With the COVID-19 pandemic’s devastating effect on practicing artists, Assets for Artists has redesigned its business and financial education programming to provide artists with recovery-focused, distance-learning opportunities that largely retain the intimate cohort-focused style of their in-person workshops. These programs allow artists to come together to discuss current challenges, relief efforts, and opportunities for artists’ financial futures.
All workshops are FREE and held via Zoom, with pre-registration required to keep the webinar cohorts at a size that maximizes participation and peer support.
Taxes for Artists & Preparing for a Downturn with Hannah Cole
Tuesday, January 26, 2021 | 3:00 – 5:00 PM
Hannah Cole’s ever-popular tax workshop moves online, with special attention to the challenges artists are facing in the present moment. The founder of Sunlight Tax and an Enrolled Agent with the IRS’s highest certification, in addition to being a long-time working artist, Hannah has a unique vantage point for understanding the financial challenges of freelancers and small creative businesses during this particular time. In this webinar she will discuss the basic tax equation and tax issues specifically relevant to artists, followed by a Q&A period. Suitable for artists of all disciplines. Open to artists across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
Financial Strategies for Artists with Amy Smith
Wednesday, February 17, 2021 | 2:00 – 4:00 PM
Financial shame gets imposed on artists by our socioeconomic structures. In this workshop, Amy Smith cuts through shame and covers the financial building blocks necessary for surviving a career as a freelancer, including personal finance topics such as debt management in a time of crisis, emergency funds, private and governmental safety nets, tax issues, and how to negotiate with lenders. Participants will leave empowered to combat the scarcity mentality and impostor syndrome ever present in the creative sector. Amy Smith is an educator and the Co-Director of Headlong Dance Theater, a Bessie-award winning Philadelphia-based dance theater company. Suitable for artists of all disciplines. Open to artists across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
Inside The Performing Artist’s Studio: COVID Edition with Billy Dean Thomas
Thursday, February 25, 2021 | 2:00 – 4:00 PM
During this time of continued social distancing and gathering limitations, performing artists look to activate their own creative tools, expand their audience, and connect with collaborators and producers in new ways. Performing artists in this session will discuss what they have seen work well and how they’ve stayed motivated despite the limitations of the pandemic. The workshop will take a deep dive into a few artist case studies and hold space to troubleshoot challenges and collectively develop a list of current tools and resources. Artists will leave this workshop with immediate steps to develop performance setups and explore different revenue streams to continue building their practices and engaging with their audiences. Billy Dean Thomas is a Grammy-nominated hip-hop recording artist and composer whose polyrhythmic flows align with intersectional feminism and social justice. Best suited for performing artists. Open to artists across Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Making a Plan in a Time of Uncertainty with Laura Baring-Gould
Thursdays, March 11 & 18, 2021 | 2:00 – 4:00 PM
(this is a TWO-part webinar experience)
Over two webinar sessions, artists will develop the building blocks for a strategic plan for their creative career. This highly interactive course will help artists examine their goals and values, inventory their skills, and practice budgeting with an eye to maximizing opportunity and stability in the midst of crisis. Laura Baring-Gould’s practice includes award-winning installations, public artworks and small bronzes sold in galleries, juried shows and through private commissions. Suitable for artists in all disciplines. Open to artists across Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Priority given first to 2021 A4A Capacity-Building Grantees.
Staying Authentic While Marketing Your Work with Daniel Callahan
Tuesday, March 16, 2021 | 6:00 – 8:00 PM
They say 80% of life is showing up. How one shows up determines the rest. Whether it’s an interview, Google search, Pinterest post, TED talk or a conversation over tea, making sure the impression one leaves leads to interest, opportunity, and growth for both you and your audience is crucial. In this workshop, participants will learn some of the strategies and apply practical knowhow to promote themselves and their services with excellence and authenticity in both in-person and online spaces. Participants will leave the workshop with a fuller understanding of themselves and some tried-and-true methods for presenting and pitching their art and their practice. Daniel Callahan is an award winning transmedia artist, designer and filmmaker. In addition to running his own multimedia production company and art practice, he teaches film and video at Emerson College and The Institute of Contemporary Art. Best suited for visual and media artists. Open to artists across Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Taxes for Artists with Amy Smith
Wednesday, March 17, 2021 | 2:00 – 4:00 PM
For decades, Amy Smith has prepared taxes for artists, taught financial well-being workshops, and coached artists one-on-one. This webinar will cover the basics of taxes for artists, including separating personal and artistic finances, Schedule C filing, self-employment versus employment, and tracking deductions. This webinar will have a particular eye toward artists’ current financial challenges and the ways in which the CARES Act and more recent pandemic relief acts will change taxes this year. Amy Smith is an educator, professional tax-preparer and the former Co-Director of Headlong Dance Theater, a Bessie-award winning Philadelphia-based dance theater company. Suitable for artists of all disciplines. Priority given to artists who live in Essex County, MA. Note: If you do not live in Essex, your registration may not be approved until the week before the webinar, when we’re able to see how many Essex County artists have registered.
