin personally interviewed for this book are Emmy-winning actor Jeff Daniels, Tony-award winning choreographer Bill T. Jones, Grammy award-winning musician Wynton Marsalis, and Pulitzer Prize winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, among others. The stories of these twelve remarkable individuals come alive with lessons of love, loss, despair, sacrifice, perseverance, and triumph. Some of the artist-entrepreneur takeaways explored in this book include: Build partnerships—with peers, patrons, and sponsors Embrace diversity Expand your focus Allow your work to mature Whether one is an aspiring student artist in search of practical tools to build a sustainable career, or a veteran seeking reinvention, The Entrepreneurial Artist offers insights—well-tested, unusual, or innovative—that are meaningful for every kind of creative.

This pioneering book explores the connections between art and artistic processes and entrepreneurship. The authors expertly identify several areas and issues where research on art and artistic processes can inform and develop the traditional field of entrepreneurship research.

Thoroughly updated and expanded, this classic handbook teaches emerging artists all the strategies they need to know for selling artwork on their own or through dealers. The book's new sections target today's vital issues: creating a web site; obtaining copyright/trademark protection on the Internet; coping with censorship of controversial art; and dealing with the new realities of funding sources. Additional chapters tell how to find galleries, arrange exhibitions, apply for grants, land survival jobs doing custom decorative art or teaching, and other relevant topics.

"Essential reading for the business leaders of tomorrow and a fascinating study of the boardroom as the new battlefield" - Booklist THE CLASSIC MILITARY TEXT, NOW ANALYSED FOR THE BUSINESS-MINDED. The Art of War by Sun Tzu has been a much-studied work of military strategy for hundreds of years, influencing great leaders in all walks of life. Here, business journalist Mark Smith applies the lessons to the role of the entrepreneur by showing how the axioms of General Sun Tzu apply to creating and expanding a business in a successful and meaningful way. Illustrated with numerous case studies of business owners whose strategies show how these ideas can work and containing quotes and tips from well-known business leaders and innovators, The Entrepreneur's Guide to The Art of War will show you how to: • lay firm foundations for your intended business • choose your staff and co-workers effectively • study your competitors in order to be stronger and better at what you do • maintain a good working environment and happy employees • work out your business's path to continued success With helpful diagrams and illustrations, business leaders in the making will find this an invaluable companion.

Arts Entrepreneurship: Creating a New Venture in the Arts provides the essential tools, techniques, and concepts needed to invent, launch, and sustain a business in the creative sector. Building on the reader’s artistic talents and interests, the book provides a practical, action-oriented introduction to the business of art, focusing on product design, organizational planning and assessment, customer identification and marketing, fundraising, legal issues, money management, cultural policy, and career development. It also offers examples, exercises, and references that guide entrepreneurs through the key stages of concept creation, business development, and growth. Special attention is paid to topics such as cultural ventures seeking social impact, the emergence of creative placemaking, the opportunities afforded by novel corporate forms, and the role of contemporary technologies in marketing, fundraising, and operations. A hands-on guide to entrepreneurial success, this book is a valuable resource for students of Arts Entrepreneurship programs, courses, and workshops, as well as for early-stage business founders in the creative sector looking for guidance on how to create and sustain their own successful venture.

Litsa Spanos knows a thing or a thousand about making it in the art world. She's been a successful gallery owner for twenty-five years and has sold millions of dollars in original art and watched unknown artists, grow, flourish, and succeed. She has literally seen it all. And then some. And she has some insider secrets to share. (Okay, more like lots of them.) She believes that every artist should have the same opportunity to succeed and she wants to help as many artists as she can, while she can. So she put together an inspiring and informative book that will help the emerging artist, the mid-career artist, and the thriving or successful artist in equal measure. In this book you'll find everything you need to help you succeed. You'll also hear from other artists, gallery owners, tradeshow executives, and many more on what they think is the key to their success.

Finally make a living doing what you love. A compete and easy-to-follow system for the artist who wasn't born with a business mind. Learn how to find buyers, get paid fairly, negotiate nicely, deal with copycats and sell more art.

The music industry and you - Your band: working with other musicians - Defining and refining your sound - Managing, performing, and booking gigs - Solo or band touring - The music business plan - In the recording studio - Fundraising and investors - Your band is the brand - Music marketing and promotions - Your career in the music business of today.