Key Takeaways from Austin Art Business Summit

What an amazing weekend we had at the Austin Art Business Summit! Two days full of helpful information for everyone from the aspiring artist to the professional ready to up their game. It was such a pleasure to meet art business experts like Carolyn Edlund and Wendy Rosen, among other special guest speakers. I highly recommend looking out for the event next year when they hopefully come back to Austin. In the meantime, I'd love to share a couple key insights that I walked away with. Feel free to reach out if you have questions about what you can do continue building up your success as an artist!

Pricing Your Art for True Value

Pricing may be one of the greatest challenges when it comes to running an art business. While there are objective and easy to quantify elements of making, what buyers are willing to pay is often subjective. Does your work speak to them? What value do they perceive? Do they understand the potential investment? You have to consider your market as well as the time you invest, the cost of materials and more. Is there one pricing method that works best? Honestly, I would say no. It depends on your medium and style as well as the customers you are trying to reach and how well you communicate why they should buy from you. So how do you determine your ideal approach to pricing? Research and testing. The going rate for your work much like your style will evolve over time. Whether you're just getting started or evaluating mid career, here are some considerations to help guide you in making a living off your creative talents.

To Sell or Not to Sell Your Art?

We all need a creative outlet, and many of us find that in the Arts - Drawing, Painting, Beading, Crafting. Does that mean you have to sell your work? No, not necessarily. Plenty of happy, talented creatives make Art for themselves and only share it with just their closest circle, brightening their little corner of the world. And yet, the more common question I find people asking is whether or not they could sell their work and eventually make a career out of it. While it took me a while to make this decision myself, I'm a big proponent of finding out what you love to do and determining how you can do that every day. With that said, there are a handful of considerations that can help you decide if Art as a profession is the right route.