ArtSake

This January-May, a group of artist-entrepreneurs will hold a series of workshops in Jamaica Plain called Focusing Your Art Career. We’re delighted to welcome one of the workshop leaders, Jessica Burko, to share keen insights into optimizing your online presence as an artist.

Getting More Out of Getting Online by Jessica Burko

So, you make stuff.

You are an artist/designer/craftsperson/artisan. You also have a blog/website/online shop and frequently update your Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Pinterest feed/page/profile/boards. You stay connected with your fellow creative professionals using your MacBook/iPad/smart phone and you feel like you are doing everything right, but the sales/press/shows aren’t increasing like you thought they would by now.

Huh.

It sounds like you are keeping up with the latest greatest technology, but not really utilizing it to its full potential to maximize your full potential. Don’t get lost in an avalanche of meaningless chatter while you engage, just be sure to update regularly, make targeted connections, and create significant dialogue. Closer attention to what you are doing online, in addition to where and when you are doing it, will help you focus and make the most of your time.

Instead of… spending all day tweeting your every move
Try… tweeting consistently but meaningfully by sharing relevant news and links about your work and the work of others in your field.

Instead of… posting photos of your nephew’s birthday party on Facebook
Try… creating a fan page that you update several times a week with new work.

Instead of… blogging about irrelevant topics
Try… publishing articles related to the type of work that you do, or a how-to article with step-by-step photos.

Instead of… friending every unknown who sends you a request
Try… just friending people you know personally, would like to know, or people who are in your field.

Instead of… following everyone who follows you
Try… to follow only those people who tweet items meaningful to you, and make sure to occasionally retweet what they share.

Having a strong online presence can be extremely beneficial to your art, no matter what type of media you explore. The key is to make the most of your time online, and not get distracted by the everything swirling around you. Falling down a rabbit hole is very easy to do with so many connections leading here, there, and everywhere. If you find that you’re spending too much time friending your pals from kindergarten, and not enough time in your studio making your actual artwork, try setting a timer so that you spend only a specified amount of time online, and the rest of your day using your hands for more tangible endeavors.

Generating opportunities takes effort, and marketing what you do to the right audience is more than half the battle. Online networking is an excellent way to increase your visibility, create buzz, gain sales, and expand your circle to lead to any number of exciting new paths. You may be the master of your virtual domain, but there are lots of other ways to market your work and develop your professional muscles while you flex your texting thumbs. There’s a new series of marketing and business workshops for creative entrepreneurs called The Focusing Series.

Developed by Boston artist Anna Koon, this series includes such pertinent topics as, How to Setup and Sell Online, Time Management for Creative People, The Art of Branding and Photo-Documenting Your Art. For a PDF with full details on this series click here.

Jessica Burko is a professional artist, independent curator, and the Executive Director of Boston Handmade. Beyond exhibiting, selling, and promoting her own artwork she has worked as a professional Arts Marketer since 1997 and since 2002 has operated Burko Design offering marketing and PR services to artists and arts organizations to assist them in achieving their professional goals. Burko is located in Boston, MA, has a BFA in Photography from the Rhode Island School of Design, and an MFA in Imaging Arts & Sciences from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

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Bring on the tryptophan (or, if you prefer, an equally drowse-inducing vegan counterpart). Amidst the travels/tables/tackles/toils, here are a handful of links to keep you arts-clicking from here to Black Friday.

Creative Capital has launched a blog to build the national artists community from scrappy underdog to fierce contender. Getting strong now! Read this post on must-haves for your artist website.

Meanwhile, the fine, artists-supporting folks at Pew Center for Arts and Heritage have posted some practical financial advice for artists, care of choreographer and past Pew Fellow Amy Smith.

If you’re an admirer of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival but, in your heart of hearts, harbor the feeling that the 2011 festival was missing one very specific event – yours – now’s your chance. Submit a proposal by Dec. 1 to participate in the 2012 Massachusetts Poetry Festival, which will be in Salem, April 20-22, 2012.

Former literary agent and current author/literary blogger Nathan Bransford diagnoses some common writing maladies, such as catching the Catcher in the Rye voice or being plagued by adverbs-itis. Funny stuff.

