After two years of teaching the courses online, Wave Pool is hosting our first, all-day, in-person “Driving Lessons” this coming October 22nd. Driving Lessons is an artist professional development program that is comprised of goal setting and skill building, to help artists reach their own self-determined measures for success.
From large envisioning to the nitty gritty, the course helps participants devise practical strategies for reaching new milestones in their lives and careers. Specifically, the intensive covers financial literacy skills, business management, goal setting, communications, negotiation, taxes, budgeting, marketing, and more.
This course also provides much needed network-building opportunities for artists; classrooms often become the place where long term friendships and allies are made and we give participants ample opportunities to foster these relationships. Instructors include Anissa Lewis, Maria Seda-Reeder, Morgan Rigaud, and Calcagno Cullen.
Attendees receive a curriculum workbook co-written by course instructors and designed by artist Julia Lipovsky and printed by Cereal Box Studio and Cryptogram Ink.
Over 800 artists were surveyed in summer 2019 as part of the Cincinnati Artist Report. The report is now complete and available on Wave Pool’s website. In the report, artists listed their top needs (in descending order) as funding, promotion, time, workspace, and community partners to help them execute their projects. In order to secure these things, artists need basic knowledge of proposal writing, budgeting and financial literacy, communications and public relations, and negotiation skills. Education and Support were the 2nd and 3rd most frequent solutions named to barriers seen by Cincinnati Artists in the Cincinnati Artist Report, making up 36% collectively. Additionally, 55.75% of artists surveyed in the C.A.R. have either non-existent or limited relationships with other local artists and those that support the arts. This was also singled out as one of the biggest personal challenges facing local artists and one of the largest community challenges.
We have taught multiple online rounds of this professional development course for artists of all stripes since early 2020.
Funded by ArtsWave