Myth Seven: When I make a million, I’ll be set

Myth Seven: When I make a million, I’ll be set

In the early days, before I knew better, I used to hire fellow artists and friends to help me with menial labor. I mean why not, right? They were always willing to help me frame paintings or pick up supplies, especially around the holiday season. It worked out relatively well. They made a few bucks and I didn’t feel as stressed. Besides, it was nice having company in my studio.

When I started needing help marketing my art, I applied the same equation, not realizing that “strapped for cash,” and having “free time,” weren’t the best qualifiers to use for a potential employee.  Can you imagine what it would sound like if you applied for a job and during the interview you said, “Well, I need money and I’ve got free time to kill, so I think you should hire me?"

It took a couple of years and a lot of damaged friendships for me to realize that most of my friends just weren’t qualified to act as my art agent or sales representative. Artists and artist-run businesses run into this problem again and again. Qualifications just don’t figure into the equation when hiring. 

Hire Out

“Strategically, the idea is that hiring someone will free up time to do the things that only you can do,” says author, Jeri Goldstein. 

If the time you’re spending doing menial tasks is taking time away from your ability to bring in larger, money-making gigs, then it may be time to think about hiring someone.

Christina Augello, the producer of the San Francisco International Fringe Festival says, “As a producer of a 4 venue, 2 festival arts complex there are many tasks I am not able or interested in doing.  In this case, it has definitely been worth the investment of hiring a managing director and production manager as well as hourly house managing staff.  This lets me go home at night when I’m not rehearsing or performing.”

 

Christina Augello

Christina Augello is a performer actress, arts advocate and founding artistic director of EXIT Theatre and the San Francisco International Fringe Theater Festival. She has performed in the Bay Area for over thirty years and has toured with ensembles and solo shows in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. www.theexit.org.

Artist Myth #9f: Artists are Flakes

Myth Nine: Artists are flakes
When the Capital Fringe Festival hired me to bring my 21 Hours for Artist’s series, it seemed like a solid gig. The Cap fringe has a great reputation.

When I arrived at the venue though, (a library in DC), it seemed that no one had reserved the space for me although it had been advertised in fringe programs and been on community calendars for a few months. In fact, upon closer examination at the fringe materials, in one publication my class was advertised to be happening at one address and in another, it was advertised to be happening across town.

The library wasn’t happy with me. They reluctantly gave me a few chairs and let me hold the class outside on the lawn. To give everything a twist, NPR showed up to document the entire event.

In the end, the lesson I learned. You can take the business out of the artist, but you can’t take the artist out of the business. The Cap Fringe, like most fringes, is a business run by artists. You can listen to the inspiring and flakey NPR event at: http://bit.ly/jH0Du