Congratulations to Jennifer Haigh (Hull), Suzanne Matson (Newton), and Sabina Murray (Amherst) for winning 2012 NEA Literature Fellowships! We humbly note that MCC has funded both Suzanne (1998) and Sabina (2002) in the past, and numerous other current NEA grantees (Amber Dermont, Tayari Jones, and Benjamin Percy) have been past reviewers in our Artist Fellowships Program.

Boston’s Grub Street, Inc. writers’ service organization is moving its HQ. Currently on 160 Boylston, they’re moving down (or is it up?) the block to the Steinway Building, adjacent to the newly christened Edgar Allan Poe Square. The move means more floor space, accommodating a “quadrupling of our programmatic offerings, and the implementation of many exciting new initiatives.”

Umbrage has shared a clip from Yabat Ida Le Lij, a film by Eric Gottesman and members of Sudden Flowers (an Ethiopian film collective started by Gottesman, comprised of children affected by AIDS/HIV). Umbrage Editions is publishing Sudden Flowers, a compendium of Eric’s work with the project, in Fall 2012.

Meanwhile, jazz composer/guitarist Eric Hofbauer shares his recent experience participating in the Penn Ar Jazz Festival in France, an experience that has “awoken a fierce confidence along with a new urgency to play and share my music with as many people as I can.” See some of that musical urgency in the clip at the top of the page, from Eric’s recent performance at Johnny D’s in Somerville.

Quip lit wit and win. Concoct a clever tagline for Carolina Quarterly and get a year’s subscription to the literary journal!

Finally, for a unique arts experience this Thanksgiving weekend, attend the Short Story Film Festival at Gallery X in New Bedford. Forty live action and animated films from 23 countries will screen on Saturday, November 26. If sweet potato overload has got you too groggy to follow long plots, don’t despair: each film is five minutes or under.

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We’ve been exploring some of the practical issues working artists face in their creative careers.

We asked curators, arts leaders, and visual artists: What’s the first thing you’d tell to an artist looking for new opportunities to present his or her work?

Brian Crete, Creative Director and Gallery Administrator, UFORGE Gallery
It’s best to start slow and have a clear objective. I encourage artists to focus on gaining exposure rather than putting their energy into immediate financial success. Developing a proper foundation and being able to self promote is key for any serious artist. Social media and websites are important tools for today’s artist. When approaching curators, galleries and creative spaces, artists need to remember they’re on an interview, so be prepared. Learn about the organization’s mission as this will help clarify if an opportunity is good for you. Group shows, open critiques and reviews are some of the best ways to gain exposure and build your network. Be present, enjoy the experience and take risks since unknown opportunities may be on the horizon.

Paula Tognarelli, Executive Director, Griffin Museum of Photography
It is about building relationships with curators. It takes time, and success does not usually happen overnight. An artist today has to be able to market his/her work, yet at the same time be mindful and respectful of a curator’s time. I often encourage artists to keep me informed through exhibit postcards or emails. I don’t want to get an email every week but once every three months is not intrusive to me. An artist should ask how a curator would like to remain informed. I also encourage artists to take part in opportunities that provide exposure for them. Portfolio reviews, auctions and group exhibitions are good ways to begin to get work out into the public sphere. Today it is imperative for any serious artist to have a website that is current and presents work in an informative way.

Carolyn Hulbert and Stephanie Goode, Founders of the Rifrákt Artist Collective
Carolyn: Communicate with other artists and/or collectives. Do research; see where and how other artists are presenting their work, locally, nationally and internationally, through websites, blogs and art openings. This is why I love being part of a collective – everyone shares what they know and it creates immense room for rapid growth both artistically and art career wise. Something I constantly do is research other artists. If I get into a show, I look everyone up, especially when I like the work, or it’s similar to mine. I read their statement, bio and artist resume. Perhaps they’ve been part of a biennial that’s right up my alley. Or if it’s a local artist, maybe they’re part of an interesting collective or they’ve shown at a nearby gallery that specializes in emerging artists that I haven’t heard of. Sometimes it’s not about new opportunities as much it’s about your communication skills. Every showing artist needs a contact list, in short, people that enjoy your work and will show up to an event. I’ve seen artists have great opportunities and almost no one shows, and I’ve seen artists show at pizza shops/cafes have an amazing turnout and sell almost everything. Communication is key.

