A great post, Mason... I don't know a lot about Faith Ringgold, and now I'd like to know more. As for Fine Arts education, I don't know what the norm is, but when I did my BFA at Concordia University in Montreal in the late 80's, there was zero mention of *anything* to do with the outside world or what would happen when we graduated. ZEE-ROW. There was no internet yet, so it was a case of approaching galleries. How? Who knows. And with what? Because of course there was the issue of continuing to produce art, which also proved to be a challenge after moving across the country and having a baby. I didn't even get to discover how little I knew about the business side of art---there was no business! I can't blame Concordia's curriculum for all my art-related stops and starts, but it certainly didn't help.
Thanks for this post Mason! … I started making art at the age of 46 after two long careers. I didn’t go to art school, and am so glad I didn’t, because ALL of my BFA- and MFA-holding friends say there was zero education in the business side of things. Which is surprising to me, I mean isn’t part of the point of school to prepare you for life after school? Part of the reason I’m thriving in my art career is because in my previous lives I ran a small business, and then worked at a very large one (Apple), and got my business education that way. I think that if you’re an artist, you are by definition a small business, and the sooner one realizes that the better.
Yes, exactly! Artists (and writers) *are* small businesses, whether they like it or not. I really think at least one class on the business/financial side of things is a no-brainer!
My son is currently attending University of the Arts in Philadelphia and will be taking an art business class in the fall. It’s not required but he wanted it and said there are many art biz offerings to choose from! 😃
We had (in my Bachelor Degree in Choreography) classes in how to do funding applications and create publicity packages for our work, but it was a bit thin on the ground. And then the same year we graduated, the Conservative Government got into power and decimated the arts funding.
I think it would be really helpful to have some principles of "why does somebody consider this valuable enough to give money to you" classes - like, what is this thing we call "value", regardless of if its in a business context or more in a non-profit context or whatever.
That's a really interesting point! I agree that it would be super useful for students to think about how/why certain types of work carried financial value in certain periods/settings (and not in others) — it's never just a case of being so brilliant that the world showers you with rewards; it's always that *plus* an economic opportunity/niche, I think?
I'm also interested in how the qualities that make a good artist — good instincts *and* shrewd critical thinking — are, in fact, the exact same qualities that make a good entrepreneur/businessperson, and if we should try to make that connection for students instead of reinforcing the lazy notion that artists are hopeless about money and can never be otherwise.
There was a book I remember flicking through in a bookshop called something like "An MFA is the new MBA" or something like that. It was putting across exactly that second point.
In terms of the thing about value and what is value, bear in mind I'm based in Europe, which has a very different funding culture to North America - artists rely ALOT on public funding and little on what we usually think of as business. In that sense, the "buyer" is the taxpayer, mediated by various layers of decision makers - ministries of culture down to little initiatives.
At all these layers, value needs to be demonstrated - if I am giving out arts funding then I need to prove to those above me in the chain that I am meeting whatever the art-political agenda is at the time.
So I think, this basic level - what is understood as value, why is something seem as more valuable in this or that context, and the other thing less so - is very important. I think it helps to bridge the different contexts in which you can get paid as an artist.
How something is valued will be different if the person holding the purse strings is a billionaire collector looking for paintings to buy with their own money, or a fan at an enthusiast at a zine convention, or if its a city arts department choosing which projects to approve public funding for, but in the end there's still someone (or a committee of people) making a decision about value.
If you understand that, at least minimally, it help you whether you're writing a funding application or schmoozing the billionaire at the opening.
(By the way, the public funding is not typically discussed in terms of financial value, but usually differently fuzzy concepts like "cultural impact" and "legacy" and such).
(By the way to the by the way, the main way I make money as an artist is mostly as az dance dramaturg, which means that performing artists, usually choreographers but often circus and theatre artists, will be working on a piece and they are motivated to not get stuck in their process and to have an outside perspective on their work. So the other artists pay me directly. THEY get paid to have me on board because, as the funders see it, it (hopefully) decreases the risk of the piece just being... well... rubbish...)
