A RTS ENT R E P R E N EU R
Q&A
with Matt
Bailey
Trained as a fine art photographer, Matt Bailey blended artistry with entrepreneurship throughout his career â from opening a tattoo shop in Albuquerque to co-founding a software company serving photographers. Bailey went on to earn an M.B.A. from UCI and a masterâs in business analytics at NYU. Most recently, he served as director of the collaborative venturing group at UCI Beall Applied Innovation. Bailey joined the Deanâs Arts Board in 2020 as a champion for visual arts and technology.
Q. How do you see artistic and entrepreneurship intersecting? MB: Business is actually very creative at its core. And at the end of the day, creativity thrives on commerce. As a student at the San Francisco Art Institute, I thought being concerned with selling your work was âselling out,â but the people who do the most interesting things artistically have some kind of financial support. The company I co-founded, liveBooks, was a software company that helped creative people build out their commerce side. And when you grow a company, you have to come up with creative ways of producing your product profitably. The two overlap in so many ways that are underappreciated.
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