What sets this course apart is the way it zeros in on the intersec-
The first step, he explains to the artists in the class, is building
tions among all artistic fields; musicians, dancers, photographers,
and carefully tending to an audience, as through it were a gar-
painters, poets, and sculptors all find a space in the class. “To be
den. “People feel like there’s no grey area between being silent
in community with folks who are in a creative process made me
and being an egomaniac,” says Cohen, who speaks quickly and
look at my own creative process differently,” Givehand recalls. She
fluidly in well-crafted sound bites. But everyone has their own
discovered that the elements are the same across the disciplines:
“communication superpower,” he says—whether it’s attending
engaging in artistic practice, creating a product, sharing that prod-
events regularly or sending out tweets. “You might be a hand-
uct with the public through exhibition or publication, and seek-
shake person or you might be a digital person,” he says.
ing recognition or compensation.
Other visiting speakers bring their own experience to bear on
It was within this community that Givehand was finally able
how to build a successful life in the arts. Accountant and tax
to realize her vision. She hadn’t thought of herself as an art-
expert Andrew Stern has been a musician most of his life; his
ist when she came to Mills; her identity as a writer and poet
recent tax guide for self-employed artists, Z Art of Taxes, has
had always been secondary to her paid work as an educator.
been lauded by Bay Area authors and musicians. Cheryl Clarke,
After taking Thornborrow’s course, Givehand came to recog-
a grant writer and published short story author, shares her
nize herself as a working artist—an essential concept that helped
knowledge of how skills in fiction can be used to improve grant
her apply a practical approach to her creativity and recognize
proposals. “Funders always say, just tell us your story,” explains
the financial value of her literary efforts. “I don’t think only of
Clarke, who answered her phone on the first ring late on a Friday
Generations as a business,” she says. “I think of the writing life
and happily made time to talk between client consultations. “A
itself as a business.”
proposal is a story–in the traditional sense–with characters, plot
w i n w i n w i n
w wt t ehe w t
arc, antagonists. It’s all integrated,” she says. Givehand used such lessons in launching Generations.
Assistant Professor of English Kathryn Reiss, a widely published
Building an audience meant tapping into the existing literary
young-adult author, speaks to the Business of Being an Artist class
scene, as well as establishing an online presence and a commu-
about finding an agent, working with an editor, and negotiating
nity presence. She kept the first issue of Generations manageable
contracts. Still, she emphasizes the importance of not letting the
by soliciting work from writers and visual artists she admired;
business side of things outweigh artistic development. “Before
she also reached out to local high school teachers in search of
such work becomes a business, it’s an art,” says Reiss, who sets
young voices.
w i n
Responsible business practices are an implicit lesson
aside several days each week for writing, settling into
throughout the class. Jillian Roth, who took the
her backyard garden and tuning out domestic
course while studying for her MBA, points
and other demands. “You need to hone your craft and put in the time that writing and revising a book requires before you look for an agent,” Reiss says. Appropriately, that’s what professors like Reiss and Frith teach in their fine arts classes at Mills. The Business
of Being an Artist provides an advantageous
transition
to
the professional world. “In this
class, I’m looking at the very
end of the process of being a writer,” Reiss says.
Communications
expert
Dan
For many artists, the synthesis of a creative lifestyle and prudent business practices doesn’t come naturally.
t
Cohen, principal of Full Court Press
w
Visiting speakers bring their own experience to bear on how to build a successful life in the arts.
Communications, approaches his lec-
ture in the course each year with an under-
standing that, for many artists, the synthesis of a
out that many of the students and lecturers include some mechanism for giving back to the community in their work; the business plan for Roth’s online jewelry store, JillyBeads4Justice, also includes a charitable giving element. Even though the course isn’t explicitly focused on social
justice, Roth says, “Mills is just
good at bringing people with
those kind of values together.” Givehand
spent
her
own
money to produce the first issue of
Generations, but drew on the resources
she had gained from her conversations
with Spahr and from Thornborrow’s class. She
composed contracts for her writers based on a lecture
creative lifestyle and prudent business practices doesn’t come
from a music contractor, and employed a graphic designer she
naturally, or willingly. “What’s more challenging than talking
found through another student in the course. Such connections
to a playwright about economics?” Cohen muses. He notes that
are another valuable aspect of the class. “You start networking
few professional artists have the means to fund ongoing, pro-
before you even mean to start networking,” Givehand says.
fessional marketing campaigns and that artists, in particular,
Once the first issue was minted—perfect bound with glossy
are passionate about their voice and may not want to work with
color images—Givehand felt confident enough to begin asking
an intermediary in making key decisions about their business.
for both subscribers and submissions and set to finding ways
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