Stephanie: I would first think about how you want to be portrayed in the public eye. Is it a DIY underground vibe you’re after or are your eyes set on high art spaces? It’s not unattainable to aim high but it’s easier to start with more feasible venues. There are so many cafes, restaurants, and other venues to host work at besides the traditional gallery scene. I think starting there helps with the building blocks of how to communicate with your audience, the curator, and how to present yourself as an artist to strangers. You learn a lot, surprisingly.

Candice Smith Corby, Artist and Director of the Cushing-Martin Gallery at Stonehill College
I have two vantage points – one as an artist and one as a college gallery curator, and my opinions and actions are influenced by both of my positions. As a curator, I really appreciate a submission that is very organized. There should be a well-written polite cover letter addressed to the correct person with correct spelling. Artwork examples should be good images that are described well and in detail in an image list. They should not be folded and wadded up inside an envelope that is too small. I prefer to receive a physical submission rather than through email, however I do look at websites that artists refer to via email. As an artist, I think it is important to represent yourself professionally with a clear and concise submission packet. Follow submission criteria or you could be disqualified. Make sure the venue is right for your work but send as many submissions out as possible, knowing that one will eventually be welcomed. Make sure the work is consistent and the images are good representations. From both angles, quality is what rings true, even when taste wavers.

Image: Installation view of VISUAL LYRICS, the November 2011 show at UFORGE Gallery. UFORGE uses an innovative monthly assignment model to spark creativity and encourage unique art submissions.

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The Boston Phoenix has an interesting article on how microfunding is proving to be an effective alternative form of support for artists.

Boston-based groups like Feast Mass, the Awesome Foundation, and the Cambridge Center for Adult Education’s CSArt program aim to make community-sourced funding more democratic and accessible. In a cash-strapped economy where arts funding has been deprioritized, such solutions have been particularly valuable.

Read more. One friendly clarification: the article references our Artist Fellowships but suggests that their scope is limited to full-time artists. (“Traditional arts grants cater to full-time visual artists… whereas community-based micro-grants are accessible to all.”)

In fact, our fellowships are not limited to any career level. Grant decisions are based solely on the strength of the work submitted, not on the resume or credentials of the artists submitting.

In other words: yes. Yes to creative, alternative funds to support artists. Yes to continued support from the state for individual artists. Yes to new art. And, while I’m at it, yes to the Clay Pigeons by Kate Marten, included above. (Because I think they are cool looking.)

Image: Kate Martens, CLAY PIGEONS (2008), Terra cotta and underglaze, 8x4x3 in (each). Kate is one of the artists selected for the inaugural CSArt Program at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education.

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As an artist, is it better to earn your living in a field related to your creative work? Unrelated to your creative work? Solely through your creative work?

In our conversations with artists, we’ve asked: What’s the best/worst day job you’ve ever had? Artists’ answers often provide insight to the conundrum of how to make money while thriving as an artist.

Among some of the “bests” artists have cited are jobs with some connection to their artistic practice. Elizabeth Hughey, a poet, said that her best day job was “traveling to International Book Fairs (Frankfurt, London) to sell the rights to translate books into different languages.” Similarly, Tara L. Masih said that working for Bedford Books taught her “all the skills that helped me branch out as a freelancer and then develop and edit (The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction).”

On the other hand, working in a related field has its pitfalls, possibly draining creative energy best reserved for the art. Photographer Paris Visone counts working as a wedding photographer as tied for worst with selling sausages (her tongue, I would guess, only partially embedded in her cheek).

Recently, I was discussing local children’s book creators with a librarian at a Cambridge Public Library, and during our discussion, I handed her a book I wanted to check out: 39 Uses for a Friend, which is illustrated by Rebecca Doughty (Painting Finalist ’10). Rebecca, it turned out, was not only local – she was, at that moment, behind the library counter. I learned that Rebecca works part-time as a librarian for the Cambridge Public Library system. She told me that she was no longer creating children’s books, at least for now. Why did she choose library work over creating children’s books – work more closely related to her painting?

