Cogs are turning albeit slowly. So I thought I would share some
insights into my experience of setting up and sustaining an independent
business.
British Art has been rocked to the core and is still suffering
lag from the effects of Austerity Britain. So what possessed me, to go
independently seeking financial support for other people’s art?
For the record I have an excellent relationship with my current
clients. Even so, the reality is that I have very little in the way of a safety
net, or tangible investment. My every move is laced with inherent risk. As
tactical as you can be, there will always be illusive unpaid invoices, which
you chase into the sunset, clients who never confirm and projects with ever
shifting goal posts. I’m privileged to be my own boss, in what I believe in. But it’s
not for the faint hearted.
News of the financial crash broke in 2008 while I was working as
an Education Officer for an Arts Centre in Berkshire. I had graduated with a
degree Arts Event Management from the Arts University Bournemouth in 2007.
I realised that I was unlikely to achieve a step forward in my
career by targeting arts centre jobs, where there is little mobility. RFOs or
Regularly Funded Organisations, would start to loose their funding over a
matter of years, including ourselves.
I started to think about designing a business I could run
independently, centring on my strongest abilities for communication,
networking, creative writing, strategy and evaluation. My business model would
also need to be flexible enough to allow for my own professional development,
since just like everyone else, I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow
up.
The biggest challenge I face is convincing newcomers of my abilities.
So I offer free consultations, which opens conversations with new clients. This
is usually enough to know if we will be able to work together. I give my advice
freely, because success breeds and I have confidence in the added value I can
provide to a developing project. A strong project will almost incubate itself,
without need for constant recycling.
I have learned not to take on anything that I'm not very
confident in. Producing live art shows requires a delicate blend of input,
timing, confidence and context.
At these early stages I’m feeding myself as much as my
clients. Each new project gives me
fresh, hands-on, experience. Market research is invaluable but true knowledge
is hard to fake. At the moment the process teaches me what working hours to
attribute to each job.
My one-woman empire requires 100% personal input. It would be a
huge challenge to freelance in anything I did not genuinely enjoy. Yet I become
careworn and frustrated by it. The biggest downer is the stop / start cash flow
of being a start up. I take a break when I get mixed up. It's foolish to
believe that because you have chosen your own professional path, that every day
will be a pleasure. In fact it's much harder to discern when to stop, because
there is no clocking off point.
I take risks. I make difficult decisions. I actively persuade
others into and out of strategic business decisions. My income is irregular. My
service is myself. If I get sick, disillusioned, confused or overwhelmed, then that
is entirely my own problem. There's no training programme. There's no hard evidence
yet. But so far I love it, because I can see the potential in myself that I see
in my clients. It’s a two way street. I negotiate new territory every day.
What excites me the most is I’m driving new work.
Art is a comment on social change. Live art is a provocation.
This way I know that I am at the front creative arts movement. Living on the
edge, building new platforms for expression. It’s not up to me which will gain
strength and which will be forgotten. By a selective process of tuning in and broadcast,
I hope our activities will give the future of British Art, more chance and more
choice.
