The Artadia Network is an activated community offering ongoing support exclusively to Artadia Awardees beyond the unrestricted financial award. Through one-on-one meetings and workshops with a variety of professionals, and an Awardee listserv, the Artadia Network provides Awardees with a forum for structured discourse, resource sharing and opportunities for new connections.
Artadia’s vision is for visual artists to prosper through stronger communities and a more just arts economy. To realize this, the Artadia Award program offers a pathway toward sustainable growth for artists. The Artadia Network, which directly evolved from our long-running Art & Dialogue series (2015-2020) and Houston Fellowship program (2018-2020), extends the benefits of the grant funds by fostering discourse between artists and a community of professionals ranging from curators to legal experts. Together, they explore practice-based solutions to the most pressing challenges facing artists today.
○ Art academics ○ Art advisors ○ Art administrators ○ Auction specialists ○ Curators ○ Collectors ○ Dealers ○ Established artists ○ Financial advisors ○ Lawyers ○
Marketing and digital strategists ○ Production specialists ○ And more
One-on-one virtual meetings:
Eight annual virtual workshops hosted by professionals:
Artadia Awardee listserv:
Commission projects can often feel daunting. Join curators Mallory Ruymann and Leah Triplett Harrington for a helpful overview of the commission process. Drawing from Leah’s experience in mounting commissions in the non-profit, public sphere and Mallory’s background in the private space of individual and corporate collection building, this workshop is aimed to empower artists to successfully approach commissions in the conceptual, budgeting, and production phases. Incorporating real-life case studies pulled from their respective practices, Mallory and Leah will share best practices and learnings related to the creative process, project management, legal, and financial aspects of a commission project.
Artadia partnered with PNC Bank to present a workshop to help artists better understand themselves as business entities. PNC covered the various organizational types and what to consider when determining which type may be best suited for you. As ‘owners’, it’s important to know how to protect you and your business and create future success when planning your business structure.
Janean Germany, Business Relationship Manager and a SBA Loan Specialist for PNC lead us through this conversation.
The archive is critical to an artist’s career on many levels, not only as a way to organize the studio, but more importantly as a way to understand historical information so that artists can make informed choices about their future. Depending on the project, business, or organization, artists have different needs when it comes to an archive or inventory database. In this third installment, we discussed in depth what is needed to build and maintain an archive of one’s work.
Artists have more freedom and flexibility to generate income but more complex decisions to make. Whether selling work independently or with the help of a representative or gallery, the following components are crucial to consider: Money, Context, and Exposure.
For those who are pursuing gallery representation, we addressed factors such as reputation, experience, connections, programming and curatorial perspective, funding, location, team, communication, and relationship with the owner.
We also delved into alternatives which include online sales, branding, independent projects and collaborations with other industries.
The first of three in the Artsmart x Artadia Artist Business Plan Series covered budgets—which are necessary tools for an artist’s practice: project planning, grantwriting, cash flow management and business plan development. Smart budgeting can help strike a balance between dreams and reality. We dove into why budgets are necessary, how to create them, and how to stick to them.
This virtual conversation between poet and art critic John Yau and sculptor Jillian Conrad (2012 Houston Artadia Awardee) took its cue from acts of cross-disciplinary collaboration often engaged by artists as a generative process and practice.
Best known in the art world for his reviews in Hyperallergic and the Brooklyn Rail (2007-2011), John is also a poet, fiction writer and publisher. Jillian will talk with him about his latest collection of poems, Genghis Chan on Drums (2021), his work as the founder of Black Square Editions and how these overlapping practices run mostly but not necessarily parallel in his life as a writer.
Jillian is a sculptor who is currently traveling in west Texas and southern France, developing a book-length essay on how caves and the art found in them are portals that connect to contemporary art practices.
Artists often struggle with access to resources and support needed to help them create, organize and grow a financially thriving practice. Too few resources exist that are specifically designed for artists to help them navigate through every aspect of starting and successfully operating a small business.
The workshop moved methodically and intelligently through a planning lifecycle navigating from creation to collection, from conception to consumption, and through every business aspect along the way.
This virtual event centered around the theme of artist-led initiatives and featured the artists Alejandro Cesarco, Taylor Le Melle, and Marcel Pardo Ariza. While each of these artists maintains an active artistic practice of their own, they also manage other art initiatives that serve to create space, resources, and discourse outside of institutional channels.
A.rt R.esources T.ransfer (A.R.T.), run by Cesarco, is a nonprofit organization based in New York committed to documenting and disseminating artists’ voices and work through the publication and distribution of books, education, and spaces of reading. Not/Nowhere, run by La Melle, is a cooperative in London that programmes workshops, screenings, exhibitions, and offers training for Black and POC artists to use film and media equipment. The Art Handlxrs* is a San Francisco-based platform co-founded by Pardo Ariza dedicated to supporting BIPOC, queer, non-binary, trans people, and women in the professional arts industry as preparators, art handlxrs, technicians, and fabricators. The conversation is co-organized and moderated by curator Juana Berrío.
