How Artists Create Their Own Success (No Gallery Needed)

This video is brought to you thanks to the generous support of Artenda, a database presenting a clear and high quality overview of art opportunities and open calls for artists. Hello dear readers and subscribers. Welcome to another video and this time once more with some very relatable, practical and much needed career advice for artists because so many new artists seem to be stuck in this Catch-22 situation. You're lacking experience and therefore you cannot get opportunities. And therefore you need to get to new opportunities to have that experience. Or when applying for, let's say, an open call for a public sculpture, you need to have a track record of past projects that you have realized. But of course, if nobody is accepting you because of a lack of that, you're unable to get a foot in the door or to get an opportunity. Many artists think, well, perhaps I need to do nothing at all and just focus on my work and see what happens. But if nobody's creating success for you and if you are not creating success for you, then it's very likely that nothing at all will happen, especially in this world where we have around 30 million active artists and only a handful of opportunities for them. So that being said, in this video we'll be sharing five very actionable, practical strategies that you can do if you're in this Catch-22 situation. First and foremost, stop waiting for an exhibition opportunity or invitation, but create one yourself if you aren't receiving any invitations or opportunities. There is nothing more frustrating than creating work and simply having it pile up in your storage. Not only that you're not selling it, but that you're not even able to show it to the world. I think creating the work is one thing, is one aspect of its purpose, its creation. But it also needs to be seen by people to truly complete that cycle. And not only from the perspective of a philosophical way of looking at the purpose of art and why we create it, but also from a career perspective. Because only if you exhibit it, it can be documented in the right way, it can participate. You can also let it go in a way. If you create work and you have shown it, and even if it did not sell, you had a moment to reflect, to document and to move on. So therefore, if you do not have any exhibition opportunities, please fulfill the cycle by exhibiting those new works, even if nobody is inviting you. There are of course a couple of ways to do this. The most convenient and easy hands-on way to do this is simply by organizing an exhibition yourself. Look for a space. You can rent one through storefront perhaps. You know somebody with a nice studio. You can do this in collaboration with other artists to kind of also share the costs. Not only the costs, but also share your networks. Let's say if you have a show with five to six artists who all have a very modest network so far. But if you combine it, you'll have a lot of people at the opening and you will also kind of have a more ambitious scale of that show, which makes it more likely that other relevant new people will show up that you'll be able to get some press exposure for it, for instance. So if you're not having any exhibition opportunities so far, do this at least once a year. You should at least exhibit your work once a year. So if you don't have an exhibition opportunity this year, this is your call to do so. Next, don't expect the art world to come out and meet you. Go out and meet it. And there are a lot of ways to become an active participant to contribute or have your name circling among the right people. For instance, if you're very good at writing, you can reach out to some art platforms to write for them. Or perhaps when there are certain art events or biennials, when they're looking for volunteers to apply to these job positions. Perhaps you can also do something similar with galleries who are looking for people to be at the front desk. So there are lots of ways you can actually actively become a part of it. Sometimes it can also simply be by going to art talks and kind of getting in the room with the people you want to be. Next, you need to browse, apply and repeat a cycle to art opportunities. Because art opportunities are most likely one of the only ways that you can proactively search and apply to opportunities. The opportunities are there and they are looking for artists. You need to be careful also with art opportunities. This is something we have discussed in other videos. They are relevant. When starting out, it's a bit of a trade-off between entry-level opportunities that are perhaps less relevant up to very relevant art opportunities, but that are out of your reach. So it's really about finding the middle ground here. And also perhaps having a look at our article on five golden rules for art opportunities of finding the right opportunity and getting accepted. Which means niching down to your discipline, to your location, your age, situation, the work. And when such an open call emerges that is relevant and that is within your reach and fits your practice, you should always be aware of it and you should always apply to it. So therefore, platforms such as artendo.net, which we strongly recommend with our platform, is great because there they compile all those criteria. Kind of you can actually browse for opportunities with these criteria and even send you a reminder. So do this at least once every single month because you do not want to miss out on the perfect opportunity for you. artendo.net is also the sponsor of this video. We have been working for a while with artendo.net now and they're simply my personal number one recommendation. So I'll link to artendo.net in the description below and in the pinned comment. And I warmly recommend it for all the reasons discussed in this video. Up next, dare to be your own gallerist. And what I mean with this is not that you have to go for the self-represented career path because perhaps that's not what your work is best for or your talents are best for. If you have nobody to promote your shows right now because nobody is representing you, well, then you have to promote them yourself. Very simple. If there's nobody who will be reaching out to the press, to local newspapers when starting out, to art platforms, all these PR activities to, for instance, also have a bit of a PR plan. To whom am I reaching out? The materials need to be well prepared. You need to have content for social media. You need to do the work, the promotional work yourself. And you want to do it, of course, in a very tasteful manner. And I think you simply need to kind of follow the lead of respected galleries on how they promote their artists and try to meet those standards when promoting yourself. It starts, for instance, by creating a contact list. If you do not have, for instance, a contact list of anybody that has been interested in your work or have bought your work or some people that you know write for a newspaper or an art platform, then you're not being your own gallerist. So if this sounds familiar, that should ring a bell. Prepare yourself. Assemble a contact list. Assemble a plan when to reach out when you are having a show. Perhaps you are looking for representation, but that does not mean that we have to be lazy right now and be like, I have no representation, but I'm not going to do it either. No, if you do not have representation, represent yourself because nobody else will at this point. And you need it to get represented. And to conclude, dare to invest in yourself. And what I mean with this is not only investing in your well-being, in materials, but also in allowing yourself to take a loss. I think for a lot of artists at a certain point when you're doing a lot of work and you're not seeing a return on your investment in cash, that you're like, okay, why the hell am I doing this? Am I throwing cash away? Perhaps some people aren't realizing some projects because they're afraid of this. But if you're really in it, then you need to allow yourself to spill with some cash, smartly, of course. But for instance, if you're not getting that grant or being accepted for a public art project and you have this project that you really want to realize, look for the funds yourself or pay for it yourself. And this sounds like a terrible thing, like a certain form of self-exploitation and making our lives as artists even harder. But a lot of the successful artists have done this. They have given themselves an opportunity when nobody else wanted to give them one. That's also a testament of how much you believe in your own work by also investing in it. But it also allows you something to prove that you can deliver by proving that you can create this monumental, a bit more expensive sculpture. Well, this will be a stepping stone to get that grant later on. So sometimes you need to forget about the money, of course, be smart, especially when you have a family, make sure that you have shelter, that you have food, that your family is okay. But instead of having a more expensive phone or that expensive exotic trip or that car that is a bit faster and a bit more luxurious, invest it in your art. And it can be very, very liberating to also let go of that financial expectation towards yourself that it needs to be lucrative, especially when starting out and being like, okay, it's okay if I spill some cash here, but I'm going to focus on realizing my creative desires. And then later on, we'll see if it pays off or not. And the great artists are the ones that do not have great ideas, but never realize them because there are all these hurdles that we're facing as artists. That's just the way it is, because we're with 30 million artists and a handful of opportunities. But to actually do it, to realize those ideas, and that involves sometimes losing a bit of cash and investing in yourself, in your own projects, in your own developments. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Make sure to have a look at artenda.net by using the link in the description below and in the pinned comment to look for opportunities for you to make a good habit of this and to browse at least monthly for opportunities. Feel free to watch our video on the most iconic installation artworks since 2000 next. Support us on Patreon and please consider subscribing to stay posted for more contemporary art. Bye!