Who, what, where: finding your way around local initiatives
Leaving the bubble of the academy can be paralyzing. Bracing for the black hole, there are not many alumni who graduate with a fully-fledged plan for their professional future. It's a matter of forging ahead, finding the right people to approach, and above all: working long hours. Although it may feel like you're going to be on your own, there are many local initiatives you can look to for help after your time at ArtEZ. In the following weeks, alumni Tim Bongaerts and Lars Meijer will write a series of articles with only one goal: moving your entrepreneurship forward with practical tips.
Being an artist can be chaotic: deciding your own hours, no stable income, constantly starting over from scratch. After we graduated, it was also often unclear to us where to begin. Over the course of our assignment at the ArtEZ Business Centre, we found out that there are many places where starters can ask questions, but also build and improve their knowledge. These initiatives often fly under the radar of many alumni. To help you out, we composed a list of initiatives that offer workshops and courses for starting and established artists who want to develop their businesses. We explored countless websites on our hunt for the most interesting organizations to support your cultural entrepreneurship. Here's what we found:
Schakel025
Schakel025 is a knowledge platform for the exchange of information about the cultural industry. They offer workshops, talks, and office hours about how to invoice, budget, apply for funding and many other things. They also have subsidies specifically for early-career artists, like the Stroomversnellers program.
Ready to Start?
This is an initiative of the ArtEZ Business Centre: a two-day workshop covering all the basics to be able to start successfully.
How do you bring attention to your work, how do you get paid for your art, and how do you generate an income without spending all your energy on the entrepreneurial side of things?
Orion
Orion Gelderland is a local organization that provides expert coaching or funding to innovative start-ups. They collaborate with the ArtEZ Business Centre for workshops, counseling programs and subsidies.
Cultuur Oost
Cultuur Oost is a local organization in Gelderland, who provide advice, knowledge and expertise, coaching and talent development to artists in the region.
SLAK Ateliers
SLAK is a foundation that tries to stimulate the cultural industry in Gelderland by offering affordable living, meeting and working spaces for artists.
Tetem
Tetem is a research and presentation platform aimed at a changing, increasingly digital society. They offer talent development projects for makers in the Twente region to prepare them for the professional practice of the 21st century.
CO
CO wants to increase the visibility of the creative industry by offering spaces, networks and expertise to creative entrepreneurs and students.
BZK Zwolle
Belangenvereniging Zwolse Kunstenaars (Interest Group Artists of Zwolle) wants to inform artists about important opportunities (such as expositions etc.), offer them a stage and increase the visibility of artists to the local public.
Matchmakers Cultuur
The world of funding can be difficult to find your way around. There are many subsidies, but which one is right for you? ? Matchmakers Cultuur have Matchmakers all over the Netherlands who can help you figure out what subsidy or fund is right for you.
ArtEZ Joint Business Foundation
This is an accessible fund for small interest-free loans. The fund will also carry the entrepreneurial risk, so if your project doesn't make enough money to pay everything back, they will compensate the difference.
ArtEZ HUB
A hub for young makers. A great place to find inspiration and expand your network.
PLANK Arnhem
PLANK Arnhem stimulates connections and visibility for musicians and other workers in the pop music scene. The platform offers an event calendar and information, hosts events, and brings publicity to all genres of pop music in Arnhem.
Of course, a short list like the one above can never cover everything. If you've checked out the options and organizations above and you'd still like more information, make sure to visit the page Knowledge and know-how of the ArtEZ Business Centre. On this page, you will find other similar organizations and initiatives on a national level that can help move your business forward, as well as other practical tips and tricks. Good luck!
More practical articles by Tim and Lars:
The importance of a business plan: getting your ambitions in focus
Who, what, where: finding your way around local initiatives
Guarding your time: when is enough really enough?
Tips for effective networking: ‘let the words come by themselves'
Facing phone anxiety: 'preparation is everything.'