Click here to view the workshop
This workshop with Shama Rahman helps artists explore how to clearly communicate who they are as creative individuals, and the kind of work they produce, to a broad range of audiences. Artists will learn the components of creating effective personal narratives, tangible tips for keeping their statements updated on a regular basis, modifying statements for different platforms and more. Learnings from this workshop can apply to improving applications for grants, fellowships, and residencies; websites; press releases; marketing materials and more.
Click here to view the workshop
In this Artadia Public Network Workshop, Courtney Childress and Peter Gynd unpack one of the more opaque tasks an artist must face. Whether it’s creating a budget for your studio practice or an estimated budget that’s required for a grant application, having a solid understanding of your expenses, spending and income is crucial to your success. Courtney Childress and Peter Gynd — who are both artists with active studio practices as well as curators and gallerists — share practical advice on how to create budgets that support your artistic practice and help open doors to new opportunities.
Click here to view the workshop
Audra Lambert and Heather Zises from Ninth Street Collective hold a candid conversation about preparing for the a studio visit (both virtually and in-person), hosting the visit and following up post-visit. As curators and art critics, they have visited 100s of artist studios and will share the dos and don’ts of navigating in-person and virtual visits.
Click here to view the workshop
Panel discussion with industry experts and artists on NFTs to share key insights and understandings geared to artists and like-minded creatives. Panelists include Christiana Ine-Kimba Boyle, Global Director of Online Sales and Head of Pace Verso, Amir H. Fallah, Artist and 2020 Los Angeles Artadia Awardee, Sarah Friend, Artist and Software Developer, Christopher Y. Lew, Chief Artistic Director of Horizon Art Foundation and Outland Art, and Nato Thompson, Co-Founder Artwrld, Founder and Director The Alternative Art School.
This workshop was led by Cultural Counsel’s Vice President Marcella Zimmermann on social media strategies for artists. This private workshop allowed participants to cultivate effective ‘best practices’ around communications, social media and online presence — focusing specifically on Instagram.
This private Network workshop convened three renowned art dealers—Kibum Kim of Commonwealth and Council, Friedrich Petzel of Petzel Gallery, and Nicole Russo of Chapter NY Gallery–to hold a roundtable-style conversation around navigating gallery relationships, what it means to be represented, and the role that galleries can play in the sustainability of an artist’s career.
This is a Private Workshop for Artadia Awardees. For RSVP information please email info@artadia.org
Financial Wellness Seminar for Artists will be an overview of best practices for optimizing your financial life including budgeting, savings strategies, estate planning, investment planning, and risk management. This event will be live closed captioned, if any accessibility accommodations are needed please email info@artadia.org.
Click here to view the workshop
Kristen Becker and Corrina Peipon are both independent arts strategists with over 20 years of experience in artists’ studios, museums, and commercial galleries. They met virtually on April 8 to share their insider knowledge on how artists can best approach relationships with curators and gallery owners.
Click here to view the workshop
Artist and 2020 Houston Artadia Awardee Bria Lauren and Rebecca Matalon, Curator, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, discussed Lauren’s work in photography and film, the ongoing importance of Houston’s Third Ward on her practice, and the value and urgency of honoring her local community of Black women, artists, and collaborators.
Kristen Becker, Cultural Strategist, KB Art Strategies
Makeda Djata Best, Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography; Interim Head, Division of Modern and Contemporary Art, Harvard Art Museum
Nicole Calderón, Founder and Director, Calderón Gallery
Yanira Castro, Interdisciplinary artist and choreographer
Amy Davila, Founder, ArtSmart
Lia Gangitano, Founder / Director of Participant Inc.
Dylan Gauthier, Director, EFA Project Space
Carmen Hermo, Curator, Brooklyn Museum
Martha Joseph, Curator, Media and Performance, MoMA
Bana Kattan, Pamela Alper Associate Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago
Naima Keith, Vice President of Education and Public Programs, LACMA
Melissa Levin, Independent Curator / Arts Administrator
Rodrigo Moura, Chief Curator, El Museo del Barrio
Margot Norton, Curator, New Museum
Aurele Danoff Pelaia, Attorney, Eisner LLP
Corina Reynolds, Executive Director at Center for Book Arts
Mallory Ruymann, Managing Partner and Head of Curatorial Projects at art_works
Ingrid Schaffner, Curator, Chinati
Mindy Solomon, Gallery Director, Mindy Solomon Gallery
Nicola Vassell, Dealer
Gee Wesley, Cultural Organizer and Curatorial Assistant, MoMA’s Department of Media and Performance
Lauren Wittels, Director at Luhring Augustine
Sarah Workneh, Director, Skowhegan
Courtenay Finn, Chief Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland
Doug Gourley, Private Banker
Gregory Harris, Associate Curator of Photography, High Museum of Art, Atlanta
Daonne Huff, Director, Public Programs & Community Engagement, Studio Museum in Harlem
Rachel Jans, Assistant Curator of Paintings and Sculpture, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Miranda Lash, Ellen Bruss Senior Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Denver
Margot Norton, Curator, New Museum, New York
Sara Greenberger Rafferty, Artist
Gabriel Ritter, Curator and Head of Contemporary Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art
Brian Sholis, Editor, Writer and Curator
Irene Shum, Curator, Art & Architecture
Katia Zavistovski, Assistant Curator of Modern Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art