Mom's mass was held at this beautiful church.

Since her passing I have been gifted with a string of  JOY-FILLED miracles. There is no other explanation for WHY my life has ALL OF A SUDDEN lite up like a giant birthday cake with stunning sparklers and firecrackers going off. Maybe mom’s birthday card after all has arrived and her soul has been saved.  Let me explain.

For starters a university who I will not for awhile be able to name,  has stepped forward and is ready to explore how they can become The IAE’s  academic accreditation partner. Breathtaking all by itself and THE VERY NEXT THING we MOST need right now.

A general manager from a mid level theater but 7 blocks down the street from where the IAE will open, emailed me the other day and offered to donate rehearsal space to the school.  While  Flourish Studio’s is an IDEAL classroom setting, it is NOT an artistic noise producing one. We have been pondering how we would solve this problem close to our location and then this magically appears.

Next came a wonderful opportunity for me personally to present a workshop at the 2nd annual P.A.V.E. conference at ASU. I have always wanted to meet Ben Cameron from the Doris Duke foundation and now I will finally be able to! I am so honored to participate.

Last Thursday I had lunch with the chief editor of an established AND up-and-coming Chicago based magazine. She asked if she could help me edit my revised book proposal to repackage the book I wrote 3 years ago that did not sell; Build a Blue Bike. She wants to help because she believes my book needs to be published by a big publisher and wants to do what she can to help me finally get it sold.

Incredibly, as we were returning to her parking lot, and I was about to pull into the first open parking stall to drop her off, there was a Blue SCHWINN Bike chained to the fence.   I have a 1960′s Blue SCHWINN Bike I bought for my book still in boxes in my garage, and a whole presentation I created around the material in the book that involves taking it apart and putting it back together. There is also a blue bike that roles in on my flash intro to LisaCanning.com. It too is a Blue SCHWINN. I intentionally wanted a Schwinn because the bike I rode as a child was a blue Schwinn. I even had an exchange with the marketing people at Schwinn to gain access to their image files so that I could use their brand of bike to promote my book, when it was published.

According to my new publisher friend, there has never been a bike before chained to the fence in the lot; nor have they EVER seen this bike before. ( For those of you who don’t know-Build a Blue Bike was picked up almost three years ago by NY literary agent Susan Schulman and never sold; Susan has represented Richard Florida and Julia Cameron.)

In hind site I now realize what Build a Blue Bike was missing- a hook. And dear reader, my mother, through her death, has given me the hook my book NEEDS –the stories I am now FREE to share about our dirty little family secrets.  My mothers creativity in life and through her death is simply otherworldly; breathtaking. As spectacular as all my mom could be.

This week has TRULY offered me DEEP and PROFOUND blessings. The passing of my mother, and my tormented relationship with her clearly, finally, undeniably has ended through her physical death. I TRULY feel a profound peace and gratitude for this to have happened to me. I feel 20 pounds lighter and free. I can FINALLY TELL MY STORIES ABOUT HER TO HELP TRANSFORM so many artists creativity into something valu-ABLE; NOT rudderless!

And yes, while it made me sad that so few people loved my mother enough to say their goodbyes at her funeral other than my husband, my ex-husband, my brother, the mother of my best friend when I was 10, four of my friends and two of my mothers;  I have to tell you that all of this last week has offered me NOTHING short of divinely sent miracles.

You see, when you PLAN to clear your life of the debris that is IN YOUR WAY to lead the LIFE YOU WERE MEANT  to live– it’s not total destruction and annihilation you find at YOUR ground zero- but instead the source of true miracles that will define you for the rest of time. And trust me you will know when you have arrived at your Ground Zero and when your transformation has begun.

Although I do have to tell you that I felt as though the heavens above were playing a little joke with me on Thursday afternoon when I went to pick up my mothers remains at the funeral directors office.

When I arrived at the building, I walked down the hall the wrong way.  Quickly I realized that not only was the building being dug up all around it- just like ground zero- but that indeed the funeral directors office was inside DePaul University’s Rosemont Campus and was next to be torn down. I successfully helped build a program at DePaul but it was never the arts entrepreneurship program I had hoped it would be.  Symbolically, the school I had taught at for 10 years was being dug up and replaced by a casino.  My school FOR NEW LEARNING IN THE ARTS will NEVER BE REPLACED BY A CASINO! 

So here I am picking up my mothers remains at my true ground zero. All that preceded this moment was meant to help me grow but not meant to be permanent. All that is unfolding before me NOW IS my true and undeniable destiny. THIS IS one of the hardest lessons to learn, really; how to truly change our destiny through the choices we make and the emotional shifts we must learn.

Are you ready to learn?  Are you ready to find your rudder? Won’t you please apply to the IAE, or help us promote the IAE to others you know, or add our button badge link to your website?

Isn’t it time for ALL ARTISTS to learn how to make THEIR VERY OWN MIRACLES happen at a SPECTACULAR ground zero of their  VERY OWN?

Written by Nancy Davis Kho, Special to The San Francisco Chronicle

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Standing next to a barbecue shaped like a flying buzzard on a recent sunny afternoon, the winds coming over the top of the Santa Cruz Mountains to ruffle the ashy edges of a cooking fire, metalsmith Bill Sorich can be forgiven for waxing poetic. “Fire was the first entertainment, the first television,” Sorich says, adjusting the height of the grill holding homemade elk sausage by means of a pulley system rigged through the mouth of the bird, which stands 6 feet tall. “People just like looking at fire.”

Architectural designer Kristen Harrison understands the appeal – so much so that in the 20 years she’s known Sorich, she’s purchased five of his custom-made barbecues. “I keep two at my office, two at my house, and one at a house up in Oregon,” Harrison says. “I’ve had perfectly good steak cooked on a propane grill. But with these barbecues, once we’re done cooking, we throw a few logs on and everyone gathers around the fire. It’s really the original concept of barbecuing.”

This being Memorial Day weekend, there will be plenty of people flipping on the gas barbecue or dumping charcoal briquettes into a Weber. But for those who see grilling as more contemplative, there are a few Bay Area artists who have elevated the humble barbecue into art – art that cooks.

Surrounded and inspired by nature, Sorich, 62, lives with his wife, Lisa Hedstrom, a textile artist, in a house the couple built high in the Los Altos hills, near Skylonda. The house and expansive workshop, like much of Sorich’s art, make liberal use of recycled materials, and power is generated in part through solar panels and a windmill. Given the seclusion of the rustic property, it’s no surprise that animals are a recurring motif in Sorich’s whimsical fire pits and barbecues.

There’s an armadillo made from a discarded beer barrel, its individual stainless-steel tiles welded on and the sinuous tail working as a handle to open and close the top. With the top closed, the grill looks like garden statuary. “That one took me 10 years to think up, and three weeks to make,” says Sorich. Two tall iron barbecues, one shaped like an emu and the other a flamingo, have weathered to an orangey red, while a mini-grill shaped like a sea turtle looks ready to swim into the current.

“My idea of art isn’t something you hang on a wall,” says Sorich. He trained as an industrial welder and worked for Westinghouse for years but liked the creative challenge of making something from discarded materials. “I come from industry, so they have to work,” he insists of his fire pits and grills, which range in price from $500 to $15,000. “They’re guaranteed, for my life or yours.”

Q-ing up the ‘cues

By day, Don Carlson, 47, teaches welding to middle school students at Marin Country Day School. But by night, Carlson, who learned his skills as a pipe welder in the Navy, creates monstrous barbecues from recycled materials in his Richmond garage. Bobby-Q, Rooster-Q and Q-Ball are a few of the Monster-Qs that have emerged from found objects through Carlson’s artistic vision.

While they share a certain asymmetry and ferocious looking “mouths” that act as the grill’s opening, each barbecue is unique. “Finding the right pieces takes a while,” he says. “It’s a good thing I don’t do it to make a living,” Carlson quips, “because I have to make them at my own pace.” A typical Monster-Q, most of which are built around empty halon tanks once used in fire extinguishers, might incorporate wrenches, railroad spikes and chipping hammers in its quirky design. One Monster-Q even sits on discarded cafeteria table wheels for easy rolling.

“I go in with an idea of what I want to make,” Carlson says, “but the personality evolves as I work on it.” Carlson’s otherworldly barbecues, which cost $500 to $3,500, are mostly sold by word of mouth and at open-studio events. His next open studio is in conjunction with Pro Arts East Bay Open Studios.

Carnivorous art

After Brian McConnell finally finished redesigning his backyard in Twin Peaks, he didn’t want the standard barbecue setup. “I wanted to have a grill that looked like part of the garden and that was not immediately recognizable as a grill,” McConnell, an entrepreneur, said.

He turned to Oakland blacksmith Daniel Hopper to create something that would fit into the plant theme. Hopper, who tends toward organic, industrial designs, came up with the perfect form for a backyard barbecue: a carnivorous Venus flytrap. Using a cut-up Weber grill as a form around which to shape the sheet metal, Hopper designed two enormous flytrap-shaped barbecues and three companion metal pitcher plants for lights. Originally, one of the forged steel flytraps was meant for vegetarian fare and the other for meat, but McConnell says, “I think we lost track of which side is which.”

Of the design Hopper says, “I like my work to incorporate an element of danger that people feel compelled to address physically.” In the case of the flytrap, it’s evident in the long metal trigger hairs made from forged pipes: They’re handy to hang a utensil on but undeniably menacing. Extending well beyond the barbecue’s closed mouth, guests ignore them at their peril.

McConnell appreciates the fact that Hopper’s art isn’t static. “I entertain a lot and like the idea of functional art that people interact with. Paintings are nice, but a barbecue does something useful.”

