The majority of respondents to our March 2008 survey agree, business is a necessary and mandatory part of any artistic career. However, many of our respondents also expressed some resistance to actively learning business concepts and skills. Here is a summary of the comments:
- Business skills are counter-intuitive for artists
- Directly selling your art erodes humility, goodness, or purity
- Artists are not passionate about or motivated by business
- Artists are intimidated by business
- Artists are suspicious of “business” people
- Business has nothing to do with art
- Business takes time away from creating art
- Talent, not business skills, will lead to success
- Fear of expensive scams targeted at artists
I use to have (and still do have) some of these concerns and perspectives. However, thirteen years of working as a professional artists and arts manager has helped me to understand that:
- money is a resource that enables artists to fulfill their vital role in the advancement of society;
- artists add tremendous value to society and should justly receive a fair return for their contribution;
- the romance of the “starving artist” is not that romantic in reality;
- and society loses the benefit of many talented artists and their important perspectives, due to a lack of support and a lack of education in the arena of business.
In fact, many of the consultants we interviewed reported that their clients were so disempowered by a lack of education in business that they bid down the value of their art un-necessarily, which actually helps perpetuate the “myth” of the starving artists. Some consultants claimed to dramatically improve their client’s income, by telling them to up their price and feel confident about it.
“Business know-how is my primary deficiency… because of it… I missed a lot of opportunities. I need to know how to market, negotiate, and strategize for the long term….NEGOTIATION!!! I have struggles with setting a fair price for my work. How do I ‘sell myself’? I don’t know what to ask for… I don’t know how to read a contract. Sometimes I feel like I am signing my life away …I don’t know what to ask for because there is no distribution of information on what is industry standard…I don’t know how to set boundaries. Artist need benchmarks to determine value….principals to navigate these issues. It’s hard to be a dissenter in a community of yes men. I feel the eagerness of the yes men brings the value down for everyone.” – Dancer, New York
Personally, I had a huge wake-up call around the concept of fair valuation back when I was a cast member of STOMP. I was 19 years old when I booked the gig. I had no debt and no real financial responsibilities. It was my very first job and my very first paycheck ($400per week with no benefits). I was on cloud nine…my dreams had come true…I was a bona fide professional NYC artist.
You can imagine my surprise when a fellow cast member organized a strike; just days before we were scheduled to start two simultaneous national tours. He claimed the producers were being unfair, because they were not providing health insurance. My internal monologue went something like this:
“What, are you CRAZY?!!!….Why the h*ll would we strike?…This is the best job ever…We were lucky to get the gig at all…Don’t you know how many people would kill to get this gig?…I would do this gig for free if they asked.”
I was scared to lose the job, but every other cast member decided to back the strike. So, I soon found myself sitting in a Kinko’s video conferencing room, where we gathered to negotiate terms with the executive producer (who happened to be out of town). I sat in the back of the group, frightened and cringing as the executive producer’s face reddened and his temper flared. But guess what? WE GOT OUR HEALTH INSURANCE!!!
Let’s consider this in terms of fair valuation:
Gross Revenue - During my nearly six years with the show (1995-2001), I saw a “h*ll of a lot of money” walk into the theater. We had three casts; each cast performed 8 shows per week (year round); each show sold 350 to 3,000 tickets (depending on the house size); each ticket was between $40-$75 per ticket. Do the math. That’s a lot of gross revenue!
Costs - The producers broke even on their initial investment within the first six months (and the shows been running for 14 years now). The ongoing costs were minuscule next to our Broadway competition. We had junk for a set, thrift store clothes for costumes, and a small “no-name-low-salary” cast, yet we played the same houses as Broadway shows on tour.
Net Profit – Record breaking!!! STOMP is one of the most profitable shows ever produced Off-Broadway.
Do you think we deserved health insurance in the light of the tremendous value we added to the organization? Especially, when the show and tour schedule was sooooo physically demanding? At the time I wanted to curse my fellow cast member for “rocking the boat.” In hind sight, I admire him for having the guts to demand his worth.
To be clear, I am grateful to the producers and directors for giving me the opportunity to perform with the show, so this is not meant to be disrespectful. To be fair, I have no hard figures on the producers’ profit & loss or cost of operations; and this simplified analysis does not account for any risk factor.
Also, the perks evolved as the producers learned that a happy cast was cheaper than an unhappy cast (fewer turnovers, less workers comp claims, no more strikes). They started to provide weekly massages, regular chiropractic services, “fancy” dinners, catering backstage, and a lot of fun excursions. My salary peaked at $50,000 (per year), before I left to start a non-profit theater company. My corporate brethren have expressed surprise at my peak annual salary; they expected it to be much higher. However, as a young twenty-something with no real financial responsibilities, I felt pretty satisfied.
From a broader perspective, I believe that encouraging artists to think entrepreneurially, to utilize some basic small business practices, and to fairly value their work will assist in the broader mission of improving the quality, diversity and distribution of art in this country. A growing mass of artists empowered with the skills and resources to plan, launch, and manage their careers/businesses effectively could have a significant influence on how America values art. The more artists learn to fairly value their work, the more our communities will learn to value it as well.
Arts advocates, educators and politicians have called for better arts funding by arguing that the arts help to: improve the quality of our educational system; decrease crime rates; and improve the overall quality of the average American lifestyle. This fight must take place on a political level, but it also needs to take place at the grassroots. While our advocates are fighting for us in Washington, we need to fight for ourselves by creating value and demanding a fair return. In summary, we must be confident in our worth.
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