The key is not what you know; it’s whom you know. You might despise that cliché because it means that you have to do the one thing that most artists hate to do, self-promote, otherwise known as marketing.

Artists say, “No, I don’t have to do this. I can work in my studio and make good work, and someone will discover me. Someone will just happen to trip over my studio doorstep in the middle of Alhambra, California sandwiched in between a Chinese restaurant and an escrow company and see my work. The cream will rise to the top.” The girl who is insanely idealistic is telling you that this is a fantasy. Above all, this kind of wishful thinking is dangerous. I think most artists really know this deep down, that regardless of if you have a gallery or not, you have to do some level of self-promotion.

Now that we know what has to be done, let’s put the dirty marketing word aside and put the hate to rest. Your goal is to become more self-reliant and my goal is to empower you so that you may become the masters of your own career. Part of this is realizing that within your existing network of connections, you have a goldmine of people that, along with their own networks of connections, can help you achieve your goals. It’s just a matter of recognizing who they are, what they can help you with, and how to ask them.

Our connections and relationships are one of our greatest assets. The issue we struggle with is turning a social relationship into a transactional one. The idea of asking for help or favors is awkward for most of us. In our culture we glorify the self-made man or woman. But we have to remember that we don’t live in vacuum nor do we want to.

Studies have shown that it isn’t your close, familial ties that benefit you the most, it’s actually your weak ties that have the greatest impact on your career. The key is widening your network. Look in all the nooks and crannies of your past life, and move forward with these things in mind: make your network unpredictable and less efficient. In order to encounter a new network, you must break out of your old habits. You must turn off your filters of judgment and assessment. Force yourself to connect with someone who seemingly is not “your people”. Go to atypical social hubs. Create randomness in your life so you can bump into as many different people as possible. When you do reach out, be courageous and grateful.

It’s not that this is one way to make your career happen, this is the only way it happens. You cannot pay your way into artistic recognition and support, instead people around you have to genuinely want to help, whether it’s introducing you to a curator they know, lending a commercial space their Dad owns for an exhibition, or getting you free canvas from a friend who stretches it, we promise that these connections are what will get the ball rolling in terms of exposure for your work, financial support for your practice, and your preferred context for the art you make.

The People Map is comprised of everyone you know and have ever known since the time you were born. It’s made of family, family friends, kids you used to babysit, someone who wrote about your work, a neighbor, a coworker from ten years ago, an ex-boyfriend, or high school buddy. Think of everyone you know and how they can serve you. Do they write? Do they work for a massive corporation with an art collection? Do they travel? Do they have a space? Do they have connections to materials?

Click the button below to download a template excel spreadsheet to fill in your people map, then go back and highlight key people who can help you. For example, “exposure people,” ones that spider out and who know a lot of other people. Comb through LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and reconnect with all these people, especially if you have an exhibition coming up. You need to tell people about it and to monopolize on the finite period of time you have exhibiting. A show is a great way to reconnect. People want to help, and they want to support you! All you have to do is ask, be specific and be gracious.

If you see an abundance of a single color on the page, you know what resources you have and what you need to focus on when it comes to extending your network or reaching out to your existing network for favors and trade. For example, if you see a lot of green, you know a lot of people that can help you in a financial way. Perhaps if you have a lot of help in terms of access to space, services, and materials, it may be worth it to use some extra money each month to pay for a company like Jumper Media to boost your Instagram followers significantly. Only being seeing the bigger picture of your network can you know with confidence what your next move should be.

Step 1: Fill Out ArtSmart People Map

Really rack your brain and try to put a name in every cell on the People Map Spreadsheet. Dig through all social media channels, old emails, old date books and journals.

Step 2: Highlight people (cells) in different colors based on whether they can help you with finance, exposure, or context

 When all cells have been highlighted with colors specific to their function in relation to you, you will get a big picture of how your network of people can advance you.

Step 3: Based on their tier number (how well you know them) and what you can ask them for, craft an email using one of our templates and examples

 This will be roughly a 4-paragraph email that you send which will reinforce your connection with this person, pitch your project / explain why it’s important, ask them for something based on how they can contribute, and conclude the email in a grateful and professional way. 