It’s almost summer- and you know what that means?  Summer art fair season is almost here!  I have spent the last few hours on this rainy Saturday morning wading through 8 pages of possible art festivals PR Chicago helped us identify as shows The IAE might consider attending. From high end to the smallest ones,  I am an active attendee of summer art festivals but work them? Now, that is a whole other matter. That is going to take another cup of coffee to decide how much of my summer fun will include working” the booth”. The joys of launching a business!

Anyway, as I flipped through yesterdays email I had yet to read, coincidentally I discovered an innovative twist to the summer festival waiting for me- SeaFair.  Seems like the universe is telling me this is the subject matter I am going to be forced to ponder today.

So what is SeaFair you ask?  It’s a specially built $30 million art exhibition- a floating “megayacht” art fair. Like the gambling boats in the river, SeaFair stays tied to the dock and serves food and drinks while patrons shop for art.  Each deck is loaded with art exhibition booths- but before you get too excited. Take a seat. SeaFair is probably not for the start up art business. $10K will just barely get you through the door with a 200 square foot booth.  Of course if you book it 180 days in advance you can get a 25% discount- which certainly helps.

SeaFair’s packaging is brilliant. It’s the paradigm shift here, really, that is sparkling bright in the water.  But don’t be too bedazzled by their $30 million “megayacht”.  Their business idea is transformed THROUGH the glitter of the word “megayacht”. Octopus, a megayacht owned by Paul Allen, the co-Founder of Microsoft, cost $200 million.  What $30 million for a yacht buys them is just enough of the glitter they need  to execute the idea. It always comes down to how to cost effectively execute the idea. Always.

Their idea hinges on the fact that if your wealthy (or wish you were) and want to spend a day going to an art fair, wouldn’t it be a better experience to be on a yacht?  And the art community, of course, wants to hang with the rich and famous too- or at least be in the same room with their credit cards. SeaFair offers artists a sophisticated atmosphere to meet potential clients. Although they claim that artists will meet “thousands of pre-qualified attendees and potential collectors each week” seems a bit of a stretch for a boat this size, for a few days of exhibition. Of course their docking locations are good to draw the audience they seek. SeaFair will dock in Newport RI from Sept 2-5 and then in Miami Beach from Dec 9-12.

SeaFair has been developed by well known art festival creators International Fine Art Expositions (IFAE).  In 2001 IFAE owners David and Lee Ann Lester sold IFAE for 18 million to dmg world media. dmg produces 260 public shows and trade exhibitions worldwide and a diverse mix of conferences, publications, and online services. dmg has shows and publications in North American, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East, operating out of 33 offices in nine different countries. A major newspaper publisher, dmg owns the Daily Mail, the Evening Standard, and numerous newspapers throughout the United Kingdom. Significant holdings in the art and antiques sector include Antique Trade Gazette (UK), Antique Week (US), the Original Miami Beach Antiques Show (US), and more than 100 regional art and antiques fairs and events in the United States, United Kingdom, and France.

Despite dmg’s mega star studded influence as stake holders, IFAE founders David and Lee Ann Lester continue to be the face of IFAE. Their charge is to help dmg begin to launch international exhibitions.   “It is an important step in our long-term strategy to add international events of such outstanding caliber to the growing dmg world media art and antiques portfolio,” said Mark Carr, executive vice president of the art and antiques division. “We are especially pleased that David and Lee Ann Lester have chosen us as their business partners and that they have agreed to head our new group specializing in prestigious international fairs in future years.”

“Clearly, there is an ongoing consolidation and realignment at every level within the international art and antiques markets,” said David Lester. He further noted, “It is increasingly difficult for smaller independent firms such as IFAE to have the necessary resources to make a significant impact in today’s increasingly competitive international markets. Through this partnership with dmg world media, our fairs will now have substantial new resources available to create even more global marketing power for our clients.”

“Our art and antiques sector will continue to aggressively seek new opportunities and venues throughout the world,” noted Mark Carr. “We believe the demand for first quality art and antiques fairs exist elsewhere, and we will encourage and enable this new group to launch new shows to serve international art and antiques dealers in the coming years.”

This, of course, makes the portability of SeaFair even that much more brilliant. Clearly the real hope behind SeaFair is to help reinvigorate a number of different markets and potentially art markets all around the world. SeaFair can serve as both a portable marketing and sales vehicle, attracting new artists who will pay for the boat through exhibition fees and large scale collectors around the planet with whom they can forge new relationships for international level exhibitions. Simply brilliant.

SeaFair and IFAE founders, David and Lee Ann Lester,  had this to say about their new floating project.  “The Show provides an interactive experience for artists and artisans with current and prospective clients,” said David Lester. “Collectors can directly view contemporary art, glass and jewelry in a luxurious shipboard environment. This innovative program offers artists and artisans an upscale platform and direct channel to sell their works and meet new collectors.”

Regional gallery owners are invited aboard to meet with participating artists and view their work, making possible future gallery representation. A series of onboard lectures and seminars are included in the SeaFair experience. They also boast a sophisticated marketing and promotional strategy that they will help coordinate with key local press, museums, collectors and designers to enhance sales for each participating artist. Advertising is conducted through local and regional publications and broadcast outlets, as well as direct mail to demographically pre-qualified attendees. Commercials will air on such outlets as CNN, CNBC and FOX Business News, and color advertising inserts would be placed in Manhattan and regional editions of the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

So, if your art career is in the perfect spot to leverage this opportunity and you can afford to, contact: Heidi Marie Grassley at hgrassley@ifae.com or call 239-949-5411 ext.103. You can also download the application here.

Our fortune cookies and No More Starving Artist Button Board were a big hit at the Chicago Creative Expo.

On Saturday April 10th, at the 7th Chicago Creative Expo held at The Cultural Center in Chicago, The IAE was in full blooming form.

Our imagination training ensemble, The Bite-Size Arts Ensemble, performed What’s Your Imagination Worth? to a just about full house in the Claudia Cassidy theater.

During the day, Bite-Size Arts Ensemble members Shawn Bowers, Lance Hall, Dharmesh Bhagat and a helper from our PR firm, PR Chicago maned the IAE booth, fielded questions and  handed out applications for our workshops and 2 year program. We had so many different kinds of artists stop by, and every imaginable question asked about our workshops and programs, that not only were these guys talking all day but they gave almost ever brochure, button, and application we brought with us away!

Meanwhile, I spent the day in the Consult-A-Thon helping artists work through various issues with their existing business or start-up ideas.

Bite-Size Arts Ensemble member Dharmesh Bhagat signs up a potential student to our mailing list.

Shawn Bowers fields a question about The IAE curriculum

Bite-Size Director Lance Hall answers questions about our 12 week imagination training workshop that begins June 7th.

Here are some quotes from emails I received already today from some of the artists I met at the Consult-A-Thon!

“Thank you for giving me such a positive experience at the Consult-a-Thon.”

“You showed me so many different angles to look at things I would have never thought of (or it would take me a very long time).”
“I’m still decompressing from this weekend but will  regroup and take action!”

Is Your Imagination Worth Investing Into? The Bite-Size Arts Ensemble gave away over 300 fortune cookies with our special message inside.

“Just wanted to tell you thanks for the wonderful meeting on Saturday at the Expo. You may have changed my life!”

“You gave me so much to think about. I have been in a buzz with friends ever since.”

I have already signed up for the boost camp online..”

So what about you? While the Chicago Creative Expo 2010 may be officially over, the energy, enthusiasm and support for The IAE it created has just begun and we are calling YOU to action too!

Do you know what your imagination is worth? Is it worth investing into by becoming a Bite-Size Arts Ensemble member and creating your own show to build your communication skills and test your business ideas in our 12 week workshop beginning Monday June 7th?

Or what about shaping or re-shaping your business idea to create a better plan of action to move your career and ideas forward with our 2 week Boost Camp that starts Monday July 26th?

Or what about joining us and learning how to live life on your own terms  ONCE AND FOR ALL by attending The IAE’s 2 year weekend program that begins January 5th, 2011?

Early Bird registration discount of 20% for The Bite-Size Arts Ensemble Workshop or Boost Camp if you apply by May 15th. Discount code is: ICanFlourish

And for all you local artists- this Saturday is the big event! The Chicago Creative Expo runs all day! The Bite-Size Arts Ensemble is performing at 1:30 in the Claudia Cassidy Theater.  I am also offering free one on one consultations.  The consult-a-thon will be on the 5th floor on the Washington side of the Cultural Center, 78 E. Randolph. To schedule an appointment click here. I am also willing to set up additional times after the expo for any of you who are unable to schedule a time with me there. Email me at lisa@theIAE.com if you are interested.

Here is the complete list of all of the FREE workshops being offered at the expo and where they will be held! Hope to See you this Saturday at the EXPO!

Leslie Fishbein, president of Kacey Fine Furniture, was idly watching a T-Mobile commercial when inspiration struck. What if we replace our drivers’ cell phones with camera phones, she wondered. That way, she figured, delivery personnel at the Denver retailer could take photographs at their destinations to show that they had not damaged a customer’s walls or floors — or, if they did, document the problem instantly.

Not especially revolutionary or groundbreaking, Fishbein knew, but clearly a step forward. In fact, that’s exactly the kind of modest brainstorm for which Fishbein constantly is hunting. Her six-show-room chain thrives on new ideas. Fishbein collects them in three-ring binders. Since 1995, she’s filled four such binders — at 10 to 20 ideas per page and 200-plus pages per binder, that’s more than 10,000 ideas. And the best ones, she says, often turn out to be those that at first appeared simple, even mundane. “The point,” she says, “is not the big hit but incremental improvements all the time.”