“Over the years I’ve had many different kinds of jobs to support my artwork,” Rebecca said in a subsequent email exchange, “and always preferred those I didn’t bring home with me at the end of the day. It was by chance that I illustrated my first children’s book, and then being in the publishing world took on a life of its own. Eventually it was too difficult to have two creative lives, both self-generated, and both requiring all my energy. There was also the uncertainty of working contract to contract. So I had to make a choice, and painting came first. For me, life is happier when commerce isn’t involved in the making of things, and the studio remains, as much as possible, a free zone. I also missed the social aspect of going to a job outside the studio, and was lucky to find part-time work at the Cambridge Public Library. Now I work in a lively, not-for-profit place surrounded by books. It’s possible that I’ll make a book again someday, but, for now, this is simpler, and saner.”

Of course, unrelated work is sometimes too unrelated, or just plain stultifying, exhausting, or otherwise soul-crushing. Some of the “worst” jobs: picking Styrofoam peanuts out of fields of mud (William Pierce), stamping cigarette cartons (Scott Tulay), or detasseling corn (Kathleen Volp).

Often, making money solely through artistic work is seen as the ultimate goal, but this can have its own challenges, such as the potential for work to be shaped by commercial necessities or the sheer difficulty of making ends meet.

Perhaps writer Michael Downing put it best: “Writing is definitely the best/worst day job I’ve ever had.”

So, what day job has worked for you (or, what hasn’t)? What do you think makes for a good day job as an artist?

Read about the best and worst day jobs artists have discussed on ArtSake.

Image: Rebecca Doughty, DRAG (2009), acrylic on wood, 9×8 in.

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The 5th Annual Artists Under the Dome Event at the Massachusetts State House, Nurses Hall, Thursday, November 17, 2011 (10 AM-3 PM) is an opportunity for Massachusetts artists working in all disciplines (visual arts, literary, performing, crafts, new media, etc.) to meet with their elected officials and to hear legislators discuss issues around the arts in Massachusetts. It’s also an opportunity for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to thank artists for all for they contribute to our state’s economy and quality of life. Massachusetts is the only state in the country to have such an event.

The event is organized by the Massachusetts Artists Leaders Coalition. There will also be networking opportunities, information sharing for artists in communities and for teaching artists. Find more information and RSVP for this event.

Even if you can’t come on the 17th, you can still participate.

Image: Massachusetts State House, Boston, Massachusetts. Photo taken by Daderot, hosted on Wikipedia.

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Highly suggested: Think/Do/Experience one, some, or all of the following things in the next few days:

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 12 (tonight) Alice Bouvrie‘s (Film & Video Fellow ’11) film Thy Will Be Done (see a clip, above) screens at the Marran Theatre at Lesley University, 7 PM, free. This documentary tells the story of male-to-female transsexual Sara Herwig in her journey to ordination in the Presbyterian Church. The artist and cast will be on hand for discussion.

THURSDAY, OCT. 13 Nathalie Miebach (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’09) speaks at the Newton Senior Center, hosted by the Newton Art Association, free, 7:30-9:30 PM, coffee/discussion begins at 7 PM. Nathalie, who was recently featured at the Fuller Craft Museum and was a Global TED Fellow, transmutes weather data into 3D woven structures and musical multi-media art. This chance to get a glimpse into her brain is not to be missed.

FRIDAY, OCT. 14-SATURDAY, OCT. 15 The Think Art Conference takes place at Boston University. The event, which is free and open to the public and is organized by Toni Pepe (Photography Finalist ’11), is an interdisciplinary conference that brings together scholars and artists. This year, the participants explore the manipulation of memory and how the individual (and society) remembers.

SATURDAY, OCT. 15 The Boston Book Festival is a free, day-long schedule of events, readings, workshops, and other bookish happenings at Copley Square. While it’s hard to pick out a favorite happening among the power-packed day, this is pretty super: The Drum, an audio literary magazine founded and edited by Henriette Lazaridis Power (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ’06), is sponsoring PERAMBULIT. PERAMBULIT lets you experience a fictional narrative of the Boston Book Festival by listening to stories as you walk along the festival’s routes. Find out more about how you can hear stories by Ethan Gilsdorf, Jenna Blum, Daphne Kalotay, Matthew Pearl, Steven Brykman, Catherine Elcik, Becky Tuch, and Henriette Lazaridis Power, created especially for the Boston Book Festival’s Copley Square location.