Step 4: Update all social media platforms to reflect your ArtSmart People Map

As you remember old connections and gain new connections, make sure that you add them, follow them, like their posts and if they engage with you, always comment back to them, thus reinforcing the relationship.

“If I could go back in time and speak to my twenty-three-year-old-self, my advice would be threefold: travel further and more often to see what art actually looks like, figuring out sooner which ideas are currently convincing, which have become passé; spend more time making stuff, less time thinking about it; and do a better job of networking, staying in touch with people who show interest or friendship.” -Thomas Lawson

ARTSMART EMAIL TEMPLATE: "THE ASK"
 
4 Paragraphs
1- Intro/Reminder as to Who You Are
(Dependent on their tier - this paragraph changes based on how well
you know the person)
  
2- Elevator Pitch
Your Project, The Problem/Solution, How You Will Solve It
 
3- The Ask
(Dependent on their color – this paragraph changes based on what you
are asking them for)
 
4- Conclusion
Summarizing the email, thanking them for their time
 
See our Sample Emails to see examples of "The Ask"

SAMPLE EMAILS

CONTEXT - TIER 3 (Close Acquaintance)

Dear Bill, 
Hi, how are you doing? I hope you and Molly are doing well and staying warm in this cold weather we’ve been having.
I’m contacting you regarding my upcoming exhibition at Black Box Studios opening March 3rd. I’m not sure how much you know about my background but since graduating RISD I have been feverishly creating new work and have shown at various art galleries over the last 3 years. This upcoming exhibition showcases my mixed media and photography work inspired by my experiences road tripping through the South this past summer. I delve into the nuanced layers of politics and at-odds culture that I encountered on my journey, and I really feel this exhibition is an important one for people to see given the current political climate. I know that you are friends with Natalie who works at Hi-Fructose, and Iwas wondering if you could introduce us, I’d love to tell her about the show and see if she’s interested in writing a piece about it. I’ve attached a document with a few images from the exhibition and a bit more in depth artist’s statement. Thank you so much for your time and hopefully I will see you at the alumni dinner coming up in June!

Best,
Ariana
 
 
 
EXPOSURE - TIER 5 (Vague Acquaintance)

Dear Jonathan, 
How are you doing? It’s Ariana Inness, we talked for a while at the last 4th of July BBQ at Rick and Shelly’s. Have you seen them much since? I heard they are going to Barbados for spring break – so jealous! I’m contacting you regarding my upcoming exhibition at Black Box Studios opening March 3rd. I remember mentioning to you that I am working as an artist, I’m not sure how much you know about my background but since graduating RISD I have been feverishly creating new work and have shown at various art galleries over the last 3 years. This upcoming exhibition showcases my mixed media and photographywork inspired by my experiences road tripping through the South this past summer. I delve into the nuanced layers of politics and at-odds culture that I encountered on my journey, and I really feel this exhibition is an important one for people to see given the current political climate. I know that you and I talked at length about your Instagram presence, you mentioned that you have over 50k followers which is amazing, and I was wondering if there was any way you would be open to maybe posting a flier for my upcoming show? I’ve attached a document with a few images from the exhibition and a bit more in depth artist’s statement. Thank you so much for your time and help, I really appreciate your consideration, and hopefully I will see you at the next holiday BBQ at Rick and Shelly’s!

Best,
Ariana

FINANCE - TIER 4 (Acquaintance)

Dear Darlene,
Hi there, how are you doing? How’s the fashion world treating you these days? I saw your Instagram posts about your recent graduation from FIDM, congrats on all your hard work! I’m contacting you regarding my upcoming exhibition at Black Box Studios opening March 3rd. I have been feverishly creating new work, as you know I show at several different galleries now. This upcoming exhibition showcases my mixed media and photography work inspired by my experiences road tripping through the South this past summer. I delve into the nuanced layers of politics and at-odds culture that I encountered on my journey, and I really feel this exhibition is an important one for people to see given the current political climate. I remember you mentioning that your boyfriend works at Lagunitas Brewery, and I wanted to ask if they would possibly be interested in donating some boxes of beer for my opening night. I’m really trying to make this opening reception memorable, but with funds as tight as they are, I’m looking for some sponsorship. You can tell your boyfriend that I will display a Lagunitas print-out on the drink table if they choose to donate. Thank you so much for your time and help, I really appreciate your consideration, and looking forward to seeing more of your fashions on my Instagram feed!