What about the killer app, the bold, outside-the-box brainstorm that is supposed to transform organizations? If you really care about making ideas work for you, forget such ambitious notions, say Alan G. Robinson and Dean M. Schroeder in their new book Ideas Are Free: How the Idea Revolution Is Liberating People and Transforming Organizations. Rather than big, competition-leapfrogging advances, the authors argue that one of the keys to business success is the constant implementation of small ideas — just like the steady stream of employee suggestions Fishbein collects in her binders. Why singles instead of home runs? The competition inevitably copies or counters your home runs, rendering those gains ephemeral. But after studying idea-generation tactics at 150 companies in 17 countries, Robinson and Schroeder concluded that small ideas, especially those particular to processes or systems, improve companies in almost Darwinian fashion with ongoing small adaptations that are often impossible to copy.

What’s more, the best small ideas often take on a life of their own, generating a torrent of related suggestions. Consider Fishbein’s experience with the camera phones. The new devices had barely been distributed before the company’s 205 employees began chiming in with all sorts of additional suggestions. Indeed, documenting delivery damage is now only one of the phones’ many uses. Faced with a tight stairwell or narrow hallways, delivery crews now show the bottleneck to Kacey’s director of transportation, who can often advise them over the phone instead of rushing to the scene. Loading dock workers document merchandise damaged in shipment and instantly e-mail the photos to the manufacturer, speeding up both claims and replacement. And upon delivery, after positioning, say, a sofa, a worker can take pictures of the entire living room — capturing, perhaps, the lack of end tables and lamps. Guess what the salesperson mentions in his follow-up call?

Encouraging a steady stream of small ideas helps prime the pump for big ones.

The authors found something similar at a small Danish subsidiary of the U.S. textile manufacturer Milliken & Co. The Danish company’s looms — the same machines in place at countless other factories around the world — were running three to four times faster than the manufacturer believed possible. The looms were also making products that the manufacturer’s own engineers said were not possible. How? “Thanks to hundreds of little ideas from their frontline employees,” says Schroeder, a professor at the College of Business Administration at Valparaiso University. “Add a knob here so you can change the tension, a simple procedure for moving materials in and out faster — all kinds of ideas, so many that the loom no longer resembles what the manufacturer delivered.” Thus the key advantage of small ideas over big ideas: Because they’re much more likely to remain proprietary, small ideas more often result in a sustainable competitive advantage.

Moreover, encouraging a constant stream of small ideas helps prime the pump for big ones. “Where you don’t see an environment where people step forward with ideas on a daily basis, you’re much less likely to get the big ideas,” says Robinson, a professor at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts. Robinson points to Boardroom Inc., a newsletter and book publisher based in Stamford, Conn. Boardroom’s employees have been presenting their company-bettering notions in weekly department meetings since 1992, when founder Marty Edelston initiated what quickly turned into a company-defining system he calls I-Power. Boardroom doesn’t just hope its 70-some employees will come up with ideas to save money, enter new markets, streamline production processes, or boost teamwork. The idea-focused company insists they do so. Employees must average two ideas per week to qualify for quarterly profit-sharing bonuses. No one’s missed yet.

Granted, “countable” ideas at Boardroom need not be earthshaking. In fact, they can be as small as “the person who sends a fax should make sure the fax goes through.” But sometimes, even small suggestions generate significant savings. One employee suggested the company cut the dimensions of its books by a quarter inch. The smaller size led to lower postal rates and annual savings of more than $500,000, Edelston says. What seemed a small idea was, in fact, a very big one.

Eager to encourage such windfalls, many managers reward idea generators with as much as 5% to 25% of the first-year savings. Bad idea, Robinson and Schroeder discovered. For one thing, their research found a negative correlation between increased rewards and the number of employee ideas. What’s more, you don’t need rewards to elicit lots of ideas from employees. People like to make suggestions at work — especially when such ideas are likely to be acted upon. Plus, if you tie bonuses to a percentage of the savings attributed to an employee idea, you must then somehow pinpoint the savings — which often can be difficult to calculate. And, no surprise, employers and employees often disagree on the estimated savings — “up to a factor of 10,” says Robinson. Lawsuits? You bet.

Ideas Are Free includes another suggestion that managers would be advised to heed, and it has to do with one of the most venerable of institutions — the employee suggestion box. Created by the National Cash Register Co. in 1892, the suggestion box remains a fixture at 50% of U.S. companies, according to Robinson. “It really seems like suggestion boxes make sense,” says Robinson. “Everybody knows workers have good ideas and like to hand them in.” So what’s the problem? Employee suggestion boxes invite raw ideas, Robinson says. Even more problematic, managers wind up reviewing them out of context and typically far from their point of origin. In many cases, somebody in HR empties the suggestion box and traffic-cops the ideas — in between other tasks. And then there’s the relative anonymity associated with submitting ideas to a box. The best ideas, Robinson says, arise in group situations, “where the person who thinks of it has to defend it, and it’s immediately critiqued by people close to the problem and often improved.” His suggestion for the suggestion box: Scrap it.

A Case for The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship™

Introduction:

Founded in 2009, The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship™ (The IAE) is a Chicago-based 501c(3) organization committed to helping artists create sustainable artistic careers through achieving self –sufficiency.  Our mission is directly tied to the belief that artists have an extraordinary amount of yet-to-be-realized value they can provide to society, especially in these economically challenging times, if they can be taught to apply their artistic capacity in new ways to allow their talents to become relevant and necessary.

The 2009 Artists and the Economic Recession Survey created by Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC) demonstrates how financial difficulties can impact an artists’ ability to sustain a productive creative life:

• Artists often have to hold multiple jobs to make ends meet – 66% hold at least one job in addition to their artistic practice, while 21% hold two or more additional jobs.
• Two-thirds reported their total 2008 income was less than $40,000, including nearly one-third who earned less than $20,000.
• Artists have experienced a decrease in sales of work (48%) or a need to lower fees/rates charged for work (44%), both of which suggest the arts are experiencing the contraction in consumer spending as much as many other industries.
• More than a third of artists reporting a decrease in the monetary amount of grants (37%), the number of awards granted (36%), and the number of grant opportunities available (35%). More than a third of artists’ report that compared to 2008 they have fewer bookings scheduled (38%) and fewer opportunities to exhibit/perform/present their work (35%). About three in 10 say there are fewer services available by nonprofits (31%) and fewer teaching (30%) and artist residency (27%) opportunities.

And yet these financial challenges pose more than the obvious problems they reflect in an artists’ ability to create their art or deliver quality cultural experiences to their audience. It is the belief of The IAE that the economic stability of artists, or lack thereof, has not only significantly contributed to the erosion of the demand for cultural and artistic expression in general but, in today’s economic environment, has put at risk the very need for it to exist entirely.

With roughly 100,000 fine arts majors graduating each year from institutional arts programs around the country, and no decline insight of prospective students who want to study art, the fact that only 2.1 million tax payers in the US report that they earn a living as artists demonstrates the attrition rate after graduation is quite high.

While the romantic stereotype of the “starving artist” to a young artist/student initially often serves to only further fuel their artistic imagination and desire of what life can be like living a bohemian lifestyle, comments from family, friends, employers, colleagues, and distant admirers as to their career prospects as an artist, once he/she graduates, creates both external and internal pressure to embrace a profession that assures stability. After all, even the bohemian lifestyle of an artist gets old when you can’t afford your car payment, let alone buy a house and raise a family—which an annual income, at best, of $40,000 a year income does not provide.

The IAE believes that the rate of attrition of post-graduates has contributed to the decline of the creative sector. The value of the full-time work these artists could have been doing has never been realized inside the communities they would have served. And the communities in which these artists began to work experienced, on some level, these artists inability to survive — reinforcing the lack of relevant value the arts must hold, despite their patron’s attraction to them.  Thus the notion of the starving artist syndrome continues. And as we know, perceptions create reality. And as such, over the course of a 40-year career span, the impact those artists could have made, we believe, has had a slow, steady and now significant and measurable impact on society’s view of the need and relevance for consuming cultural experiences in daily life today.

Henry Fogel in a speech he gave to the National Association of Schools of Music in November 2009 said this: “Any careful examination of newspapers across America over a fifty-year span, will demonstrate dramatically the shrinking of arts coverage. Fifty years ago, every small town newspaper had an arts critic, sometimes more than one.  Now, many smaller communities have let that lapse completely, and even many large cities have offered buyouts to retire their art critic, and chosen not to re-fill the position. Look at Public Television if you want further proof of the decreasing importance of the arts in America. Public Television was started precisely to broadcast programming that would have too small an appeal for commercial TV. (Never mind that in my youth, classical music was seen regularly on commercial TV – the Ed Sullivan Show, Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s concerts, the Voice of Firestone, the Bell Telephone Hour, and live operas on NBC). Now, PBS considers Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli, or André Rieu to be “highbrow” programming. The number of symphony concerts, quality jazz, dance, and even staged operas, available in this country on television has been declining at an alarming rate.”

Specifically, as a result of the absence of proper training to ensure more artists who graduate from art school can fill needs in their communities and financially afford to remain in the creative sector, we believe society has been left with little choice but to be unable to perceive the impact, value and relevance of the arts in their daily lives as a whole.

According to a 2003 major study, Investing in Creativity, completed by The Urban Institute and financially supported by over 38 foundations, only 27% of adults think artists contribute “a lot” to the general good of society, far fewer than recognize the social contributions of teachers (82%), doctors (76%), scientists (66%), construction workers (63%), and clergy (52%). The public perceives the contributions of artists in much the same way it perceives those of elected officials (26% say they contribute a lot to the general good), and just slightly better than it perceives the contributions of athletes (18% think they contribute a lot).