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Artists’ careers can take many trajectories. In our conversations with working artists, we’ve asked: Can you point to any one decision you’ve made as an artist that has had the most impact on your career?

Joan Leegant, writer
Probably the smartest thing I did was to enroll in a master’s program in writing, a low-residency MFA at Vermont College, now the Vermont College of Fine Arts. I was 47 years old and had been writing for 7 or 8 years and needed a more rigorous way of dealing with what I was doing. The beauty of the low-residency model is that, other than going to the campus twice a year for 10-day residencies, you are basically on your own, writing a lot of fiction, but with a mentor, a serious working writer who becomes your dedicated reader. After 2 years of this, with 4 different mentors, you can learn a lot about yourself as a writer.

Patrick Gabridge, playwright, writer
In 1990, I was living near New York (in New Jersey), and decided to self-produce my first full-length play off-off Broadway. I partnered with a director to start a small theatre company to produce the show and rented a theatre for a weekend, helped find the cast, designed and built the set, all while in the midst of moving to Denver with my wife, Tracy. The production taught me as much about writing and producing, in the space of about 8 weeks, as I could have learned in graduate school (for less money). It also gave me the confidence to take similar leaps in the future.

Steven Bogart, playwright and director
Hmm, well I decided to stay in education (as a teacher) and that has had its ups and downs as I’ve struggled to find time for my own personal artistic endeavors. And I’ve wondered what a professional life in the theater would have meant, but at the same time, I have created some amazing and mind blowing theater with my students that I probably would not have been able to do professionally and pay my bills. I love creating with my students, and my work in education has really informed my approach and ideas about theater – what it is, and what it could be. Working with students keeps giving back to me in wonderful ways. I’m still connected with many of my alums and it has been personally and artistically rewarding. (Ed. note: Bogart recently left his full-time teaching position and now teaches part-time as he concentrates on his career as an artist.)

Huckleberry Delsignore, crochet artist
A little over a year ago I lost my job. Little did I know at the time, it was the best thing that could happen to me. My children were in school full time and I had only one thing I needed to focus on: making my art career happen. I crocheted as much as possible, kept my web site fresh and up to date, and did my best to let people know what I was up to. A good web site is an amazing resource these days. I guess the one decision was to take myself seriously as an artist and to work harder than I knew possible to make cool stuff happen.

Adam Schwartz, writer
To be the best father possible to my daughter. I adopted my daughter in 1996, and that happened to be the last year in which I published a story before my (2011) novel came out. I didn’t have much time to write between having a demanding teaching job and being fully involved in my daughter’s life. I’m reluctant to say, though, that it had a negative impact on my writing career. I’m sure that the experience of being a parent will enrich my writing for years to come.

Leslie Williams, poet
I wish I could say I made “decisions” in the sense of strategy, or even in being fully conscious about the work of poetry. The main thing for me has been sticking to it over the long haul, which is not really a choice, as anyone who writes poems knows – even in the dry spells there are little nagging lines and phrases in your head that call you back. For me it’s been crucial to find a group of serious working poets to meet with on a semi-regular basis. I was fortunate enough to stumble into the most magical summer group the first summer we moved here and that too has really sustained me.

Holly Lynton, photographer
When I was an undergraduate at Yale, I began taking classes in photography. Initially, I was into creative writing and thought I’d be a writer. Immediately hooked on photography, I found a natural ease in making ironic and humorous street photos, very much smitten with the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson. After a year, I hit a rut. This lasted for three semesters, and each semester I thought about giving up photography, but each semester I found one negative I wanted to print and reasoned that I couldn’t print it without darkroom access. I’d only have dark room access if I signed up for the next photography class, and so I did, and I persevered. In my last semester at Yale, I had a breakthrough in my work that thankfully moved me out of that rut… It’s those moments that add up and have impact.

Jamie Cat Callan, writer
A long time ago, I decided to let go of the debilitating idea of becoming an overnight sensation. I let go of the notion of the acclaimed debut novel. I no longer care about being the next new thing. Rather, I’ve embraced the idea that I can be that gal who has been quietly and consistently writing all along (since 1973) while raising a daughter, making a living, moving around, experiencing all the unexpected ups and downs of living a full life. The overnight sensation ship sailed long ago, but I am here and this is my journey.