Best,
Ariana


TRIFECTA - TIER 2 (Friend)

Dear Rick,
Hey Rick! How are you doing? We need to meet up soon and talk about the summer, would love to go to Joshua Tree in June again like last year, the weather was perfect, right? Anyways, I’m emailing you about my upcoming exhibition at Black Box Studios opening March 3rd. I think I mentioned it to you the last time we talked, but here’s a little refresher. This upcoming exhibition showcases my mixed media and photography work inspired by my experiences road tripping through the South this past summer. I delve into the nuanced layers of politics and at-odds culture that I encountered on my journey, and I really feel this exhibition is an important one for people to see given the current political climate. As we have talked about, you’re a bit more well-connected in the art world than me, and I was wondering if there was any way you could help me with a few different things surrounding my exhibition.

1) Can I borrow your projector? I wanted to have old film footage of
some of the back roads I drove down projected on the wall at the open-
ing.

2) Could you introduce me to your friend Kelly, the founder of Cu-
rateMeLA? I was hoping she could come see the show and keep me in
mind for future group shows she curates.

3) Is there any way you could maybe pitch my show as a featured
event to your friend who works at The LAist? Would love to get the
word out as much as possible.

Thank you so much Rick I really appreciate your time, any of these
things that you could help me out with I will be forever grateful for.

Best,
Ariana

ArtSmart Instahacks

The ArtSmart InstaHacks refine and clarify the most optimal ways in which artists can use Instagram to promote their careers. Social media has become the way in which artists reach out far and wide to a vast network of people they never even knew existed. Instagram, in particular, has changed the landscape for visual artists, so we’ve designed these hacks specifically to help artists achieve their goals.

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A huge part of gaining exposure is through Instagram. This highly visual platform provides a way for artists to create and interact with their audience. Instagram has a user base of 700 million people most of whom are avoiding work and eye contact with strangers to scan your compelling images. In this, you have a huge opportunity to grab their attention and translate it into career advancement.

Every Instagram follower looking at your art on a daily basis is a potential collector, agent, gallerist, or collaborator. Instagram has catapulted artists into critical and commercial success by allowing them to create their own exposure and through that, the eventual financial freedom to do what they love. As the days of a lot of small to mid-size galleries dwindle, the time couldn’t be more opportune for artists to take their exposure into their own hands. There’s a new approach to being an artist, and the gallery is only one component of your career advancement. It helps, but it’s not everything.

Below I’ve highlighted some of our most effective hacks as well as examples from some of the most compelling Instagram artists and their success stories. 

ArtSmart InstaHack #1: Your Instagram Page is a Canvas

The whole page itself needs composition. The page needs to be consistent with your brand. Yikes! Most artists hate that word. Okay, change that to holistic visual story. As much as each individual artwork you post is important, the overall appearance of your main page is just as important. Compile images with the same detail as each image you post, looking at your page should be compelling and pleasing to the eye. This may mean deleting some of your previous posts that do not fit visually into the overall composition. 

Look at Adam Hale @the.daily.splice. Adam started making collages in 2015 using images from free magazines. Because of Instagram, he is now working with Mulberry, Adidas, Christian Louboutin and Elle Magazine. Note the composition of his page, including his profile picture. It not only speaks his brand and essence, the entire page itself is an artwork.

Images on current Kit Site 

Click to see a Business Insider video and article about Adam a.k.a. Mr. Splice

ArtSmart InstaHack #2: Engage = Wage

Engagement is the name of the game. If you engage with others by liking their photos, following them, and commenting, 15-20% of them on average will follow you back. Remember, on Instagram numbers matter, note that Adam Hale has almost 200k followers but is only following 98 people. Therefore, for as many people as you initially start following, you will have to un-follow them eventually.

For artists who have some money to invest on Instagram, you can sign up with companies to increase your following at a rapid rate with real people who you have targeted like interior designers, art collectors, art influencers, galleries, other artists to work with, fashion/design companies interested in a fresh collaboration. You can pay for a computer algorithm to help build your target audience on your behalf on a mass scale. However, you also need to engage back with people who engage with you. You can’t just slap a post and be done. You have to reply to people that comment on your page and also go to their page and comment on their stuff.

