The Real Deal

The Real Deal: Managing a Creative Business covers
a wide range of entrepreneurial and managerial
strategies, structures, standards, and nuanced
soft skills required of anyone leading or living a
creative life. Built from lived experiences,
perspectives, and insights of working visual
artists, arts administrators, artist-run gallery
directors, and creative entrepreneurs, examples of
contracts and professional relationships pertain
most directly to visual arts, but can be easily
adapted to any creative field. Subjects include
contracts, copyrights, business structures,
budgeting and accounting, communications,
networking in your field, taxes, branding and
marketing, the value of authenticity and loyalty,
competition and collaboration, negotiation,
interpersonal relations, saying no, and much more.
Assignments and projects include analysis of and
discussions about successful creative
entrepreneurs, business operations, team
management, communications, and maintaining
authenticity and integrity in one's creative work.
Throughout the course, students will map out their
ideal vision as a creative in their field 10 years
into the future: essentially, creating their
business plan.