Earlier this month, I had the privilege of being one of 3 amazing artists invited to speak on a panel. It was hosted by Lisa Drennon (host of the I Date Money podcast, on which I’ve been a guest twice). The topic: artists making money.
In spite of the original issue with my mistaken timezone conversion, it has been a wonderful evening. The audience got a chance to hear three different perspectives. The speakers were from different areas of the world of art and the creative industries.
Meet the Speaker: Paula Brett
Paula is a fine artist. As both an artist and teacher, Paula’s muse is the authentic voice, for herself, her students, and the art. This commitment is an ongoing journey, unfolding from one moment to the next. Following sacred intuitive impulse and expression is a practice she embodies and teaches. Paula holds an BS in Art Education from the University of Georgia and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts and Media from Columbia College Chicago. She is also a Master Expressive Arts Facilitator and regularly hosts “Paint Medicine” classes.
She currently resides in Roswell, Georgia where she creates and teaches art, mothers two little boys, tries to keep up her yoga practice and be a good friend to her husband. Paula is also an art instructor with 20+ years of experience. She has taught in colleges, high schools, and elementary schools as well as museums in several cities including: Atlanta, Chicago, Moscow, Budapest, and New York City. Paula has been awarded several teaching grants and honours. She now teaches both online and in her studio. You can find how to connect with her and buy her incredible art and art merchandise on her website Paulambrett.com.
Meet the Speaker: Sara Bernadette
Then Sara Bernadette is one of those creatives with fingers in so many different pies it’s hard to track but also it all makes perfect sense when you’re in her energy. She also had an incredible background on the call.
In her words, she is a “Colour Enthusiast, Potty Mouth Corporate Rebel and your Launch Partner. As the mastermind behind Business Outside the Box Systems and Strategies for a Rocket Powered Launch, I specialize in turning business dreams into rocket-powered success stories.” I love that she frames her coaching as being “a creative architect”, I think that’s genius branding.
You can find all about the Rebel Universe on her website https://www.pottymouthrebel.com.
Meet the Host: Lisa Drennon
I entered Lisa’s world over our common desire to see more women millionaires, and having the kind of conversations that normalise financial literacy and topics that were seen as a man’s domain as late as 50 years ago (and in some communities, they still are). As I mentioned at the end of the panel, my true passion when it comes to the wealth conversation is in building a world where we recognise the true value of what artists bring to our society, and we pay them accordingly, but within the arts there’s still a pay gap in favour of men, so closing that is also something meaningful to me.
You can find more about her work, as well as a fun quiz to find out how you related to money, on her website https://idatemoney.com/idatemoney.
Secure your financial future as an artist
I invite you to catch up with this conversation full of tips for how to secure your financial future as an artist and creative, when so many conversations I see in the sphere are about how that’s a tough and unreliable industry and you should just do it on the side, or better still just forget about it and only spend your time on things that are “productive” and “important” (to the capitalist machine).
And feel free to reach out with any questions or things you want to learn more about. I want this blog to be packed with free resources to help you get your creative career started on the right foot. It’s my aim to be the person I needed when I was 18, so I’m here for you.
And if you want to dive deeper into having a system in place with more hands-on guidance from me, you can buy my workshops or work with me 1:1.
Here’s the recording of the Creative Experts: Artists Making Money panel:
