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

A composer wants to get more performances of her music.  So she sends off scores to a number of competitions and new music groups.  Problem is, even though her compositions are strong, so are a lot of other pieces.  Wouldn’t it be better to network with educators, performers, and ensembles who aren’t...

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

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

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

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

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

Features and benefits are being bandied about.  And as important as they are, they need to be constantly in front of the consumer to do work their magic.  It is said that a buyer needs seven times to have a product in front of them before they buy.  How do you make sure there are repeat peformances...

SPEAKING COACHES HELP ENTREPRENEURS GET THEIR MESSAGE ACROSS - BUSINESS - INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE  By Hillary Chura Published: Thursday, January 11, 2007 NEW YORK — Whether to appear more confident, better organized or to stop the “ums,” entrepreneurs are realizing good voice and...

Received this email from the Executive Director of The Fresno Coalition for Arts, Science and History and thought all of you would be interested in their “Creating Critical Mass” Project… ****************************************************************************** Any effective social...

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

Musicians? Artists? Dancers? Actors? Film Makers? This post, 7 Ways Potters Can Use Blogs, that appeared today on Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship, will FILL YOU UP with ideas! Thank you Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship GCCE for adding us as a link to your blog! What a terrific...

Today I drove into Chicago to meet two women who run and own a two-year-old-child- development center. For the purposes of this post, they and their business will remain nameless, but the jist of their story I will share because it holds a few really important entrepreneurial lessons…. and a little...

When it comes to insisting that all artists becoming more entrepreneurial, James Hart and I are kindred spirits. I cannot agree more with James statement that “We need to teach our students how to have vision. Imagine the cultural implications.” I met Jim last weekend at Columbia College’s...

In the last three months I have been working with a new client-Dr. Julia Rahn, the owner of Flourish Studios www.ICanFlourish.com. Flourish is a self and family development center located at 3020 N Lincoln Avenue here in Chicago. As a clinical psychologist, Dr. Julia’s experience lead her to combining...

John Cimino, from Creative Leaps International, and I are pleased to announce that Catalyst Ranch, an incredible creativity-driven meeting space provider and progressive business-thought-leader, has offered us the opportunity to use their facility as our home until we are able to have our own space for...

One of the reasons I want to write books is because books, art, poetry and film, as examples, all intrinsically are built to last. Their very form offers easy “spark-creating-experience” access, like a hand full of nourishment going right into our mouth. Love that rush of energy that follows,...

January’s Entrepreneur Magazine offered these six tips on using free on-line tools: #1 Just because it’s there doesn’t mean you have to use it. “Because there’s so much out there, businesses have a tendency to be like a kid in a candy store,” says Drew McLellan. “Start...

Is it ever possible in life to get somewhere for nothing and have it be somewhere really good? Over the decades, we certainly have heard that “there is no such thing as a free ride” and that “if it’s too good to be true, it likely is”. But these days, thanks to the internet,...

My wish for you, ON CHRISTMAS DAY, will be for you TOO, to keep the GRINCH at bay! But if by chance, you simply cannot, Band mighty together, as a great big Who-Ville lot! WWHHYY????? Smarty-Arty, I hear you say? BECAUSE, with all your JOY stirring together, the grinch who came to visit, just might...