Knowledge bank

With the continued gloom about the economy, a-n offers some tips to help freelance artists survive in a recession.

1. Plan well ahead – use The artist’s development toolkit on www.a-n.co.uk/toolkits to check out your long-term goals so you’re not taken off course by a passing whim.

2. Manage your finances – it may seem to be a bad time to put up prices, but the hours per day in your bids could be reduced, so that an eight hour day at £300 a day becomes a seven hour day at the same figure, giving you a 14% rise. Do your admin more efficiently and have more time to promote yourself to new people by repurposing old applications and proposals rather than starting from scratch.

3. Use the internet effectively as a marketing tool – make sure your website’s up-to-date with your latest CV and projects. a-n’s research reveals that many curators and arts organisers would prefer to go to an artist’s own website and browse than use registers of artists – even a one-page website is better than nothing at all. Use Myspace or open source tools to make one and add the url onto your email footer.

4. Research and hone down what you apply for – if you use a-n’s new site www.a-n.co.uk/jobs_and_opps you can see at a glance what level of experience is required and if we’ve advertised something in the last four months, what it was and in some cases, who was selected.

5. Use email rather than post – for invoices and statements. Do a regular short email to your ‘address book’ of what you’ve got up-coming and where your work will be on show or on sale.

6. Invest in qualifications – if you want to get any teaching in art schools you’ll probably need to have, or be studying for, a PhD. And if you’re thinking of segueing into a curatorial practice, an MA may be just the networking tool to help that. Many universities offer financial incentives in the form of bursaries, or scholarships.

7. Use the freebies – as an a-n Artist subscriber you can post What’s on listings + image onto www.a-n.co.uk/interface and immediately tell thousands of arts professionals about your work. Or start a blog on www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking, as this site’s well used by press and media to locate artists to cover regionally as well as by arts organisers researching artists to work with.

8. Widen your promotions – ask your customers for their contacts to add to your next exhibition or open studio invite list. Most sales or invites for other shows and commissions take place in conversations at private views.

9. Pitch yourself as an expert – offer to do talks at your old art school, to local authority forums, arts management courses, regional business networks, to help ensure people know who you are and what your areas of expertise are.

10. Reduce your overheads – get your professional insurance at lower rates with the new Artists’ Insurance Policy – with studio, artwork, equipment options to choose from at www.a-n.co.uk/AIR_insurance. AIR members also get £5m Public and Products Liability insurance cover for free.

Susan Jones

Susan Jones, Director of Programmes

First published: a-n.co.uk September 2008