January 2, 2010

There’s a big difference between developing the creative and technical skills required to succeed in your field and the life and business skills required to sustain a career in our highly competitive creative fields. To help you develop those skills, the Arts Administration graduate program hosted an entertaining and informative panel discussion on January 25th that told about resources and strategies that will are invaluable as you start out after graduation. The evening, entitled How Not to Starve as an Artist, was held in Bossone’s Mitchell Auditorium at 7:30 PM.

We’ve put together a panel of artists and experts from the field who spoke to their own experiences and to resources available for emerging artists and designers in our region. Our panel includes Sean Hoots of MAD Dragon Records recording artists Hoots and Hellmouth and Drexel alumna Sarah Stolfa, a gifted photographer and founder of The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center. They addressed how to network to get your foot in the door and advice on how to make a name for yourself. Tom Kaiden of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and Adam Natale of Fractured Atlas, a nonprofit organization that serves a national community of artists and arts organizations by providing access to funding, healthcare, education and more, discussed specific services that aid artists in making important connections, starting a website, establishing nonprofit 501 C3 status, gaining access to grant funding and other important skills. A reception with the speakers followed.