And yet, as noted by John Cimino, Creative Leaps International, scholar Thomas Homer Dixon says the space between problems that arise and our ability to solve them- the “ingenuity gap”- is growing today at an alarming rate in business, scientific research, education, the environment and world affairs. And innovative thought leaders like Ken Robinson, Daniel Pink and Richard Florida are helping to create a mindset that the arts, and artists, are capable of offering so much more to society. Author Ken Robinson proclaims we are “Out of our Mind” to have sidelined creativity and the arts when every layer of American society from elementary education to supply-side economics is starved for more imagination, more original thinking, and more creative intelligence”. According to business writer/entrepreneur Daniel Pink, “Artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big-picture thinkers – can now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.” Economist Richard Florida argues that artists and other members of the “creative class” are vital to regional economic development.  He suggests that they comprise the vital cultural core essential to attracting and developing workers for knowledge industries, which are increasingly important to the U.S. economy.

In these economic times, innovation is a critical tool that can grow revenue like never before and catapult our largest companies and newest start-ups to new levels of international competitiveness and profitability that we truly need to not only save, but redefine how we achieve our future economic vitality. Certainly the arts offer, with training, fertile ground to devise new ways to contribute and become vital, integral and again relevant to society.

After all, the visceral nature of the arts provides a unique barrier breaker -a unifier- regardless of race, religion, gender, age, status or income across all sectors of society and industry. No matter what the subject matter, using the arts in new interdisciplinary ways can bring people to new levels of understanding and simultaneously create new sustainable financially viable career paths for artists.

According to the Investing in Creativity study by The Urban Institute, their research suggests there is a substantial demand for artists in hybrid markets and yet few programs exist to support their development. Artists are involved in art and community development, social services, education, health, civic engagement, and youth development, among other areas through arts-based organizations such as Project Row Houses in Houston, Street Level Youth Media and Little Black Pearl in Chicago, Cornerstone Theater in Los Angeles, El Centro de la Raza in Seattle, Life Pieces to Masterpieces in Washington, D.C., Zumix and Troubador in Boston and many more examples can be found in every one of LINC’s case study sites.

Although many artists do important work primarily in the context of conventional cultural markets, LINC found scores of examples like the ones listed above.  Investing in Creativity research suggests that many artists work in all of these sectors, either at the same time or switching from one to another. Their field research in fact highlighted this pattern.  It also reveals that artists seem to benefit when there is a wide range of different sector opportunities in which they can engage.

And yet demand for what artists do is not fully conceived or well articulated, in large part because the formal validation mechanisms in both arts and non-arts contexts are relatively narrowly developed.  For example, if an artist is working at the intersection of arts and community development and making contributions in both areas, it is very likely that the full extent of those contributions will not be recognized or valued in either the cultural realm or the community development realm.  Moreover, adequate language to describe such practice and contributions currently does not exist.  The IAE seeks to bring clarity to the value of these hybrid roles to the community by focusing on the development of self-sufficient career paths for artists who will be motivated to illuminate the value of their hybrid roles to society.

Additionally, arts administrators, researchers and analysts, funders and policymakers tend to view the public, commercial, nonprofit and informal sectors as separate realms with little connection to each other.  Often artists seem to be categorized as “nonprofit” or “commercial,” as if those categories were mutually exclusive and as such funding sources are difficult to obtain and not rising in priority as demand, and need, is growing because of the cross pollination that occurs in a hybrid artistic role.

Respondents to the Investing in Creativity study emphasized the critical nature of peer-to-peer and mentoring relationships for training and professional development across the discipline spectrum and how important these relationships are to successful career transitions. Artists working at the intersection of arts and other fields, such as community development, education, health, justice, or other areas noted that the public validation and training programs needed to sustain and advance these practices is generally weak. Furthermore, many artists feel they lack the skills to market themselves to the wide range of realms where they could potentially be successful.  Our own survey, currently underway, indicates the same results. Over 83% of all respondents have said they would undertake a two year course of study to increase their skills to earn a living as a self-employed artist.  Additionally, LINC’s research revealed that many higher education and training institutions for the arts are not proactive in developing markets for artists or teaching them the business skills they need to succeed and that funding for such programs is virtually non existent.

The IAE believes that by helping artists imagine and create new innovative career paths we can play a significant role in helping both artists and the community rediscover new ways for artists to be recognized as contributing “a lot of good” though the development of self-sustaining hybrid careers that can become relevant to the communities these artists will serve. As such, through our programs at the IAE, we seek to helps artists grow their artistic imaginations about what is possible, while teaching them tangible necessary skill sets to give them the assortment of tools they need to turn their creativity into self-sufficiency.

The IAE seeks to make it possible for artists to develop a business arising from identifying gaps in the market place they can uniquely fill with a form of their creative practice. These businesses will be varied and may relate directly to a product, societal problem, service or process, a form of expertise, consultancy, or their values, beliefs or knowledge.  IAE training will provide the means for artists to understand how to create the infrastructure and environment for new creative opportunities to be realized.

Although there are increasingly quality arts entrepreneurship courses and programs in colleges and universities around the country, given the attrition rate of artists exiting the field, the need for more quality programs is self -evident. Furthermore,  The IAE knows of no other school focused exclusively on the development of self-sustaining hybrid career paths in the arts leveraging the strengths of ongoing one-on-one mentorship and experiential learning across all artistic disciplines. The most notable nationally recognized program happens to be here in Chicago, at Columbia College. Unfortunately,  the Arts, Entertainment and Media Management Program,  not for a lack of student enrollment or interest, but instead because of a change in institutional priorities, it is in the process of undergoing a major restructuring that will result in a majority of its programs being eliminated or significantly diluted.

The IAE is committed to bringing artists and their creativity into the center of economic activity.

What is even more cool, to me, is that Create. Innovate. Repeat: Artists and Entrepreneurs Unite! is a new brand for The IAE. It is an entrepreneurial happening. An experiment. What I mean by this is that I envision it as a playground for artists to come learn entrepreneurial skills, hang out and see what we create together and what kind of innovative things we can produce that resonate with the community. One master experiment trying our hand at entrepreneurship after another.

Our next Create. Innovate. Repeat. Artists and Entrepreneurs Unite! happening is going to be an all-artists-invited-to-participate event and along with it a week of classes open to the general public taught by the artists participating in the event. I am hunting for the right vacant Chicago storefront for rent right now for it.

It’s funny how like minds come together. It truly is a small world.  As this concept has been rolling around developing in my head,  one of the most creative and innovative people on the planet I know, Eva Niewiadomski from my favorite meeting place, Catalyst Ranch, sent me this link to Our Goods Trade School.

Our Goods Trade School barters goods, services and knowledge in pop-up storefronts in New York.

Right now you can come to Trade School for the next thirty days.  Classes are being offered every night with a range of specialized teachers in exchange for basic items and services. Here is an example of  Amy Whitaker’s class tonight. Scroll down to Wednesday February 17th and look for:

If your in New York tonight through February 28th you can bring your dinner and attend a class at GrandOpening’s Lower East Side storefront.  And if your in Chicago in April check back with The IAE because we are going to have something ready for you to learn with your dinner of our very own. You might enjoy read summaries of some of Trade School’s past classes at the OurGoods blog . You can also view more of their photos on OurGoods photos on Flickr.

139 Norfolk Street
New York, NY 10002 map
Tel 646 875 8078
info@ourgoods.org

Trade School is a collaboration between and .

Eye Buy Art is a carefully curated online art gallery that represents an array of emerging photographers from Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. The site releases a new image every week, each from an artist among those deemed important by a high profile jury of professionals in the field. Limited edition photographs of the works represented are offered for sale through Eye Buy Art at prices starting at USD 25 for an 8-by-10 print; consumers who have signed up for the site’s newsletter get first crack at them before they go public. Artists earn 50 percent from each sale; in addition, Eye Buy Art donates 10 percent to the Flash Forward Festival, its sister organization focusing on promoting the future of photography. All prints come with an edition card signifying the work’s authenticity.

The site explains: “We think art is for everyone and we aim to make buying art easy, friendly, and affordable. Our name reflects our navigation – look, buy, and learn about art – and we hope to inspire new and existing collectors to buy art from these enthusiastic young artists at a pivotal time in their career.”

There are, of course, other like-minded sites out there—most notable, perhaps, is Jen Bekman’s 20×200—but it’s a growing field, and one that could do with a few more international or niche players. Care to be one of them…?

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 by artists, panel discussions, faculty sessions, and workshops,  come hang out with a lot of really fun, creative artists and entrepreneurs.  I will be speaking and hanging out there too! Hope you will join the fun.

Here’s the list of speakers and topics that will be presented:

Visual Arts:

Robert Fishbone – Keynote & Social Media Panel
Jeanette Smith (Art Consultant) – Art Licensing
Robert Lee Fritz (3-D Artist) – Creating niches and corporate sales
John McDavitt (Commercial Artist) – Heroic Decision Making
Janet Bloch (Artist & Consultant) – Exhibiting Professionalism
Andie Burchett (Pencil Artist) – TBD
Jessica & John Page – Photography & New Business (Alum)
Ping Wu – Fashion Design (Alum)

Media Arts:

Kelley Baker (Filmmaker) – Guerilla Marketing & Self-Distribution
Julie Freestone (Sundance Institute) – TBD
Jeffrey Fisher (Fisher Creative Group) – Be a Mobile Media Mogul

Performing Arts:

Matt Hennessy (Musician and Recording Engineer) – Recording Industry
Greg Eichelberger (Musician) – Creating & Managing a Career
Lisa Canning (Musician & Entrepreneur) – New Economic Opportunities for Artists
Victoria Lyman (Dance Boutique)- Turning Your Artistic Passion into a Retail business
Vanessa E (Singer) – Multiple Income Streams
Matt Boresi – Mock Auditions & Closing  Keynote

Literary Arts:

Jennifer McCord & Sheryl Stebbins – Publishing Today
McCord & Stebbins – Writing a book proposal
(A limited number will have the opportunity to have a book proposal reviewed.
Please see website for more details.)