Laura Harrington, playwright, writer
There’s one decision I’ve had to make several times that seems like it’s had the most impact. It’s a decision that’s often been made in very dark times. And that decision is simply to keep going, to keep writing.

What decision had the most impact on your career? Leave a comment and join the conversation.

Image: Daniel Ranalli, SNAIL DRAWING/DOUBLE LINE START (2007), snail drawing in sand, 20×28 in. Images from Daniel’s Snail Drawing series are included in Dance/Draw, the major fall exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts/Boston, running through January 16, 2012. Daniel is also participating in the ICA’s 75 Artists for the 75th exhibition, as well.

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Still from THE WAKE, a film-in-progress by Jesse Kreitzer, currently fundraising on Kickstarter

So, you have a creative project (a yet unfinished film, music album, novel, interactive crochet installation, etc.) and you want funding so you can adequately – nay, spectacularly – realize your vision.

Instead of relying solely on traditional grant programs (such as our Artist Fellowships or Local Cultural Council grants), which may or may not match up with your project’s timeline, you might consider using a crowdfunding web site as part of your fundraising strategy.

Artists crowdfund by soliciting donations from many individual supporters, directing donations to one central web presence. There are a number of crowdfunding web sites for artists to choose from, which generally have these things in common:

• they make it easy for individuals to make tax-deductible donations;
• they ask artists to set a fundraising goal;
• they provide helpful and novel ways to interact with supports, including the ability to offer rewards to donors;
• and a small percentage of the donations go to the crowdfunding site to pay for the service.

What sites are out there, and what are their particular facets and emphases?

Kickstarter
The most prominent crowdfunding site is Kickstarter. Artists create campaigns for their creative project with a funding goal. Artists offer creative rewards (say, an embroidered t-shirt or a DVD of the project or a personalized portrait), increasing the appeal of the reward based on the donation amount.

Things to keep in mind about Kickstarter: if campaigns do not meet their fundraising goal, the artist gets nothing, so the incentive is high to drum up support. Also, project campaigns need to be approved by Kickstarter to launch.

Want to see some samples? Look no further than these Massachusetts projects:

• Jesse Kreitzer (Film & Video Finalist ’11) is raising funds for his fascinating feature film project The Wake, a unique and uncompromising story about grief, secrecy, and mortality.
• Tod Machover of the MIT Media Lab is raising funds for a new album.
• Matthew Mitchell of Amherst has a campaign to support his powerful 100 Faces painting project.
• Curator and Panopticon Gallery owner Jason Landry is raising funds to publish a Harold Feinstein photography retrospective.

United States Artists Projects
Another major crowdfunding site is United States Artists Projects, from United States Artists, a foundation that funds individual artists through prestigious fellowships. USA Projects is similar to Kickstarter in many ways, with tax-deductible donations, creative rewards, and an all-or-nothing fundraising goal.

Where USA Projects differs from Kickstarter is that it has a distinct focus on highly accomplished artists. Instead of needing to have projects approved by the web site, artists need to have either won a fellowship from United States Artists or one of its organizational partners, such as Creative Capital, Guggenheim Foundation, Pew Fellowships, Pollock-Krasner, and many others (BTW – winning a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship enables artists to use USA Projects!). So USA Projects do have a special prestige. Also, some organizations offer matching funds when “their” artists raise funds on USA Projects.

Recently, Andrew Bujalski (Film & Video Fellow ’03) raised over $50,000 for his next film, currently titled Computer Chess on USA Projects.

IndieGoGo
Yet another crowdfunding web site is IndieGoGo. Originally just for films, this site is now open to all projects. What differentiates it from the others? No invites or prior awards are needed to create a project campaign. Unlike the all-or-nothing approach of Kickstarter and USA Projects, you get to keep all of the money you raise (minus site fees), even if you don’t meet your goal.

Local projects include a stage adaptation of George V. Higgins’s seminal Boston crime novel The Friends of Eddie Coyle, to be staged at Club Oberon in Cambridge, and a children’s book project by artist Peter Simeti. Past MCC awardee Shawn Cody (Playwriting Fellow ’07) has a campaign to bring his musical theatre work The Water Dream to Broadway.

