Art Symposium

This weekend is the fifth annual Arts Symposium put on by the Tacoma Arts Commission at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. It is a two day event dedicated to providing local artist and arts organizations with nuts and bolts information in order to become and remain successful in the arts. You get to choose from a range of informational sessions which are presented by professionals and educators. AND IT IS FREE!

I attended the class, The Business of Art - How to Keep the Starving Away From the Artist presented by Audrey L. Godwin, The Godwin Group PLLC.

In this class, I revisited the idea of a business plan. Audrey shared the four principles of success in business:

1. Have a clear vision for your business.
2. Have a solid strategy for making necessary changes and achieving your goals.
3. Have practical systems to help you achieve your goals.
4. The best ideas, principles or talents are useless unless they are executed consistently.

We also looked at our core values and answered the question, What do I want my business to do for me? Then, we were to write what our business will look like in 25 years when it is finished. Lastly, we assessed our core competency in the areas of developing products and services, generating demand, fulfilling demand, and planning and managing the business by rating our passion, skill, and time for each.

Being an accountant, Audrey went over the big picture of cash flow projection and compared five different business entitles; sole proprietorship, partnership, regular C corporation, S corporation, and a limited liability company.

What a thought provoking, informative session!

Tomorrow, I go back for more.....

I you live in the area and missed this year's event, save the second week in November for next year's Art Symposium.