Nuts & Bolts:

Elizabeth Russell (Russell Law)- Legal Issues
Tim Kelley (Columbia College) – Legal Issues for Performing Artists
Kay Osborne (Drury University) – Accounting for Artists

Panel Discussions:

Marketing
Social Media & Websites
Portfolios
Getting Started
Faculty Sessions:
2 Faculty Panels of Coleman Fellowes
Pam Mickelson (Morningside College ) – Brand Builder Matrix (for faculty & students)

Learn more about the speakers presentations:

Here is the schedule at a glance:

There is no time like RIGHT NOW to register! See you at SEA.

Can’t come to Lisle, Illinois?  Here are a few other opportunities to get involved:

March 13th SEA OzArts : Coordinated by Drury University in Sprinfield, MO

March 26th & 27th SEA BizArts:  Coordinated by Edmonds Community College in Washington

March 27th Southern Entrepreneurship in the Arts Conference: From Survival to Success
Coordinated by The University of North Carolina Greensboro

TBD SEA South: Coordinated by The University of Tampa

But with all the creativity you have inside of you, do you need an original thought or idea to construct your venture around? How much does originality matter? Are you really creative as an artist if your business idea is not a true one of-an  original- enterprise?

In thinking about this question I thought it might be worth looking at some classic business examples.

Take for example a brand new hot franchise; the toner cartridge refill business.  There is nothing revolutionary about refilling toner cartridges, at a discount, over having to buy a brand new one for your printer, at full price, every single time. Nothing original at all; except for the fact that a brand new market has been created based on something so incredibly simple. Cartridge World, the leader in this market, was recently ranked by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the fastest growing franchises in the U.S. The company has more than 1000 stores open and is opening more than one new store per day.

Many business ideas begin by identifying a market problem or need, just like Cartridge World’s creator Bryan Stokes did, and then go on to produce a product or service that fills that need. Others discover or create an entirely new market that no one ever thought of before. What did we do before email, cell phones, the internet, or Starbucks coffee?

Building a business is about defining a market that you can serve, and by serving it, you financially benefit. Building a business is not about being original but about finding your own way to innovate. Innovative ideas, without execution however, are simply hallucinations!

Becoming an entrepreneur is a balance between the use of logic, risk and creative obsession. Combining these skills in equal parts, like the three sides of a triangle is the surest way to produce the right kind of environment that is ripe for economic benefit.

While the Cartridge World example of entrepreneurship is not founded in artistic expression, it demonstrates clearly the role of innovation in the controlled environment of pure entrepreneurial,  albeit not artistic, development. This example, however, does embody 2 sides of the triangle entrepreneurs know best and that we, as creative types, need to continue to develop; logic and risk.

Car Max: Classic Entrepreneurial Design

In the early 1990’s Circuit City executives Rick Sharp (CEO) and Austin Ligon (Vice President of Corporate Planning) spearheaded an effort to identify a new retail opportunity to extend Circuit City’s growth into the next decade. They looked for a large retail category with no significant national competitors and unmet consumer needs. Extensive research pinpointed an excellent opportunity in automotive retailing, especially in used cars.

In 1992 they tested the idea with a broad range of focus groups where consumers told them that car shopping was a fairly bad experience. Based on this market input, the CarMax concept was refined and a business plan was developed.

CarMax created a hassle-free car shopping experience, with a good selection of high-quality, trust-worthy cars that delivered exactly what the consumer surveys and focus groups said they wanted.

The first CarMax superstore opened in 1993, and by April of 2004 the company appeared for the first time on Fortune Magazine’s Top 500 companies, debuting at 435.

The CarMax concept focused on finding a business that was good for the bottom line and generated lots of profits. The idea was based on customer feedback, then further researched and tested. Financial projections and a business plan were set. As the company met each goal expressed in their business plan, the business was proven to indeed be a significant money making venture.

To a highly creative person, the concept that Car Max developed may not seem particularly original. However, when it debuted, it was an extremely innovative twist on a very old way of doing business. This is at the root of what true creativity and classic entrepreneurship is all about, and is something that every creative person needs to understand and learn.

You don’t need an amazing, original, new idea to attract enough good customers to achieve economic viability. You simply need one solid idea that can come from something tried and true but is founded in your true creative obsession(s).  And you cannot forget that you must do the proper planning, research and testing required before you begin. Before any idea is executed, it must be tested, researched, analyzed and backed up with financial statements to show why it will work.  Our 12-week Bite-Size Arts Ensemble workshop that will begin in early June will give you the opportunity to begin to test and research your ideas, by the way. Following our 12 week workshop, Boost Camp will launch, at the end of July, to turn those ideas into a business plan!

But as successful innovative companies like CarMax know, ongoing client excitement and interest in a venture comes from the truly creative touches a venture can consistently produce, which gives creative types a clear distinctive advantage in building ventures if they can learn the entrepreneurial skills needed to properly test market, research and analyze the potential viability of their idea.

Some of the most remarkably creative business ideas are often equally founded in common simple things and don’t have to be all that revolutionary to be very marketable, effective, and profitable.

Tried and True Construction

Lots of people, including me, build businesses on somebody else’s ideas. My musical instrument business, which I started in college, was founded on a tried and true concept selling products through the mail and eventually in retail stores. It worked for me because I was able to shape it around my obsession to be a catalyst for others to creatively grow through developing their musical gifts with the right musical instrument, and mail-order was a perfect economical vehicle for my obsession.

I built that business, and after it three more, on a structure of retailing and customer service that are far from original. What I did do that was original was to find a way to make those familiar ideas unique through my passion and interests in the arts. While my ventures have not lead me to extreme wealth, they have rewarded me handsomely, both financially and with the freedom I seek as a creative being to live my life on my own terms.

While some creative entrepreneurs are led into ventures that produce unimaginable wealth, what matters most is that every creative entrepreneur at their core is focused on expressing their unique talents with the world and forges ahead to do so.

Some of you, like Starbuck’s coffee founder Howard Schultz, will find immeasurably wealth in the market that your unique talent is best suited to explore, while others will be handsomely rewarded but find a more modest life than the super rich and famous. Either way, the right-sized pot of gold is waiting for you at the end of the rainbow, if you follow the dream you are meant to walk around in and live.

Pour Your Heart into It

Howard Schultz, the founder of the small coffee shop in Seattle that became Starbucks, built an international institution that is now $29 billion and growing by following his passion and personal value system.

When Howard bought his first coffee shop on Seattle’s waterfront, his vision of his future was not well defined. But by using his creativity, passion, and value system, he shaped what Americans have done forever; drink coffee, into a national obsession.

“Again and again, I’ve had to use every ounce of perseverance and persuasion I can summon to make things happen,” he said.  “Life is a series of near misses. But a lot of what we subscribe to is not luck at all. It’s seizing the day and accepting responsibility for your future. It’s seeing what other people don’t see and pursuing that vision no matter who tells you not to. … when you really believe — in yourself, in your dream — you just have to do everything you possibly can to take control and make your vision a reality.”

Main Street America now has a coffee shop which serves as a home away from home for millions of Americans as a result of his creation. Clearly his idea has been copied by many, and clearly selling coffee was and is not a new idea.

What was new and remains the creatively unique to Starbucks, unlike its newly found competitors, is the unique concept of how to sell that coffee that Howard Schultz and the Starbucks team continue to apply. Schultz discovered American’s desire to hang out in a cool place to work, socialize, and bond. His coffee gives American a way to do exactly that.

He continues to reshape and redefine his vision through the way he honors and embraces his employees, offering excellent unfound benefits in similar types of lower level positions and flexibility to encourage them to stay. He has continued to evolve his business through the release of enjoyable CD’s ranging from blue grass to jazz as well as through the ever changing shape of his store layout design and creature comforts within.

Howard Schultz wrote an excellent book about Starbucks entitled Pour Your Heart into It. Some of the principles he ascribes to his success, which truly don’t require the re-invention of the wheel, are:

• Don’t be threatened by people smarter than you
• Compromise anything but your core values
• Seek to renew yourself even when you are hitting homeruns
• Everything matters.

Howard Schultz believes in himself and his value system strongly enough to have defined his business concept and stuck with it. A business idea that allows for you to personally invest 100 percent of your value system into, and is directly in line with your passions, means you are only steps away from living your dream.

If you are creative, being original is not as necessary as being innovative. As in the examples of Starbucks or my own business, Lisa’s Clarinet Shop, the role innovation plays is more critical; innovators let their creativity and true obsessions show.

While it may seem juvenile that three men painted electric blue from head to toe, who splash paint and water, make sounds and music with hollow tubes, and stuff their mouths full of a wide variety of food like marshmallows and assorted cereals can be this wildly successful, the story of how and why their act came into being is as worthy of a case study in entrepreneurial artistry as one could find.

Creative experimentation has always been a core part of Phil Stanton’s development as an actor, musician, and innovator.  “I grew up singing and playing instruments in church”. Stanton’s father was an Assembly of God minister. “I tried the trumpet, the piano and the guitar. But I never became good enough because I wasn’t disciplined enough to practice,” he says.

After high school, Stanton worked for a year at White’s Hardware in downtown Savannah, then took courses at Armstrong State College, with the intention of becoming a jet pilot. “I studied math because I wanted to fly jets,” he said. “Theater was one of the farthest things from my mind.” Stanton worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during summer and Christmas breaks.

“I was in the geology –section—we  traveled around Georgia and the Carolina’s, drilling holes in the ground,” he said. After a year and a half, Stanton veered in a new –direction—northwest—and back into theater arts.