And, another site, RocketHub, is similar to IndieGoGo in that no invite is needed and you get to keep all funds raised. RocketHub also hosts other opportunities that users can audition for, called LaunchPad Opportunities.

Go Totally DIY
Not a joiner? You could also take the principles of crowdfunding and set up your own campaign. You’ll need a PayPal account, a home base (like a web site homepage or a blog), and a group that will act as an organizational fiscal sponsor so that donations will be tax deductible. In film, the Center for Independent Documentaries and Filmmakers Collaborative both serve as fiscal sponsors for film projects, and the New York organization Fractured Atlas serves as fiscal sponsor for artist projects in all disciplines, and throughout the country.

You can even include creative rewards and frequent updates to your donors – you’ll just have to handle the infrastructure of these actions on your own.

Image: still from THE WAKE, a film-in-progress by Jesse Kreitzer, currently fundraising on Kickstarter.

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We just added a page called the Working Artist’s Toolkit. It’s an assembly of links to all of the online resources MCC has to offer artists, as well as a collection of some of the posts on ArtSake dealing with specific art-related issues. So, check it out, use what’s useful, and get to work.

Oftentimes, artists contact us (MCC) looking for funding and career opportunities in Massachusetts. Obviously, we point them toward our own programs – and now we’ll point them toward the Working Artist’s Toolkit – but where else? Well, MCC collaborates with, is a neighbor to, and/or is a big fan of a number of organizations that offer some great resources for artists, online or otherwise. So we often refer artists to the very places we’re listing below, all of which advance the work and careers of artists, usually serving all or multiple creative disciplines.

(For the purposes of this post, we’ll focus on general — rather than discipline-specific — organizations focused on artists. In future posts we’ll explore groups with more specific focuses.)

One of the best ways to find organizations and opportunities in your region is by perusing the listing of projects funded by MCC’s Adams Art Program. The projects funded by Adams grow the creative economy, often by advancing the careers and entrepreneurial acumen of artists. The funding list is divided by region, so it’s a quick way to find useful projects and resources in your area.

ARTmorpheus is a Boston-based, artist-driven group providing career growth opportunities for artists. The organization runs workshops for artists, with topics including financial management, arts marketing, and branding. The best way to stay abreast of the org’s offerings is to go to the web site and sign up for the email announcements, which list upcoming opportunities.

Arts and Business Council Greater Boston is a local chapter of Americans for the Arts that strengthens the arts community through legal, business, and educational services, such as Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (in which lawyers volunteer their time to help artists with legal issues) and Artists’ Professional Toolbox (a nine-month career development course for artists).

artSource is an index of artist resources from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, that includes employment opportunities, grant and residency listings, calls to artists, and more.

Assets for Artists, administered by the super-duper MASS MoCA with a host of snazzy partnering and sponsoring orgs (including us), offers a range of services to advance artists entrepreneurially and financially, including home ownership assistance.

Berkshire Creative is an organization advancing the Berkshires creative economy, with strong support for artists. The organization has numerous seminars and opportunities for artists – mainly in the Berkshire region.

Massachusetts Artists Leaders Coalition is an artist-run organization looking out for the interests of individual artists, with an emphasis on public policy. MALC hosts Artists Under the Dome, an annual event for artists at the Massachusetts State House (next taking place November 17, 2011), so artists can communicate directly with legislators as well as learn more about their government, communities, and local issues for artists.

Mira’s List is a great blog sharing funding, residency, and other terrific information for artists. Sign up for the RSS feed and get a periodic helping of opportunities.

New England Foundation for the Arts is the regional arts agency with numerous programs for artists, such as support for public art and Meet the Composer, in which New England organizations can apply for funding to host/commission works by individual composers.

Transcultural Exchange is an organization exploring international residency opportunities for artists, most notably through an impressive biennial conference.

VSA Arts of Massachusetts offers services, programs, and support in the area of arts and disability.

What web sites and orgs do you find useful as an artist? Leave a comment and share the link.

Image: Sue Aygarn-Kowalski, HAMMER (2009), photo by Dean Powell.

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