Check out the following resources, how-to videos, and presentations to help provide artists and makers with tools for growing and building their businesses.
VIDEOS
Whether it’s resources to help you apply for a grant, tutorials to help you capture photography of your products and fine art pieces, or other information to guide you through the process of marketing, sustaining, and growing your arts-based business, these videos are designed to provide step-by-step assistance to help your business thrive.
Maine Arts Commission: Grant Basics & How to Apply
This video from the Maine Arts Commission walks you through general grant and guideline information for artists and makers, including available grants and fellowships, grant criteria, things to consider before applying, application deadline, how to apply, and what to do after you submit your application.
Project Grants for Artists Deadline: April 08, 2021LEARN MORE AND APPLY HERE
DIY Tabletop Photography for Artists and Makers
The time is now to get your products up online. It may seem overwhelming but we’re here to help. Photographer Michael O’Neil offers the first of a series of three videos that will give artists and makers the tools they need to capture the best photography for their products and fine art pieces for sharing online, in social media posts, or in email blasts.
DIY Photography: Two-Dimensional Art
This one’s for you, fine artists! Join photographer Michael O’Neil, and special guest artist David Vickery, for a look at different setups you can use for photographing 2D fine art pieces. The time is now to get your products up online. It may seem overwhelming but we’re here to help! Part of our series on DIY photography for artists and makers, these videos are targeted to helping you prepare photography to use for your website, social media, and email blasts.
DIY Photography: On Location, Natural Light Photography
The time is now to get your products up online. It may seem overwhelming but we’re here to help! Part of our series on DIY photography for artists and makers, these videos are targeted to helping you prepare photography to use for your website, social media, and email blasts.
PRESENTATIONS
Through our Artists and Makers Conferences and small business workshops, we bring together industry experts to cover a wide range of topics to help support artists and makers in starting, marketing, and growing their businesses. From the major elements of a business plan to social media and email marketing, check out some of these resources below.
Instagram Successes and Failures
Karen D’Silva from Agency Access delivers this presentation about the ins and outs of Instagram—what works and what doesn’t work well on this social media platform.
Business Model Canvas
Creating a business plan, while important, can be an intimidating process. The Business Model Canvas was developed as a quick, iterative way of thinking through your business plan on a visual canvas. It helps you describes the rationale of how your business or art practice creates, delivers and captures value.
Wholesale vs Retail - What's the Best Strategy for Your Business?
Whitney Burdsall of New England Made highlights the important aspects of both wholesale and retail markets and how each could be a part of a winning business model.
The Importance and Impact of Email Marketing
Rich Brooks of flyte new media offers this presentation on why email marketing is still the king of generating sales, as well as how to build a list, best practices to encourage opt-ins, open rates, and responses to calls for action.
Starting Your Small Business
Jenn Dobransky of New Ventures Maine guides this workshop on the pros and cons of different business types, the steps needed for start-up, the major elements of a business plan, and the many resources available to help you succeed.
Financial Resources and Opportunities for Maine Artists
In this presentation on financial resources and opportunities for Maine artists from our 2018 Artists & Makers Conference, Julie Horn of the Maine Arts Commission covers Maine’s Percent for Art Program and what a successful application looks like.
Strengthening Community through the Arts
As we know, artists and makers have a big impact on Maine’s economy. In this presentation from our 2018 Artists & Makers Conference, Mary Laury of Schoodic Arts for All in Winter Harbor shares how the organization uses the arts to engage and strengthen the local community.
