What makes a successful artist? An art career is not made just by talent or knowledge. Artists have to put in the work and practice to perfect their craft over time, and the same is true of their entrepreneurial development. The right tools for success are something that everyone is looking for, but few find.

The problem is that in the art world, stories of the road to success can often be vague and can gloss over the important details artists need. An absence of business training and a lack of supportive professional networks can leave artists relying on the hope of being discovered: but a more empowering model is that artists thrive when the plan for their career is back in their own hands. When they are armed with entrepreneurial skills and specific information, artists can make informed decisions about their professional trajectory and meet their art-industry collaborators as peers.

The Clark Hulings Fund (CHF) is a nonprofit organization built to help artists learn business skills and become more effective entrepreneurs—and to encourage open dialogue and transparency in the art industry as a whole. With the central purpose of “turning working artists into thriving artists,” they have made these events available to support art communities across the country, and have made learning content accessible online as well. Their ongoing series of Art-Business Conferences includes two more “boots on the ground” events in 2019.

Earlier this year at the Washington DC Metro-Area Art-Business Conference, artist Pamela Gordimer said: “It was a wonderful event and pivotal point for my art business. I cannot thank you enough! After being through the amazing weekend of valuable information provided by the CHF group, I’ve been so inspired to move forward and push my art business to a new level.”

CHF’s next conference is in art community haven, Santa Fe, New Mexico. It will be a three-day event September 16, 17, and 18, 2019 at the Santa Fe Convention Center. The first two days of the conference will be business training for artists and artisans, jam-packed with presentations and top-of-the-line breakout sessions. Central topics include setting a viable business objective and action plan, honing a brand story, pricing, sales strategies, and building a dynamic peer network. A Thriving Art Exchange (TAE) event on the final day of the conference will bring artists together with art industry leaders and influencers, government and business owners, and collectors and other stakeholders for a day of productive discussion designed to foster collaboration—and to work towards building a productive art industry in which all of its members can thrive. The conference is presented by CHF in partnership with the Santa Fe Arts Commission.

Conference leaders include Elizabeth Hulings—executive director of the Clark Hulings Fund. “Art is not a charity,” says Hulings, “and artists should not be expected to work just for ‘exposure,’ or to starve for the ‘privilege’ of doing their jobs.” Artists are expected to play within a set of rules that shift regularly and without warning. Entrepreneurial training equips artists to respond, to take advantage of shifts, to seize the moment effectively and make the most of opportunities in the changing art market.

A second fall conference is also happening this year, taking place in Virginia November 7–9, 2019. The event features the same art-business training and industry dialogue components as Santa Fe, but in reverse order. It starts off with a Thriving Art Exchange at the beautiful Belmont Estate, featuring brainstorming with working artists and other key industry community members, including locals, college, and nonprofit arts administrators, collectors, gallerists, retailers, and more. Join in this interactive process as we work toward shared goals, values, strategies, and action plans. The second two days are specifically for artists and artisans, honing-in on state-of-the-art entrepreneurial strategy and taking place at the University of Mary Washington Stafford Campus. Additional partners include Stafford County Virginia Department of Economic Development and Tourism, and the Fredericksburg Department of Economic Development and Tourism.

The Santa Fe and Virginia gatherings are the latest learning events spearheaded by CHF, who has led multiple Art-Business Conferences in previous years and is making a measurable impact on artists’ success. The program emphasizes thriving both as individual entrepreneurs and as members of a community. Part of the time is spent in small-group discussions, allowing artists to learn from and share information with each other—an eye-opening and valuable experience for many. Artist Erin Bassett, who participated in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida conference this winter said: “I found the information extremely useful and the instructors very knowledgeable. I made goals in the conference that I have started to take action on. The connections I made with the other students, instructors and special guests were also a benefit.”

Both events will additionally be led by CHF Accelerator Facilitators Carolyn Edlund and Daniel DiGriz—with Thriving Art Exchange (TAE) discussions moderated by CEO of Change Events, Shem Cohen. Artists can register for the art-business training at the Santa Fe Conference using coupon code SFREGISTEREARLY in the shopping cart to save $500 until July 31st, with savings the earlier you register until September 13th. For the Virginia Conference, use coupon code VAREGISTEREARLY in the shopping cart to save $500 on registration until September 8th, with continuing reduced rates until November 5th. Art community professionals can register for the TAE discussions for Virginia and Santa Fe by selecting the “Industry Badge” on the same registration page.

The Art-Business Conference helps artists hone their business into a fine art. As a facilitator of positive, professional dialogue within the art industry, CHF is supporting a healthy ecology to support the interests of all of its stakeholders. With multiple days in Santa Fe and Virginia, it’s easier than ever to meet your art community in person and build a supportive group with your professional peers.

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It’s no different for visual artists. To earn a sustainable living from their creativity, they need experience and knowledge—and not just in the area of artistic technique. Like other entrepreneurs, visual artists must understand their industry and learn how to manage the business side of their practice if they expect to build a career with staying power.