“I decided to go to Evangelical University in Springfield, Missouri – a liberal arts college of the Assembly of God,” he said. “I went there to be a music major — I felt like I was going into the ministry like my older brother.” It was there Stanton began to experiment with theater, taking some classes to explore other ways to make an impact on people. He “started doing things in the drama department” at Evangelical and graduated in 1983 with a double major in Biblical studies and theater.

Talk about an interesting double major?

Shortly after he graduated, Phil moved to New York City to study acting in a “more serious” way. “It took me a while to figure out how to stay warm,” he said of his first days in Manhattan. Phil, like many in the arts, waited tables; first in a hotel, then in an executive dining room and then for the Glorious Food catering company. The first person he met at Glorious Food was Chris Wink, who was to become a fellow Blue Man.

Wink introduced Stanton to his long-time buddy, Matt Goldman, and the three were soon staging “happenings” that evolved into the Blue Man Group performances.

In 1990 they created a show at the LaMama experimental theater in New York’s East Village, and that led, a year later, to the opening of Tubes, the Blue Man show staged at the off-Broadway Astor Place Theater that has been running since 1991!  ( Considered the longest running show today!)

In “Tubes,” the Blue Men drummed on PVC pipe, stuffed Cap’n Crunch cereal in their mouths while improvising a symphony of amplified chomping, and brought audience members onstage for a banquet of Twinkies. With Goldman doing the tossing, Stanton caught paint balls in his mouth and squirted their contents onto a canvas to create works of art.

While Blue Man Group performances always have been aimed at entertaining their audiences, for Stanton, “the whole thing is about community.” “The Blue Man,” he said, “is born out of the human need to be with other people.”  According to co-creator Matt Goldman, “Blue Man Group, started as an outrageous idea: We wanted to inspire creativity in both our audiences and ourselves. We wanted to speak “up” to the intelligence of our audience members while reaching “in” to their childlike innocence. We wanted to create a special kind of company, a place where people continually learn and grow and treat each other with just a little more consideration than is usually evident out in the ‘real world.’ We wanted to recombine influences to create something new. And we wanted to have a good time doing it.”

I think they understand the meaning of innovating through artistry? Don’t you?

Reviewers have speculated that the cobalt blue character is an alien, and that might be so, said Stanton, but he’s not from “the mother ship.” “He’s an alien from inside part of us—very human, an abstract alien,” Stanton said. “He’s come for a reason, and it’s to remind us of the need to be together with other people.”

“I felt like the experiences I had growing up in church were really powerful,” he said. “I’ve tried to capture that in a way that doesn’t refer to any type of religion—just the humanity part. Producing a sense of community “has always been our major focus,” Stanton said. “That, and also this idea—to try to break down the walls that we create to get by, to get through our days.”

Another link in Phil’s creative development came again from his father; he was a builder and “kind of an architect,” Stanton said. “He had 10 or 12 churches around the country built from his designs, including Radiant Life here,” said Stanton of his dad, Cameron. “I inherited his love of building things.”

And, said Stanton, during his stint as a salesman at White’s Hardware for a year before moving to New York City, he learned “a lot about tools and metal working.”

So what can we learn from Blue Man Group?  Here are a few of my thoughts. I am sure you will come up with more…

• No idea is too outrageous to consider if you test it and it resonates with your audience.

• While there is absolutely a role for highly perfecting one’s artistic talents, it is interestingly absent here and yet Blue Man Group is profoundly creative, artistic and successful!

• Is there such a thing as over thinking or over working the highest purpose and best use for your gifts? Maybe the answer is right in front of you…

• Learn how to use ALL your talents and experiences in life to create an environment in which you can thrive.

• The serendipity of life– or even a seemingly dead end temporary job at a catering company- can bring you all the people and resources you need to create a life long path of success with your artistry.

• Where there is passion money flows.

• One great idea can blossom 100 fold if you have the persistence, know how and drive to see where it can take you.

Blue Man has evolved into an organization of 350 people, with 30 Blue Men giving their avant-garde performances in packed theaters in the Big Apple, Boston, Chicago and Las Vegas. Blue Man Group also has appeared on The Tonight Show eight times; their CD Audio, was nominated for a Grammy award. And now they have a school… What’s next?

Are you ready to learn how to use your creative and artistic gifts to make a living? Apply now to TheIAE.com

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, it can be devastating—I have to give credit to Stan Wojewodski for this one.

And, most dangerous of all,

4.    You are reliant on other people for your sense of worth and success.

Number 4. is not a very empowering place to be. It’s not good for one’s self esteem. As a teacher, I try to instill in my students, a strong sense of having their own internal success monitor (not to be confused with self-judgment or criticism). They know how they have done and do not need to ask other people. This knowledge stems from working with goal setting and practice.

It is natural to want to hear peoples’ thoughts on how we are perceived…and it’s fun. But, the artist needs to have a core that shields him or herself from the winds of external opinion. I am a Texan and sometimes we live up to our stereotypes. In Texas, we have a sayin’. Here it is: “Opinions are like a**holes. Everyone’s got one”.So, take opinions with a grain of salt (whether positive or negative).

Now, this said,  your success in the market, which is guided by peoples’ purchasing, which is ultimately peoples’ opinions, determines one’s success and the market often has very different ideas about what is of value (when compared to peers).

Relying on other people for your sense of success in your work as an artist is poisonous thinking. It is not good for your self-esteem. Why? Because you are giving away your power.

It is far more empowering to be your own judge of how you are doing and here is a simple exercise to assist you in your process:

Goal Setting.

When approaching your respective “canvas”, have specific goals in mind (goals that are challenging, but realistic to achieve). “I want to accomplish these specific things today”… in my performance or painting…or whatever your medium.

After you complete your work, ask yourself the following:

“Did I accomplish my goals”?

If you did, awesome. Good for you. Go celebrate.

If you did not, ask yourself “Why”? Then ask “What will I do differently tomorrow” or next time?

This ritualistic self assessment of goal progress will keep you focused.

It enables you, as artist, to maintain your self-empowerment and maintain your own internal meter or monitor for success. It gives you a gauge, by which you can better yourself.

This little technique is profound, in that it enables you to become your own teacher. Become your own teacher and you will forever be in a state of learning.

Independence. Pass it on.

Jim Hart is the founder of The Hart Technique and The International Theatre Academy Norway.

People will criticize you for a whole host of reasons and rarely will you ever learn of the true nature or origin of the criticism. Admittedly, sometimes criticism comes out of societal duty–like if you have committed a crime or have acted in a manner that is harmful. They may criticize you, as you do something out of social bounds. Let’s recognize that for a moment. This said, sometimes criticism comes for other reasons. Might it stem from jealousy? Inferiority complex? Self-loathing? Bitterness? Does it come from a desire to more effectively compete, but the criticizer does not know of healthy ways to do so? Some people will even criticize you as a way of engaging you, of getting next to you, of hoping you will share secrets while defending yourself (think of the boy hitting the girl on the playground–as a way of flirting). As unenlightened and as nasty as such approaches can be, they happen. Whatever the nature of the criticism you receive, one thing is for sure—it will come.

Let’s not think of it as a bad thing. Criticism is necessary. I would rather have people saying nastiness, than saying nothing at all. In time, people forget the content of what was said, but the name may stick (hence, there is not such thing as bad press). Bad press is press and do you know how hard it is to generate press? Critics become your helpers. They disseminate your ideas and awareness of your existence. In so doing, they think they are acting against you in a harmful fashion, but are really doing you a good. So, if your ego can handle it, hang tight. Your criticism is likely a sign that you are on a good path.

During this inevitable early stage of development, I like to think about the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer’s Three Stages of Truth:

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident”.

Arthur Schopenhauer

Basically, first they make fun of you and hold you up as a buffoon. You are the laughing stock of the party (at least in the critic’s mind).

Next, they attempt to bash you down and discredit your ideas. This is the practice of Jantes Law and Tall Poppy Syndrome, which I have written about in past blog posts. Here too, you can think of the medium fish and its desire to eat smaller fish. Those middle fish do not want to see you (the small fish) grow into a medium or big fish. Big fish eat medium fish and if you become a medium sized fish, you will threaten the food source for other medium sized fish. So, they must eat you first or compete with you on a later day for food–or they one day become your food source.

Finally, they accept your offerings (product or ideas), as though they or it had always existed. At such a point, the critics may even take credit for your work and list themselves as those who discovered you or “it” in the first place. Once you reach this stage, a new type of criticism comes, that of larger waters.

Criticism is good for the creator. It causes them to reflect on their work and ask, “Is such criticism true”? Such self-evaluation is vital for personal development. In this thinking, the criticizer actually becomes an ally.

Criticism let’s you know that you are on the map. Why would people even criticize you in the first place, if you were not viewed as a threat in some way? Why would they even bother?

Jim Hart is the founder of The Hart Technique www.harttechnique.com Jim Hart may be contacted at jim@harttechnique.com

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, themselves, in fact, may be using their educational environments as a stepping stones towards what they believe will increase their odds towards achieving celebrity and the schools that cater to these dreamy eyed prospective students, do not always guide them differently.

But why do so many of us desire to be famous?

Is it the potential deification we give celebrities for a time?
Is it the money? * Duh. *
Is it the freedom that money brings?
The parties?
The flirtations with strangers?
The public eye being cast upon you?
Mass appreciation and praise to stroke your ego?
Mrs. O’Reilly from World History will finely see?
A feeling of success?
A feeling of having overcome others or having “won”?
Again, the parties? Come on. On a scale of 1 to 10…where do parties rate?

The celebrity game is like high school, but high school with money…and all that that brings. Do you desire to be in the circle of the “cool kids”? Is that what this is about? Does it really come down to the fact that you were a nerd and wanted to be a cool kid in junior high? Surely for some it is.

