For those of you who know me, and for those of you who do not (yet), it is not a secret how passionate and determined I have been throughout my professional career in the arts, to help artists not only survive but make a difference with the talents they have. I believe artists are on this earth to make...

There’s a fascinating article up over at the Atlantic today on how the Grateful Dead were utilizing many more contemporary business tactics before they even existed.  Things like allowing their fans to tape and share live shows, social networking and more.  For independent producers, freelancers...

The 2010 Creative Chicago Expo will be held on Saturday, April 10, 2010 from 10am-4pm at the Chicago Cultural Center. This year, TheIAE will be a sponsor of the event. Now in its 7th year, this CCE connects artists and art organizations in all disciplines (music, dance, theater, film, design, new media,...

Happy 10th anniversary SEA! The SEA conference is coming right up and if you have never attended you need to! Come learn more about how to turn your artistic passion into a living from other successful artists. What The Conference Offers In addition to keynote presentations, topic specific sessions...

Earlier this month, The Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Rocco Landesman, was  interviewed on PBS’s NewsHour by Jeff Brown.  If you did not have a chance to hear this, it is a terrific interview and has much to inspire the ideas of artist as innovator/entrepreneur. Rocco Landesman...

It seems that every time I am interviewed by someone who is interested in my work, the question always comes up: “Well, do you still play the clarinet? What do you do as an artist?” For some time now, I have been scratching my head and thinking to myself, “What is it that I am saying...

As our summer programs for The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship™ begin to roll out, I find myself consistently thinking about just how much blue sky and open space there is in the world of entrepreneurship for artists. So many new businesses and new ideas to be implemented that no one else EXCEPT...

Thank you  James Wilney for forwarding this insightful Seth Godin blog post.  When the king of marketing is telling the world that artists are going to finally have a leadership role, believe him! While Seth speaks of this decade being the year of frustration– it is NOT going to be for all of...

Looking to other people for cues as to how you are doing as an artist is a trap. It is a trap for a host of reasons. Here are some: 1.    People are not always honest. 2.    Sometimes people do not have good intentions. 3.    When the praise is good, it is never good enough and when it is bad,...

When you engage in the act of creating something new, if that thing develops roots and begins to take hold, you will find a mix of public reactions. You will likely hear lots of support from friends, family, colleagues, peers, well-wishers and others. Simultaneously, you will likely encounter sour pusses,...

If you crave celebrity, this post is for you. It is no surprise when I say that our country is obsessed with celebrity. Celebrity sells and celebrity images are pumped out to the point of exhaustion. I think that most young artists, if honest with themselves, would admit to having celebrity lust. They,...

Uncle Eddie is drinking a little too much and grandma can’t hear. The kids tore the hinges off my office door and another took a crap behind my daughter’s playhouse. Yea! It’s Thanksgiving time! That time of year that many of us cling to the possibility that this time…it will be magical (and...

More than sixty activist artists, community artists, and creative organizers took part in a conversation with the White House. The public dialogue on the arts and our national economic and cultural recovery is one in which all of us should and can have a voice.  Some of our most thoughtful cultural...

In my last article, “Culture, Crisis and Recovery”, I mentioned a forthcoming conference  I’d be attending in New Orleans convened by Imagining America, a collective of public scholars from a hundred universities across the USA and Canada.  I have just returned home and I am happy to tell you...

What the world needs more than ever is to discover who we are. Do you know who you are? Still holding your one-way ticket there? Big hearts come from Art. YOUR IMAGINATION won’t dream small. Wear your art on your sleeve with me. Let me see you soar into the person you most want to become. Today...

Are you ready to learn how to dance your way through a land mine field for your best entrepreneurial idea? Or perhaps you need a better one to be willing to try…. Remember my friends from my post An Entrepreneurial Lesson and a Little Bit of Magic? Well, they seem to have fox trotted right past...

In September of 2010 The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship will open at 3020 N Lincoln Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. As an independent but collaborative effort with Jim Hart’s Austin Conservatory of Professional Arts, IAE will be devoted to the development of the artist as entrepreneur. Lead by...

While there are lots of ways to feel like your batteries are super charged in life, I think the only one that really works is following your heart. Unlike your camera, computer, watch, or the clock you own that needs batteries to run, you are self-empowered and come with a life long battery included. You...

I love Rodney Hatfield. I bought one of his paintings when I was in Santa Fe this past spring at my favorite gallery- Selby Fleetwood. His work, The Girl From Someplace Else, hangs over my desk and I just love her binocular view. She is my entrepreneurial gal- always looking for opportunity through...

This article is about ETA blogger David Cutler and his new book, The Savvy Musician. It was written by Andrew Druckenbrod and ran in in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Sunday August 9th, 2009. The picture was illustrated by Stacy Innerst/Post-Gazette. I highly recommend David’s book if you want to learn...