We are currently accepting applications for the Arts Entrepreneurship and Business Development Course for both E-Learning and Classroom (Saskatoon) workshops.
2 min. read
Tracy Buechler, a mixed media artist from Warman, has learned that being an artist isn’t only about making art. “You have to be business-minded as well,” she says. “You can be an artist, but you don’t have to be a starving artist.”
She came to this discovery while taking the Arts Entrepreneurship and Business Development Course, offered by the Saskatchewan Arts Board and Creative Saskatchewan in partnership with Conexus. The course helps Saskatchewan artists and arts entrepreneurs develop sustainable careers and business ventures. It has been delivered in Lloydminster, Yorkton, Swift Current, Saskatoon and Regina. An E-Learning course was added in 2017. The latest E-Learning courses begin in October 2018 and January 2019, and the next classroom course takes place in Saskatoon in January 2019.
The classroom workshops take place over three weekend sessions. The first is designed to give participants an improved understanding of themselves as entrepreneurs. The second offers them new insights into how to market their work, manage profits wisely and protect themselves and their creative products. The third helps them develop personalized roadmaps they can follow to launch or grow their ventures. By the end of the course, participants have a career or business model, a long-term plan to achieve their goals and a peer network to draw upon.
Traditional Aboriginal beader Angele Tousignant has run businesses in the retail and restaurant sector, “but I didn’t have an idea how to apply those skills to the business of art,” she says. “The course helped me figure out how to price my work, so I will make a profit but it’s still reasonable for the customer.”
Buechler is already feeling the impact of the course on her career. “It has given me confidence to present myself in business forums. I can be both an artist and a creative entrepreneur,” she says, adding that these kinds of courses should be offered at art schools. “It’s important, and times are different. We can’t hone out a living so easily anymore,” she says.
We are currently accepting applications for the Arts Entrepreneurship and Business Development Course for both E-Learning and Classroom (Saskatoon) workshops. E-Learning deadline is January 22 for the course starting January 29. Classroom (Saskatoon) deadline is January 18 for the course starting January 26.
For applications and more information about the Arts Entrepreneurship and Business Development Course, visit here.
Photo: Tracy Buechler, Ode to Moe, 2017, mixed acrylic medium