Yes, thank you for all these points — this is good stuff for me to think about as I work on my next book, which is all about artists + money (but more the historical context). And I will look at that book you mentioned! I think it's 'A Whole New Mind' by Daniel Pink.
What an amazing post, Yet again, Mason! Thank you for this!
I loved knowing about Faith Ringgold and I have to say, knowing her is like knowing us- in more ways than one- I studied sciences and laws, moved to writing full time while working as a lawyer, and when I started applying my knowledge and the things I had learned (mostly to know your worth, to evaluate your worth and to know how to ask your worth- all of which are life long skills that I am still learning) in my legal profession to my writing, I was able to "earn". I took extra measures to not be exploited (the degree of exploitation varies for POC writers like me who started as freelancers, solopreneurs, and copywriters) and to find value in my skillset (I am a general specialist, jack of all trades, master of none, is how I would like to put it, I am a multi genre writer with an interdisciplinary focus). Now, I am studying for a professional terminal degree and where I am in my MFA in creative writing and environment, peers and faculty make it a point to talk about the finances involved with writing and the perspectives related to it but certainly, the striving to find answers and navigating it all is still solitary.
These quilts are stunning, I must have missed them first time round.. I love the practical aspect of rolling 'em up and loading 'em in the trunk. When I went to art school in the 80's, there was course that started in 3rd year about how to navigate and succeed in the art world. The instructor started out the lecture by saying in 10 years less than 10 of us - a lecture hall with 150+ people in it - would still be making art. And of those one might succeed in the art world. It was sobering but I suppose most of the people were like me, thinking to themselves "it'll be me, it'll be me it'll be me!" I never learned to navigate the art world. But I'm still making art.
That is sobering, but it seems like the right approach? Maybe schools are afraid to break the reality of things to students, would rather keep them in the dark…
I was so naïve about so many things in my earlier years. I always knew I was an artist and wanted a life as one. I got a BA in visual arts at a small state university. The education was great except that there was nothing but a mention of "business for artists" in the final senior seminar - when it was too late. I went into the world clueless about how to promote myself, budget, network, etc... and I'm not naturally good at any of those things. It should've been mandatory. I hope it is now.
Oh, and I studied art in the late 80s, and we definitely had NO business classes. We didn’t even have math. Just art, art history, literature, and one or two comparative religion classes. When we expressed our wish to understand more about life after art school, we were presented with lists of artist residencies we could apply for. It was a time period where our professors were mostly people who had gotten their positions right after graduate school, so they had never had to figure out how to survive as an artist outside of academia.
This seems to be a common experience! And it's tricky because, of course, I don't think that being an artist is really a "career" at all . . . but it does seem like schools could do more to help students understand how money flows in the art world and how those artists who *are* making are doing it / what it looks like to run an art practice.
Wow, I never thought about the quilt-as-portable-project-thus-better-than-stretched-canvas before, that explains a lot about why she embraced this form! Cool!
Reading the comments, it looks like we’re all in the same boat about not being taught the business side of art in school. The only point my profs stressed was to get your masters because that was the only “viable” way to make a living at art.
This post reminds me of a book about Octavia Butler, "A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia Butler" by Lynell George, which reimagines what Butler's life was like as a budding and eventually successful artist. One of the things Butler was obsessed with was money, and how to make money writing stories, and has a ton of notes on that. Your discussion of Ringgold's revelation about quilts as portable has me remember how much thought artists, especially BIPOC women, have to put into turning their work into something sustainable.
A great post, Mason... I don't know a lot about Faith Ringgold, and now I'd like to know more. As for Fine Arts education, I don't know what the norm is, but when I did my BFA at Concordia University in Montreal in the late 80's, there was zero mention of *anything* to do with the outside world or what would happen when we graduated. ZEE-ROW. There was no internet yet, so it was a case of approaching galleries. How? Who knows. And with what? Because of course there was the issue of continuing to produce art, which also proved to be a challenge after moving across the country and having a baby. I didn't even get to discover how little I knew about the business side of art---there was no business! I can't blame Concordia's curriculum for all my art-related stops and starts, but it certainly didn't help.