Co-Labor Like an Accomplice: An Anti-Racist Lens on Artistic Collaboration with Pampi & Mattia Maurée
Tuesday, March 23, 2021 | 2:00 – 4:00 PM
Sharing and developing work is a vulnerable process, and developing work as a duo or ensemble even more so. Intersections of privilege can bring up fragility as we face our own need for growth. In this interactive webinar, participants will work within the context of anti-racism to re-imagine the collaborative/co-labor process. Together, participants will develop ways to build awareness of power dynamics and historical context and build space for each collaborator’s strengths and struggles. They will learn how to find accountability to one’s self, collaborators, and audience, in order to make the creative process and its final outcome equitable to all. Interdisciplinary composer Mattia Maurée makes work exploring perception, bodies, sensation, trauma, and resilience. Their critically acclaimed film scores have played in thirteen countries. Pampi is a nonbinary second-genx casteD-Bengali culture worker who plays at the intersection of healing and popular education. They develop community-centered art that releases creative potential and drives collective change-making. For any artists who work collaboratively. Open to artists across Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Making a Plan in a Time of Uncertainty with Laura Baring-Gould
Thursdays, April 1, 8 & 15 2021 | 2:00 – 4:00 PM
(this is a THREE-part webinar experience)
Over three webinar sessions, artists will develop the building blocks for a strategic plan for their creative career. This highly interactive course will help artists examine their goals and values, inventory their skills, and practice budgeting with an eye to maximizing opportunity and stability in the midst of crisis. Laura Baring-Gould’s practice includes award-winning installations, public artworks and small bronzes sold in galleries, juried shows and through private commissions. Suitable for artists in all disciplines. Open EXCLUSIVELY to artists in Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin Counties. Priority given first to 2021 ValleyCreates Grantees. Note: If you are not a ValleyCreates grantee, your registration may not be approved until the week before the webinar, when they’re able to see how many grantees have registered.
The Art of Licensing with Allison Cole
Wednesday, April 7, 2021 | 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Allison Cole is an award-winning illustrator, artist and surface designer who never stops creating. Over the past fifteen years, she has worked with a wide variety of clients that span many different industries, including stationery, wall art, giftware, apparel, home furnishings and bolt fabric. In this webinar participants will learn about the industry of surface design and art licensing, and discover how artists can get their designs on a wide variety of products by partnering with different companies. They will learn about marketing and branding their work, reaching clients and setting achievable goals. Best suited for 2D visual artists. Priority given to artists who live in Essex County, MA. Note: If you do not live in Essex, your registration may not be approved until the week before the webinar, when they’re able to see how many Essex County artists have registered.
The Basics of Building a Grant with Yara Liceaga Rojas
Thursdays, April 22 & 29, 2021 | 2:00 – 4:00 PM
(this is a TWO part webinar experience)
Grants and other written proposals can feel daunting without a plan. On the first day of this two-part webinar, Yara Liceaga Rojas will cover the basic building blocks that make up a proposal, including how to get organized, where to search for opportunities, what the review process looks like from the inside, and how to persevere through rejection. The second day of the webinar focuses on a project’s monetary and non-monetary needs and how to build a corresponding proposal budget. Participants will discuss how to set artist fees, as well as the barriers – financial trauma, the devaluing of the arts, and systemic inequities – that come into play when we build our own project budgets. Participants will leave empowered to fight for their worth and prepared to take advantage of creative opportunities. A4A’s fundraising & marketing manager, Molly Rideout, will lend her voice to both portions of this workshop, as both a professional grant-writer and practicing artist. Based between Boston and Puerto Rico, Yara Liceaga Rojas is a writer, performer, and independent grant-writer who works in both English and Spanish. Suitable for artists of all disciplines. Open to artists across Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Making a Plan in a Time of Uncertainty with Laura Baring-Gould
Wednesdays, April 28 & May 5, 2021 | 2:00 – 4:00 PM
(this is a Two-part webinar experience)
Over two webinar sessions, artists will develop the building blocks for a strategic plan for their creative career. This highly interactive course will help artists examine their goals and values, inventory their skills, and practice budgeting with an eye to maximizing opportunity and stability in the midst of crisis. Laura Baring-Gould’s practice includes award-winning installations, public artworks and small bronzes sold in galleries, juried shows and through private commissions. Suitable for artists in all disciplines. Open to artists across Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Priority given first to A4A Capacity-Building Grantees.
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