Are celebrity dreams what brought you into artist training or was it something else?

For a large number of artists, it’s the love you had/have for the work, ‘cuz it was fun and inspiring. Is it the joy and pride you feel while creating? Did it or does it give you a feeling of self-expression (an outlet with form) and even self-knowledge? Is your “art” (or the act of creating)? Is creating enough? Is that what it is about? Would it be enough to simply make a living with your craft or will the dreams of starlight haunt you, indefinitely?

Would it be enough for you to live a life, with a modest income (but one that is much more potentially sustainable), doing what you love? Would it be enough on your “happy meter” to make much less, potentially never have fame, but get to do that thing that gives you bliss?
What kind of artist do you want to be and where in the market? What city would you love to live in, if you could live anywhere in the U.S.?

Tricky thing about survival jobs…is that they take up all of your energy and time. If you are an artist who has waited tables (or some other non-desired, but necessary work) while trying to make a living, you know how you NEVER LEAVE a restaurant or survival job. In such catch 22 scenarios, it is very difficult, when engaging in the act of creating your art, to create anything of significant worth…as when you do get around to creating, you’ll often find you are very tired…from delivering meals for other people (and while not working as an artist).

If you surrender your driving ambition of fame and fortune, the field of opportunity expands. I call this a need for a “wider directional perspective”. Suddenly, we are potentially talking about local markets, which may be non-saturated markets (with less competition). Granted, many of these markets have fewer possibilities, due to their size. However, if you create a market, if you build what is necessary, if you command greater control over your creativity and output as an artist, suddenly, your chance of living wherever you might like to live (with some limitations, of course), becomes possible.

Now ask yourself…do you need to make a living in your small area of interest? Note: I say small in comparison to all of the roles possible to play in the field of artistry. Ex. Nearly everyone begins their career in theatre in an acting class. Many then shift and  go on to discover other interests and talents (like writing, directing, producing, designing, etc).

Or

Do you just need to make a living via your creativity?

I will rephrase.

Do you desire to:

A.    Simply make a living with your creativity

or do you need to:

B.     Reach glory in your one dreamed about role? Ex. A TV or movie star.

If you answered yes to A, the field of possibility and opportunity expands incredibly. There are simply more possibilities when you are active on a plane with more opportunity and possibility. As more opportunities arise, more possibilities follow.

Must celebrity continue to be the goal? If so, why? Beyond ego, what drives our desire for celebrity? Whatever your conclusion, is that what you want your motivating energies to be committed towards? If yes, God speed you. If you answer no, look, listen and dream. What community do you want to be a part of? Where does that community need you, your creative energies, your vision, your leadership capability, your many skills acquired through your artistic study?

Jim Hart is the founder of The Hart Technique and The International Theatre Academy Norway (TITAN Teaterskole). www.harttechnique.com

During your holiday ritual, allow yourself to drift back and think about the time of season that it is.

It is autumn and damn near to winter. Autumn is a time of dying, falling and decomposing, which is followed by winter. Winter is a prolonged period of seeming and literal death, of sleep, of dark. Few leaves are on the trees. Many summer animals are hiding. The winter wind hurts my cheeks. Sludge and more sludge. It’s dark and cold and the darkness just seems to linger—like a house guest who has overstayed their visit. Then…just as you begin to entertain the thought that “maybe this year, spring will not actually arrive”, that this year, perhaps the universe is out of kilter and spring shall be no more, it comes. Then, hallelujah! Newness. Birth. More light. Sweet flowers. Green returns (seemingly on one day). Spring. is mating season…Out of the lingering fall of autumn, through the death of winter, comes life anew in spring. Nature is poetic and beautiful, yes

You are nature. Unless you believe that you were beamed here by some mysterious cosmic spaceship, then you have come up, out of the earth, just as all other living matter has. And if you buy into this thought, then you must accept that you are nature. You are a part of it and are it. Everything you do is natural, as you are nature. How could it be otherwise? You are the voice of the earth. If not you, what?

If you roll with this idea–that you are nature, then so too are you bound to the inevitable and constant transformations of all nature. We know that the only constant in the universe is change. Change is happening all around us and to us…all of the time and will continue to do so every minute of every day, the rest of our lives. Cycles of birth and death and rebirth. There exists a wonderful example of this transformation in the form of our Thanksgiving dinner. Death (whatever plant matter grandma has baked and that turkey there…sustains your life. Plant matter or animal, life is feeding on death, to continue life.

If you are the typical American on this uniquely American of days—you might find yourself, as I do, sitting on the couch with the game drearily chattering in the background. Family members bump about in the blur of your wine and turkey stupor. Your pants beg you to let your belt loose. You do. Wow. That feels much better. Much better. Bloated to the gills, you are sleepy, sleepy, sleepy from too much turkey… Your mind wanders to all sorts of places. This after eating sit, as people are cleaning dishes, chatting at the dinner table, going to the bathroom and generally wandering before regrouping in some way, is my favorite. As the blood leaves my brain, to fiercely work at digesting all that I just put in my stomach, I dream. Foggy brain time.  If you find yourself in a “this year” comatose, allow yourself to mentally hacky sack with this:

How will you choose to change this year?

There will be a ton of changes you will be a part of, of which, you will have no control over, whatsoever. No doubt about that. Death may come into your life this year, sickness, promotion, chaos, love, peace. Who knows yet?. We have a forecast of certain change ahead.

Considering how much uncontrollable change is in our lives, what will you control? What change will you CHOOSE to make? What new-ness, of your own deciding and making, will come out of you, as we enter a new calendar year? What part of you might die, be cleared away and made room for something new?

Again, change is inevitable. What change will you (at least try to) control?

Symbolically, the garden is a symbol of the soul. Doesn’t that make sense? Every time I read, hear or say that, I think, “Yea. That’s right”. My feelings might stem from my loving to garden. In the garden, you see a constant show of “Out of death, grows life”. If you look, if you pay attention, you will see new stuff “going on” every day. It is a living, evolving canvas. Any change you make to that garden is temporary, no matter how permanent your intentions.

What mangy growth do you spy in your garden? What plants have appeared, Have any invasive ones? Have you done battle with interlopers, who are determined to eat and decimate your roses, those beautiful flowers you give so much time to? What plants do you see that have potential, but need more attention? Do they need to be moved someplace else—perhaps one with less intense light and more water? When you look around that garden, what conditions and maintenance are necessary, in order to get all of your plants in your garden, to thrive? Make a list and follow through on it.

Time to clean out the waste, unless you want to still have that crap around, come spring time. We cut out the overgrowth, the seasonal plants that have expired, the parasites we find. We want to open planting space and prepare for the dramatic return of spring, in order to encourage new, desired growth. We need to clean out, to weed the unwanted or downright poisonous.

What stands in your way from realizing your higher self and your dreams? Let’s not play games. Here is the answer:  You…of course. Just you. It is a frame of mind.

Some find such a thought difficult to accept and own. But, the sooner you do own it, the faster you will begin to grow. Ever desire to be super man? Ever desire to fly? Well, until you accept that you can fly and will and will log the hours necessary to “figure it all out”, to learn to fly right (like not into buildings and whatnot), then you are grounded, indefinitely.

Get rid of all that is holding you back—whether unhealthy relationships, habits that led to poor health, poor financial structuring, lifestyle choices, etc. Whatever it is, whatever things those are…which are uniquely yours, cast them out. There is no room in the boat. With your greatest of gusto, cast them into the sea, just to feel how fast you can row your boat without them.

In the garden, remember that when weeding, unless you get them by the roots, they will come back. Streamline your life and promote only healthy growth in your garden, only life affirming elements. In doing so, you will find a greater peace, balance, health and stillness. Cultivate the positive, life-affirming relationships you have and let go of all that holds you back in any way. Once you let go of that damn heavy luggage attached to your waste (which you may not have even realized you were dragging all this year…at least), you are going to find that you can then run so fast…and skip…. and hop.

Happy Holidays.

Jim Hart

Jim Hart is the founder of The Hart Technique www.harttechnique.com and The International Theatre Academy Norway.

How do we know if what we see, believe, feel and think will “take root in the market”? What must we do so that others will care about and value our ideas, products and services as much as we do?

Well, if I knew the perfect answer to this, I would have an orchard filled with money trees in my backyard. But what I can share, based on personal experience, are three (less-than-reliable) assumptions about how to get people to care about our ideas and three rules-of-thumb for creating conditions that might actually get them to.

(Of course we never can be sure if people will care for sure– as we know, we all are free to choose….)

Assumption #1:
The House is Burning! Jump! FIRE!

The idea of a burning platform is actually a metaphor based on supposedly a true story: In the North Sea an oil platform had caught fire and was burning fast. On it was a lone worker. He had a decision to make: Probable death if he jumped, certain death if he stayed.

What we are talking about here is creating a condition where we instill fear and apply pressure– a fear of being unable to turn back- pressure for fast, decisive action or else everything goes up in smoke.

When any of one us is presented with a “must act now” if “you want to live” strategy, most of us will support the strategy and will act. People, after all, do want to survive. However it is hard to predict how we will act. Some will get on board, others will panic and freeze, some will try and make themselves look good at the expense of others, while some will hide from the bad news.

Moral of the story: When faced with a burning platform, people will choose self-preservation over the common good.

Assumption #2: Create Buy-In

Similar to the burning platform, “buy-in” is also a rich metaphor. Creating “buy-in” is an old sales term. When we create buy-in we:
Present a strong case convincingly
Create a motivational presentation
Make sure everyone understands what’s in it for them
Close the deal by asking for a commitment

The problem is that creating “buy-in” is set up for only one kind of answer. Style and technique take the place of substance and purpose leaving us, “the audience,” not sure if we like, let alone feel good about, what we are suppose to be “buying in” to…..

