Carissa Potter
Source
Why?
You cannot alway rely on others to understand your brilliance, give you shows, represent you, sell your work, or hussle on your behalf. Sometimes you just need to make it happen yourself. You may be interested in selling your own work directly. You may be interested in starting your own publishing house. You may want to open your own gallery and represent artists. All of this is going to require some business accumen. These readings are a start.
We will have Marc Fischer speak to the class. He works independently under a few different project names (such as Public Collectors), with the collective Temporary Services, and he started and continues to run the online publishing and distribution house Half Letter Press. One of the readings below is about his experience making a living as an artist and publisher.
Required
How to Turn Your Art Practice into a Business, The Creative Independent
“Starting up a business is stressful. Once you have a solid idea that you’re excited to try out, there are some lame logistical business things you simply must do. They are overwhelming and distracting and it might be a good idea to ask your mother, your business-y friend, or someone else altogether to handle it. If you can’t do that, try SCORE—which provides free business mentorship—or, you can see if there are small-business classes in your community (often, there will be—google it!). These classes are always great to take. I took one with the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center in San Francisco. They were great on so many levels, and had a 12-week class with a sliding-scale payment option. The class covered the basics of writing a business plan, and also coupled me with a mentor in the same field as me, which was really helpful.”
Towards a Self-Sustaining Publishing Model
Note: This essay has been lightly edited for BYU audiences. “Some things I have learned in over 30 years of publishing since my teenage days as a zine maker, administrating my project Public Collectors, and from working in the group Temporary Services and our publishing imprint Half Letter Press.” The original, unedited essay is found here: https://halfletterpress.com/sustaining-publishing/
Response Questions
Select one question below to which you will respond. Remember to cite specific instances from the text to support your views.
- What most surprised you in this reading set and why?
- Which principles do you see are being the most pertinent to your practice and why?
Supplementary Readings
These are optional readings to help enrich your understanding of the themes of this reading set.
- Starting and Running an Art Business