A couple of weeks ago I announced the launch of Fractured U. The response we got from that announcement was among the most enthusiastically positive we’ve received about any new program or service in years. I’m delighted that the artists in our membership are finding this kind of training to be as useful as I hoped it would be.
We’re now looking at how we can build on and expand the business and management training that we provide to individual artists and arts organizations. There are a lot of options here, so I want to make sure we do it in whatever manner is maximally useful.
With that in mind… we need some help! We’ve put together a short survey on the subject of career preparation and management training for artists. It’ll only take about 5-10 minutes to fill out and should provide loads of valuable information to help us shape these new services. Besides, what better way to procrastinate at your day job?
Click here to take the survey.
Tags: D.I.Y., survey
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My undergraduate degree is in theatre. For the most part, my time in college was spent rolling around on the floor and exhaling on a hum. This did a lovely job of teaching me how to “project” to the rafters, but it taught me virtually nothing about how to actually make a living in the theatre industry. The closest we came was a mini-semester on auditioning. Nothing on how to start a theatre company, nothing about fundraising or marketing or budgeting or any of the myriad other skills that real working artists need to have these days.
The truth is that this experience is far more common than not. Unless you specifically pursue a degree in arts administration (or do what I eventually did and get an MBA) it is assumed that craft and aesthetics are enough. The arts industry today is sadly full of artists who are running businesses - either by choice or by default - but have essentially zero training in how to do that.
With this mammoth need in mind, I am pleased to announce the launch of Fractured U. For the last year we’ve been quietly putting together an online curriculum in arts management aimed squarely at artists who are working outside the mainstream establishment and trying to make things happen on their own terms. The initial roster of classes provides introductions to fundraising, marketing, and professional identity. The course list is short for the moment, but we’ll be expanding it steadily over time.
Fractured U. is free and open to the public, although you’ll need to be a Fractured Atlas member to participate in discussion forums or take quizzes.
Since this is a brand new service - and one that I hope will someday be a big part of what we do - I’m eager for any and all feedback. So give it a whirl and tell us what you think!
Tags: D.I.Y.
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As part of my service to the Fractured Atlas community, I read a lot of boring finance and economics stuff so that you don’t have to. Among my favorite sources is The Big Picture by Barry Ritholtz. Today Barry made some observations about our industry that are worth heeding:
[T]he writers strike has motivated the striking comedy writers to sit down with Venture Capitalists. The two groups are exploring new web based ways to reach comedy audiences, potentially bypassing the TV studios.
The TV studios have already lost. The VCs will find a business model that works on the cheap, and begin competing with the studios, even if the strike is settled tomorrow. I suspect that Television, as we know it, is now officially over.
I’m not sure I share his confidence in the wisdom (or even business savvy) of venture capitalists, but I do believe we’ve been witnessing the slow death of mass market media for a long time now, and this may well accelerate that process.
Such a huge portion of the Fractured Atlas membership is already involved in D.I.Y. approaches to art-making. Further movement away from consolidated producer/distributor power can only be a positive thing, for artists and their audiences alike.
Tags: D.I.Y., strike
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