Offering advice to artists

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This article was published 07/03/2011 (5356 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As an artist, the creative freedom to work when they want and how they want — and garnering success at the same time — is the holy grail of self-employment.

Unfortunately, for the right-brained folk who would rather create than crunch numbers, the business aspect of being a creative entrepreneur often falls flat. Often, artists of every creed learn costly industry lessons about managing financial affairs and marketing, the hard way.

A comprehensive four-session, 36-hour course — the Art of Managing Your Career — is dedicated to tackling these very issues and now, after stints in Winnipeg, Gimli and Flin Flon, it’s coming to Brandon; and better yet, with renowned singer/songwriter Heather Bishop at the helm.

"We work on each artist’s individual plan. It doesn’t matter if you’re cartoonist, actor, clothing designer or musician," Bishop, the brains behind AMYC, told the Sun. "(Participants) start developing their business plan and by the end, they’ve been able to work on it in class not only with me, but with the other students as well … the cross-pollination between the genres is one of the real positive things about the course."

The AMYC course launched as a pilot in Winnipeg in 2010, and over the past year, its popularity has skyrocketed. Today, a list of hopeful participants waits Bishop’s return to the provincial capital. Apart from bringing the course to Brandon, Bishop has also hosted classes in Gimli, Flin Flon and soon, Dauphin.

With more than four decades of experience in the industry, Bishop laughs when she thinks of all of the mistakes — "learning opportunities" — she has learned over the years as a self-employed artist.

"I have to say it’s the mistakes I’ve made that equips me to teach this course," Bishop said. "I started my own record label in 1979 when no one had a label. I’ve made every mistake in the book but by sticking to my guns … in spite of the mistakes I made … I kept the controls of my own business and I’ve been all around the world with it; it’s been my only source of income and I’ve enjoyed great success."

Forging ahead as an entrepreneur has its risks, but so does signing with a major record label for example, Bishop says, as nothing is ever constant. You have to educate yourself about every aspect of business.

"It’s immensely important to understand how all of these pieces work," she said. "If you have to hire someone to do a job, hire someone, but you must understand how it ought to be done, so when the infrastructure around you crumbles, you’re still standing and you know what the next step should be."

The importance — and safety net — of diverse revenue streams is one of the main takeaways from the AMYC course, while the diversity of the 15 participants always provides great insight and networking opportunities for participants, Bishop added.

"One of the really happy circumstances of this course is that although it’s a business course, people in the end come away with much better sense of themselves as an artist and much more respect for themselves as an artist," she said. "In a way if you take that step forward to say ‘Yes, I’m a business,’ what you’re doing is honouring your art practice, you’re saying and accepting that, ‘Yes, I’m an artist.’"

The AMYC course will be offered in Brandon on March 13, March 27, April 10 and May 1. The deadline for application is March 10.

For more information visit, Creativemanitoba.ca/training/art-of-managing-your-career.

 

Performer Profile

As a musician, visual artist, social activist and teacher Heather Bishop has been awarded the Order of Canada, Order of Manitoba, and the YM/YWCA Woman of Distinction Award.

Among her many accomplishments, her teaching credits include: designing a Pre-Trades Training Course for Women with Red River Community College, founder of the Manitoba Audio Recording Industry Association, faculty teacher at Aboriginal Music Camp and teaching her Business Basics Workshop for Manitoba Music.

In 1976, Bishop formed her own recording company, Mother of Pearl Records Inc. She was one of the first Canadian musicians to make their own album and helped to start the trend of independent labels in Canada.For the last four decades, Bishop has also taught piano, guitar and vocal technique.

Bishop resides in rural southern Manitoba.

» Brandon Sun