Moral of the assumption: People see through the art of subtle manipulation. Care cannot be packaged to be bought.

Assumption #3 Create the Perfect Incentives

“If you want to teach a dog a new trick, give him a bone”… isn’t that how the saying goes? If you set up a scenario that rewards the behavior you seek, then you will get a treat.

The problem is that this system will only work if the rewards we are offering others are important to them. And while this system can certainly shape behavior, it does not produce care.

Take for example the customer service representative who is rewarded based on the number of completed orders they take in an hour. Predictably they will rush through each call and cut as many corners as possible so they can complete more orders and “earn” their treat. On one level the system is working because more calls are being handled per hour. On another, it is destroying the employees natural desire to provide quality service and show they care.

Moral of the story: Incentives don’t incent others to care.

Three Rules of Thumb

Rule of Thumb #1:
Find Out What is Important to the Other Person and Act On It
We live in a world where, I don’t know about you, but I certainly walk around and wonder ” Does anyone really care about anyone anymore?” People are STARVED for attention- they crave being listened to and understood. When we ask questions and learn about others, we empower others through OUR listening and care. And when we ACT on their interests, concerns, wishes or hopes, and deliver something to them that they really care about, we find a much more receptive audience for our own ideas.

The days of mass marketing and appeal are over. We are in the age of “niching” to produce thriving. A grande skim latte with 2 equals, no foam, double cup it please, is the meal du jour and so we must learn to listen carefully to others needs to cater to those we wish most to serve.

Rule of Thumb #2: Support Others In Achieving Their Goals
How does your product or service help support others in achieving their goals? Products and services must offer real tangible benefits. Put the same time and energy into your clients to help them identify and achieve from your products and services something of real value to them. Designing (and redesign) your products and services to reach the right market where real benefit will be offered. By doing so you will find your clients really do care about what you have to deliver.

Rule of Thumb #3: Speak From Your Heart
Stop telling people what you have to offer them. Start talking about what is important to you and speak from your heart when you do.

Story: Several recovering addicts were talking in an AA meeting about how to improve treatment services. The conversation began with the usual ideas– making the community a better place by helping people. And it wasn’t long before the conversation fell flat.

Then one person got up in the meeting and told his story– a story about how in his darkest hours as an addict, in his greatest need, people he did not know listened to him. Total strangers answered his plea for help and got him into treatment. They cared about him when there wasn’t much to care about.

Moral of the story: This recovering addicts goal was indeed simple and by sharing from his heart, the entire tone and energy of the meeting changed. While he really did want to “give back to the community and care for others”, the most important ingredient to getting others in the meeting to become more involved and care, came from his telling his story- his truth- from his heart.

So, tell us your story. (This is why I created the ETA competition by the way. And you still have time to enter or encourage others to do so.)

And if you’ve joined us here at ETA because you want to learn how to better lead “your tribe” forward, or begin to build a tribe of your very own– one that will come to care about what you find most important in life– then start by aligning your words and actions in a way that reflects your honesty and integrity. Even if you don’t know what products and services you would like to offer, this would be an excellent way to begin to figure out what you should offer.

After all consider this: If you are not willing to put your wholehearted-self behind what you care about and tell the truth to the world about what is in your heart, then why should anyone really care?

Having struggled to build, for over twenty years, profitable businesses, creating ETA (that is rising from nothing), written Build a Blue Bike, (a book that teaches how to develop entrepreneurial empathy and transform it into a creative venture), and now, embarking on the journey of launching The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship™, I can tell you it is not for the faint of heart, the insecure or vulnerable. And this is also why we as artists need entrepreneurial training– so that every single one of us can learn how to wear our he(arts) on our sleeve and build our audiences for life from the ideas we care most about.

If there is only one thing in this post which I am certain is valuable to you–forgive me for it taking so much of your time to explain- it is this: Listening to others and speaking from your heart it is the only way to build a rock solid foundation of mutual trust in, and care for, the ideas you care most about. It also holds the key to opening the door to a sustainable artistic career: one that produces enough income for you to live happily-ever-after. Amen.

To me, the journey of learning how to take the pain in your heart and transform it into an entrepreneurial vision that is so strong and robust it produces an economic engine in your life- financial transportation- is what I call building a blue bike. It is impossibly difficult to do alone and requires an undying amount of support from others to accomplish. And I want you each to know how grateful I am, that you have been here for me on my own blue bike building journey.

Ever since I wrote my book, Build a Blue Bike, the pain in my heart has only grown. While I was very lucky to land a big agent, Susan Schulman, who represented Economist, Richard Florida’s Rise of The Creative Class, my timing could not have been worse. As we entered into a Big Big Recession I was trying to sell this book…..

I still hold out hope that someday I will hear back from Tarcher- my dream publisher. Julia Cameron: Artist Way- continues to be a big hit for The Tarcher Publishing company. So currently my manuscript resides in the back of my sock drawer, while my deep desire to help artists transform from the inside-out continues to grow.

My pain comes from a lifetime of artistic experiences that one-by-one drove me to become incredibly cautious and careful around artists because of the dysfunction I experienced trying to share the music in my heart with them. It was the drama, self-destruction, withdrawal, denial, arrogance, insecurity, back stabbing and anger I saw in others that made me take the joyful music inside my heart and lock it away. This was not what tickled my funny bone and called my artistic name to the clarinet and it is not where artistic entrepreneurial vision comes from. As a child, it was a love for exploring my own artistry and sharing my creativity with others that seeded my entrepreneurial abilities.

And it broke my heart to pull away from my deepest desires to play the clarinet for my life’s work when I was at the top of my musical game, at the end of my days as a college student at Northwestern. I truly wanted then and still want to share my creativity intimately with others. And while I went on to build creative ventures over the past twenty- years, creatively finding a way to put my need to play my clarinet each time at the center of my ventures, my heart continued to feel pain.

So after twenty years of living with my pain it grew so strong and loud, I wrote Build A Blue Bike hoping if I did something positive about it- by writing a book to share with others what only my artistry and unique vision blended together can see- it would help others heal and the pain I felt would finally subside. But the pain did not stop. So when Build A Blue Bike did not sell to a major publisher, my dream and hope for it still, I created Entrepreneur The Arts®. But it was still not enough.

From there came The Bite-Size Arts Ensemble™ and somehow, as this ensemble has struggled to take flight, I realized that while the pain inside of me was duller and throbbed less, as my vision for what I could do with it was growing stronger and clearer, it was still inside of me. I know that our show What is Your Imagination Worth? A New Kind of ROI is going to really help those who experience it learn about how they can change, evolve and grow. But I need what my audiences learn about developing their imaginations, to become something real: something that nourish their hearts and others souls. Something made to last. Maybe even forever- or for at least a lifetime on this earth.

And now, finally, last night, at Flourish Studios, with Stanley Drucker in the house, The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship™ has been born. Finally, after three and a half years of struggling, I feel like I have found the ignition key for my vision and a turning point for my heart to begin its work of healing.

You see, I want so badly to help you to discover your own vision, like I have. I want your deepest pain in life to become a vision of what you can positively change in the world that will help you create an artistic life filled with meaningful opportunities for you, and others, to learn from and endlessly grow. I know you will be happier and emotionally healthier the moment you decide to. I know when more of you are living a LIFE YOU DREAM that the dysfunction I see in the arts will slowly, but surely, change. I still so want to experience what our shared positive creativity and artistry can do for this world. Don’t you?

So what does it take to build your very own blue bike? One that will last forever, and ever, or as long as your vision can see, and until the pain in your heart has been nourished into health?

OK. If you are brave enough to consider trying to, here are a few things you have got to know:

#1 However long you think it is going to take to transform the pain in your heart into entrepreneurial vision– know that building a meaningful creative venture- one that is built to last- requires a large investment of time– at least a couple of years if not more.

#2 You need to be willing to set aside your need for clarity and perfection and be able to live with a tangled web of ideas at first- a mess- in the development stage of your personal transformation. Turning pain into vision is a process that is not neat and tidy. And you need excellent role models to help you navigate through so you find the most expeditious way. Nothing short will do. The bigger the pain the greater the vision can be and the longer it can take for your artistic vision to become clear and focused and financially able to take flight.

#3 You must be willing to continuously attempt to launch your ideas into the world knowing that you will need repeatedly to rebound from many failed attempts until you finally find some traction for them. You will be laughed at, ignored, disrespected, ridiculed, slighted and humbled by this process every single time it happens– until your vision is perfectly aligned with the pain in your heart and it ignites the transmission of your creative venture. And then… you will be celebrated like the hero everyone always knew you would become. (It is the hero’s journey we are talking about here. It is what has to happen for your artistry to take economic flight.)

#4 You need tenacity to fuel ideas. Consistent effort that is unwilling to stop–What is it that your heart needs most to not be in pain? Whatever that is, there lies the endless source of your tenacity.

#5 You need to be or become a great collaborative communicator. When we share our vision and receive feedback from others about it, we learn how we are being perceived. When we get it right, our vision will manifest itself into economic opportunities that seemingly will pop right up out of nowhere– and become our transportation into our future.

#6 And lastly, you need to have excellent ethical judgement. What goes around comes around. If you do what’s right every single time, eventually you will be rewarded. And if you do what is right and true for you, eventually your heart will feel whole and your ideas will roll and the money will flow…

#7 Remember–Where there is money, there is energy and where there is energy there is a lifetime of economic opportunity…

And politics aside- Isn’t this really what Obama keeps telling us? This IS our moment. WE are the future of history. OUR time has come. It is Now. Are you Ready?