Sadly, I think this experience is pretty typical!
Pity!
Thanks for this post Mason! … I started making art at the age of 46 after two long careers. I didn’t go to art school, and am so glad I didn’t, because ALL of my BFA- and MFA-holding friends say there was zero education in the business side of things. Which is surprising to me, I mean isn’t part of the point of school to prepare you for life after school? Part of the reason I’m thriving in my art career is because in my previous lives I ran a small business, and then worked at a very large one (Apple), and got my business education that way. I think that if you’re an artist, you are by definition a small business, and the sooner one realizes that the better.
Yes, exactly! Artists (and writers) *are* small businesses, whether they like it or not. I really think at least one class on the business/financial side of things is a no-brainer!
My son is currently attending University of the Arts in Philadelphia and will be taking an art business class in the fall. It’s not required but he wanted it and said there are many art biz offerings to choose from! 😃
I'm glad to hear this exists at some schools! Thank you.
We had (in my Bachelor Degree in Choreography) classes in how to do funding applications and create publicity packages for our work, but it was a bit thin on the ground. And then the same year we graduated, the Conservative Government got into power and decimated the arts funding.
I think it would be really helpful to have some principles of "why does somebody consider this valuable enough to give money to you" classes - like, what is this thing we call "value", regardless of if its in a business context or more in a non-profit context or whatever.
That's a really interesting point! I agree that it would be super useful for students to think about how/why certain types of work carried financial value in certain periods/settings (and not in others) — it's never just a case of being so brilliant that the world showers you with rewards; it's always that *plus* an economic opportunity/niche, I think?
I'm also interested in how the qualities that make a good artist — good instincts *and* shrewd critical thinking — are, in fact, the exact same qualities that make a good entrepreneur/businessperson, and if we should try to make that connection for students instead of reinforcing the lazy notion that artists are hopeless about money and can never be otherwise.
There was a book I remember flicking through in a bookshop called something like "An MFA is the new MBA" or something like that. It was putting across exactly that second point.
In terms of the thing about value and what is value, bear in mind I'm based in Europe, which has a very different funding culture to North America - artists rely ALOT on public funding and little on what we usually think of as business. In that sense, the "buyer" is the taxpayer, mediated by various layers of decision makers - ministries of culture down to little initiatives.
At all these layers, value needs to be demonstrated - if I am giving out arts funding then I need to prove to those above me in the chain that I am meeting whatever the art-political agenda is at the time.
So I think, this basic level - what is understood as value, why is something seem as more valuable in this or that context, and the other thing less so - is very important. I think it helps to bridge the different contexts in which you can get paid as an artist.
How something is valued will be different if the person holding the purse strings is a billionaire collector looking for paintings to buy with their own money, or a fan at an enthusiast at a zine convention, or if its a city arts department choosing which projects to approve public funding for, but in the end there's still someone (or a committee of people) making a decision about value.
If you understand that, at least minimally, it help you whether you're writing a funding application or schmoozing the billionaire at the opening.
(By the way, the public funding is not typically discussed in terms of financial value, but usually differently fuzzy concepts like "cultural impact" and "legacy" and such).
(By the way to the by the way, the main way I make money as an artist is mostly as az dance dramaturg, which means that performing artists, usually choreographers but often circus and theatre artists, will be working on a piece and they are motivated to not get stuck in their process and to have an outside perspective on their work. So the other artists pay me directly. THEY get paid to have me on board because, as the funders see it, it (hopefully) decreases the risk of the piece just being... well... rubbish...)
Yes, thank you for all these points — this is good stuff for me to think about as I work on my next book, which is all about artists + money (but more the historical context). And I will look at that book you mentioned! I think it's 'A Whole New Mind' by Daniel Pink.
I'm very excited to read you're next book.
When it's ready, a complementary copy will not be refused. (Only joking. Well. Half-joking).
