The Kansas City metropolitan area benefits from the presence of many universities and colleges that offer rigorous visual and performing arts programs. But even these well-prepared graduates, eager to work, may find the real world, a world of too many hurdles, too little encouragement. For these eager would-be-working artists, Artist INC may just be the answer.
Artist INC has united local efforts and funding, effectively replacing the Creative Capital Funds. Today, Artist INC partners with the Charlotte Street Foundation, ArtsKC Regional Arts Council, the UMKC Innovation Center and Mid-America Arts Alliance to provide much needed capital.
Lisa Cordes, the Artist INC Professional Development Program director, understands the need to help artists. In 2010, she was a recipient of a Charlotte Street Rocket Grant and an ArtsKC Inspiration grant for the development and performances of her play, Prop 8 On Trial, and was a resident artist at the Fishtank Performance Studio. As a playwright, her work has been produced by theaters across the country.
With the addition of Mid-America Arts Alliance and incorporating that organization’s outreach, Artist INC has now expanded to Argenta, Ark., Austin, Texas, Oklahoma City, Okla., and Omaha, Neb. “This new partnership has been significant as we bring in more regional collaborators who speak the same language,” Cordes says. In Austin, the program is linked with the city’s economic development corporation. “They understand the need to keep artists in the community. With the regional network, see artists who are eager to get together.”
More than 500 artists annually are reached through Artist INC programs. The five-year data is to be reviewed to see how the various seminars and workshops have made a difference, she says. “The next steps are to measure sustainability,” Cordes explains. “I know that being an artist begins with passion and that passion has to continue, whatever life throws at them. Artist INC Live provides the principles to help maintain a career. There are strategic goal-setting sessions. The artists establish their goals and accountability to themselves and the groups they are teamed with …”
Cordes says artists in the metropolitan area often have families and many lessons look at supporting families within the context of being a working artist. “There are possibilities and opportunities,” she comments. “Erin McGrane, one of our teaching artist facilitators, works hard in her art. One of the lessons she teaches is about working on a constant and consistent basis and making re-evaluation part of your practice.”
Artist INC provides tools in the creative toolbox, but teaches artists how to create the toolbox. “Each individual artist is a small business owner. They are entrepreneurs,” Cordes says. “So often, their work is done in isolation, but Artist INC gives them the push to network and find some additional energy. They gain knowledge, mentoring and peer networking.” The next class of 25 artists begins in early March. “They work together and discover a shared language and set of experiences.” Some of the successes include PLUG Projects, Black House Collective and Heidi Van and her Fishtank Theatre.
Cordes explains that Artist INC is part of the “top down, bottom up” programming. With Charlotte Street in the mix, artists can apply for Rocket grants or find spaces for their art. There is also a collegiate aspect with a student class of Kansas City Art Institute and UMKC Conservatory students. This Artist INC Collegiate is a four-week session offered following graduation. Musician Beau Bledsoe teaches the class. Bledsoe, also familiar with Creative Capital, started with that group. “The coursework is so critical,” he explains. “I remember coming to Creative Capital because I had no real preparation for the daily business world. There is a great fear and I remember how I felt. I was fortunate to receive mentoring from local working musicians.”
To help students between graduation and their entry into daily grind, Bledsoe offers perspective. “While many professors are insulated in academia, as a working artist, I can share the lessons I learned in the performing market and the stories of other studio artists. I have to support a family as a working artist. I can make a living which is not that rare. I have multiple income streams. Most artists don’t have one job, but several at once. I think I can offer some real world experience and answer those questions that recent grads frequently have.”
Bledsoe is often held up as an example of a successful working artist and businessman, Cordes says. “Beau has a portfolio career. It is diversified with teaching, social and performance collaborations and his work as a broker for a guitar maker.”
Artist INC has already proven its worth revealed in the findings of a national study by The Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation. The foundation supports innovative projects that advance solutions to basic and enduring problems in areas such as the arts. In a 2013 study commissioned by the foundation on Marketplace Empowerment for Artists Programs, Artist INC fared well in many areas including building career confidence, setting goals and networking. “We are measuring well against other programs,” she says.
“We are needed. Art schools don’t look much at arts management or instruction on how to make your way in the world,” Cordes explains. “Having Artist INC means artists can focus on all the aspects of their world and work after graduation.” The menu of programming includes Artist INC II which brings LIVE alumni back to work through a specific project.
By the year 2017, Artist INC is projected to be in 10 communities around the region including Kansas City, Cordes says. Other courses include one- and two-day workshops focused on concepts such as marketing, technology and fund-raising. Workshops are the reFRESH series, the Third Space series, What Works and Portfolio Careers.
“We will always investigate what works over time. However, we will continue to nurture and support artists who are seeking to invest in themselves,” affirmed Cordes.