So how can artists obtain useful business information about a field that is notoriously—and often intentionally—opaque?

The Clark Hulings Fund for Visual Artists (CHF), a national nonprofit organization, will fill these knowledge gaps at its upcoming Art-Business Conferences, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on February 1st – 2nd, and in the Washington DC area on March 23rd – 24th. At these weekend-long business-development workshops, artists will learn how the industry really functions and how they can conquer it.

After kicking off with an inside look at today’s rapidly changing art marketplace, artists will participate in immersive sessions that ask them to look inward, determining where they want their art businesses to go and helping them come up with the best plan for getting there. “At first, I was going to go jumping right back into my career,” says artist Kay Witherspoon, who attended CHF’s Art-Business Conference in Dallas last September. “I’m not doing that now. I’m planning my career. Now I feel like I’ve got a guide, so I can put a plan together.”

The workshops will be led by CHF’s leadership team: Director and Co-founder Elizabeth Hulings, Sales & Events Director Carolyn Edlund, and Education and Messaging Director Daniel DiGriz. As at past conferences, CHF is teaming up with local organizations that have a history of supporting artists in their community. The Florida event is co-sponsored by the Broward County Cultural Division and ArtServe, which is where the sessions will take place, while the partner for the metro DC workshops is Artists & Makers Studios in Rockville, Maryland, the largest art studio center complex in Montgomery County

Participants will learn everything from crafting an effective narrative and distilling their brand story into bite-sized chunks that keep their audiences engaged, to discovering new markets, pricing their work for profit, improving their online sales, and more. They will also have the chance to participate in Q&A sessions during which they can ask the conference’s leaders and other expert panelists their specific business questions.

The Florida panel will feature art publisher Rickie Leiter, artist and marketing executive Ilene Adams, and Janeen Mason, the curator of Lighthouse ArtCenter in Tequesta. Included in the metro DC roundtable discussion will be artists Blake Conroy and Donna Lee Nyzio, both of whom recently completed two-year Fellowships in CHF’s intensive Art-Business Accelerator, a graduate-level entrepreneurial program for professional artists.

The interactivity of these conferences is central to their effectiveness. “In-person professional development draws the artist in to ask questions, discuss, and share their thoughts and insights,” says Edlund. “We find that our students bring an enormous amount of wisdom and experience into the mix. Imagine how many years of business experience there are in a group of artists who are serious about selling their work. That is where transformation happens.”

CHF’s Digital Learning Portal and online community serve to keep participants engaged long after the conference is over, encouraging and supporting them as they implement the strategies that they developed during the live workshops. “Everyone learns differently,” adds Edlund, “and we offer a variety of modalities. Written articles, videos, and podcasts are all part of a robust structure of learning options that are available online.”

Art is a Business, and Artists Should Run It

These Art-Business Conferences are driven by CHF’s overall mission: equipping visual artists to be self-sustaining entrepreneurs. “Art is not a charity,” says Hulings, “and artists should not be expected to work just for ‘exposure,’ or to starve for the ‘privilege’ of doing their jobs.”

As the art market undergoes significant changes, there’s an opportunity for artists to seize the moment and make the industry work for them, but they can only compete effectively if they have the proper business training and expertise. Adds Hulings, “If you plan to make a living from your art—to pay your bills, sell your work, and have the time and resources to create more work and grow as an artist—you must accept the fact that you are running a business, and that you are the CEO of the enterprise.”

Beyond what’s taught in the workshops, CHF’s conferences provide artists with the chance to break out of their often solitary studio environments and connect with their peers—a practice that is commonplace in many industries but still relatively rare in the art world. The weekend-long events close with a soirée where participants can relax, enjoy a glass of wine, and plan future interactions with each other. These gatherings allow artists to capitalize on the connections they’ve made at the conference, and start building or expanding their existing networks of allies.

“There is no substitute for face-to-face meeting, and sitting down with other people to have discussions about art and business,” says Edlund. “This dynamic aspect not only introduces artists to others with similar goals, but also generates a level of excitement that motivates attendees well beyond the event itself.”

That sentiment is echoed by artist Donna Dobberful, who attended CHF’s Dallas conference last fall. When she first heard about the event, her initial reaction was skepticism, but she decided to give it a go. “A few hours into [it],” she says, “I was indeed surprised and delighted. They gave me the tools to expand, change, and stir things up!”

The total fee for the weekend-long conference is $395. Early-bird pricing is available for the DC event at $345 through March 1st. (For the coupon code, see the registration page.) The price of admission to either conference also includes Colleague-level access to the Digital Learning Portal and the online community of artists.

“Attending the [event] was one of the best investments of my time and resources I’ve made,” says artist Bradley Reyes who participated in a CHF conference in Santa Fe. “I feel like the trajectory of my art career has changed because of it.”

For more information and to register for these CHF Art-Business Conferences, please visit:

Ft. Lauderdale, FL: https://clarkhulingsfund.org/florida/

Metro Washington DC (Rockville, MD): https://clarkhulingsfund.org/washington

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