Why more artists need to study business

Paying for health care and business insurance, saving for retirement and recovering from disasters can be tough to handle for artists without traditional jobs

'The Moneylender and his Wife' by Quentin Massys (1456-1530)

Smart Art: Why More Artists Need to Study Business is an article and a 20 minute podcast (RECOMMENDED). This post provides a quick briefing on what it's about.

They both focus on why artists need to be more than just talented artists in order to succeed and survive in the art world and what they need to know and do. 
​All quotations are from the article unless otherwise stated.

Traditionally, the artist was seen as this type of person who was aloof or being unaware of the real world. It gave them some X-factor. But not anymore, because there are more than 2 million artists in the U.S., and they have to survive somehow. According to data, we know that only 40% of them will remain as working artists within five years, and only 10% of them will persist in the long run. 
Gizen Saka

The participants are:

• Jenifer Simon, director of  programs and outreach at  CERF+ - a nonprofit that helps provide artists with a financial safety net, and also helps people needing emergency relief and being prepared for meeting an emergency
• Gizem Saka, an artist who is also a senior lecturer at Wharton Business School.

CERF+ is committed to helping artists build resilient careers through sustainable business practices that can contribute to the likelihood of rebounding from setbacks, whether due to minor mishaps or major emergencies.
​CERF+ - Craft a Career

Key points include:

• every art school should have a business class for their students
• artists need insurance otherwise a setback might mean their career ends with a nasty accident which destroys their artwork, art materials or studio.
• artists MUST have public liability insurance for any interaction with the public by them or their artwork in a gallery or other location. 
• studio safety is critical - artists need to be well informed about the space they are going to be inhabiting (see 
• artists need to consider risk management - how to manage risk and identify what they can least afford to lose. What is the most critical event that could affect your ability to make art and how likely is it to happen?

Ghost Ship - Site of a fire on December 2, 2016 that killed 36 people in an artists' collective housed in a warehouse in Oakland, California

Artists need to know:

• what their hidden costs related to business expenses are
• whether or not their studio use at home is covered under their normal residential home insurance policy
• how to avoid injury - and become unable to make art - due to repetitive strain injuries
• how to find affordable places to work and be safe
• why artist communities are so essential to helping each other out in an emergency
• why financial plans are essential to developing an art business or a business related to art.
• how to be a savvy artist when it comes to getting funding and making a living from their art or interest in art.

and finally......

My response to the first comment on this article from Luis G. Renart, Emeritus Professor of Marketing, IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Barcelona, Spain is my 2013 post Picasso the businessman - branding and the value of art a.k.a. this man doesn't understand what an astute business man Picasso was!

REFERENCE:

• Insurance for Art and Artists
• Retirement and Pensions for Artists
• This is Studio Plus - the Artists' Guide to Emergencies
• This is Studio Protector - the Artists' Guide to Studio Safety 

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