Thank you! Though something tells me the business-for-writers class I never took would frown on me giving away copies to my target readers… 🤑
What an amazing post, Yet again, Mason! Thank you for this!
I loved knowing about Faith Ringgold and I have to say, knowing her is like knowing us- in more ways than one- I studied sciences and laws, moved to writing full time while working as a lawyer, and when I started applying my knowledge and the things I had learned (mostly to know your worth, to evaluate your worth and to know how to ask your worth- all of which are life long skills that I am still learning) in my legal profession to my writing, I was able to "earn". I took extra measures to not be exploited (the degree of exploitation varies for POC writers like me who started as freelancers, solopreneurs, and copywriters) and to find value in my skillset (I am a general specialist, jack of all trades, master of none, is how I would like to put it, I am a multi genre writer with an interdisciplinary focus). Now, I am studying for a professional terminal degree and where I am in my MFA in creative writing and environment, peers and faculty make it a point to talk about the finances involved with writing and the perspectives related to it but certainly, the striving to find answers and navigating it all is still solitary.
“Exuberant pragmatism” — love it! I’ve been a fan of her work for years and am inspired to learn more!
These quilts are stunning, I must have missed them first time round.. I love the practical aspect of rolling 'em up and loading 'em in the trunk. When I went to art school in the 80's, there was course that started in 3rd year about how to navigate and succeed in the art world. The instructor started out the lecture by saying in 10 years less than 10 of us - a lecture hall with 150+ people in it - would still be making art. And of those one might succeed in the art world. It was sobering but I suppose most of the people were like me, thinking to themselves "it'll be me, it'll be me it'll be me!" I never learned to navigate the art world. But I'm still making art.
That is sobering, but it seems like the right approach? Maybe schools are afraid to break the reality of things to students, would rather keep them in the dark…
I was so naïve about so many things in my earlier years. I always knew I was an artist and wanted a life as one. I got a BA in visual arts at a small state university. The education was great except that there was nothing but a mention of "business for artists" in the final senior seminar - when it was too late. I went into the world clueless about how to promote myself, budget, network, etc... and I'm not naturally good at any of those things. It should've been mandatory. I hope it is now.
Just fantastic
Oh, and I studied art in the late 80s, and we definitely had NO business classes. We didn’t even have math. Just art, art history, literature, and one or two comparative religion classes. When we expressed our wish to understand more about life after art school, we were presented with lists of artist residencies we could apply for. It was a time period where our professors were mostly people who had gotten their positions right after graduate school, so they had never had to figure out how to survive as an artist outside of academia.
This seems to be a common experience! And it's tricky because, of course, I don't think that being an artist is really a "career" at all . . . but it does seem like schools could do more to help students understand how money flows in the art world and how those artists who *are* making are doing it / what it looks like to run an art practice.
Wow, I never thought about the quilt-as-portable-project-thus-better-than-stretched-canvas before, that explains a lot about why she embraced this form! Cool!
I saw Faith's retrospective at MCA here in Chicago a few months ago and was inspired to take a quilting class because of her! Her work is so powerful
Reading the comments, it looks like we’re all in the same boat about not being taught the business side of art in school. The only point my profs stressed was to get your masters because that was the only “viable” way to make a living at art.
This post reminds me of a book about Octavia Butler, "A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia Butler" by Lynell George, which reimagines what Butler's life was like as a budding and eventually successful artist. One of the things Butler was obsessed with was money, and how to make money writing stories, and has a ton of notes on that. Your discussion of Ringgold's revelation about quilts as portable has me remember how much thought artists, especially BIPOC women, have to put into turning their work into something sustainable.
Yes! My Substack friend Jillian Hess had a good piece on Butler's notes recently—a similar kind of dogged pragmatism for sure. https://jillianhess.substack.com/p/re-noted-octavia-butlers-essentials
What a wonderful way of overcoming her constraints--the quilts. Or, indeed, work with the constraints to inform her art.
Thank you. I loved learning about Faith Ringgold and her amazing work. You've inspired me to learn much more about her.