EXAMPLE: The Producer BDB @theproducerbdb sought out another type of engagement where he created a work featuring Rihanna and tagged her in it. She and her fans liked it so much that he became one of those overnight Instagram art stars.

This one move effectively launched his art career and created a tremendous amount of financial success.

“Instagram definitely was a turning point in my career. I put my work up people liked it, so I thought that was cool. Then I started targeting celebrities by tagging them. My second piece I put up I targeted Rihanna in an art piece I made of her, she liked it and began following me which gave me a lot of exposure. I continued with that pattern since it worked but I did not want to stay an Instagram artist so I had to figure out a way to transition this to the art world....Every time I would get a big amount of exposure I would parlay it to get a better opportunity. Once I began doing art fairs other galleries were able to see my work, and once I got a nice gallery in Beverly Hills I was able to parlay that to a nice gallery in New York. Once I had a nice gallery in New York I was able to parlay it to a nice gallery in Boca Raton. Also collaborating with artists who I believe in opens new doors which can lead to exposure and money.

One of the biggest turning points was negotiating with an artist who wanted to collaborate with me on a piece to show in a collaborative group show she held at Bruce Lurie Gallery. I could have just collaborated with her but I knew getting my own piece in her show would create exposure, so I had to negotiate with her in order to be able to do my own piece that would show my style. That show introduced my work to my first major gallery. During the night of the show it received a lot of attention for its uniqueness. When the piece sold that night it caught the attention of the gallery owner, who then asked to represent me.”

           -The Producer BDB

EXAMPLE: Maureen Meyer @_apricots_ is another artist that got major exposure with simple hashtagging on Instagram. With her use of hashtags, Maureen grew her followers, started selling works around the world directly to them (as far as China) and eventually landed representation - but not with a traditional gallery. By building a world-wide audience on Instagram (just a few thousand followers), Maureen was able to bypass the gallery system entirely and recently launched her art with one (of many) online art platforms called Tappan Collective.

The online art market is on the rise and this is one factor that has lead to the closing of many middle market galleries. Online art sales are up a staggering 24% in the past year due to the proliferation of different websites and apps (Artsy) This means that a gallery is no longer an artist's one-stop solution when it comes to selling their work and advancing their career. The rules of the game have changed.

With no background of any gallery exhibitions, Tappan signed Maureen to exclusive representation and her work is now available for purchase on Tappan's website as well as promoted by the company.

Note her use of the bullet point hashtag-comment trick. This means putting just a few hashtags in your main caption, commenting on your own post, then using bullet points to scroll down at least 5 text rows before a big chunk of hashtags. Hashtags are so important, often as many as possible, but they can't go in the main caption or people won't pay attention.

We teach you step-by-step how to do this and why it's important in our Hashtag Rules section.’’’“““‘’’“““““““““‘

“The biggest game changer was just starting to hashtag.

That is what sets the (algorithm) course and gets your posts into people’s relevant rotation.”

-Maureen Meyer

ArtSmart InstaHack #3: The Sweet Spot of Hashtag

As you probably already know a hashtag is a label that makes your post discoverable. When you search hashtags, find the ones that are in the sweet spot (not too many like several million and not too few like a few hundred).  

Some are too specific like #skycollage. Some are too broad like #collage. And some are just right like #collageart. 

Try not to over hashtag with in the caption of your post. Do not use more than 3-4 hashtags as part of your photo caption or people will not pay attention because it becomes a giant block of blue text. Since you still want to direct traffic with the hashtags, create a comment on your own post by hiding the hashtags. Hit the period punctuation key and enter and repeat that 5 times and then create a block of hashtags that are relevant to you or your post this way it effectively hides the hashtags from view. 

ArtSmart InstaHack #4: Facts Tell, Stories Sell 

It’s important to engage your audience in the art-making process and what inspires you. The finished artwork is important, but what’s equally alluring is what and who is behind the art. For example, Tania No Filter @tania_nofilter takes film photographs and then develops them with different liquids to add a visceral effect. She often times uses tequila and vodka in the developing process, so she did an Instagram story where she imbibed these alcohols, shot photographs, and then developed the photos in the same alcohol. She walked her audience through her entire process of this particular body of work. She effectively engaged her audience from start to finish, and they bought the resulting artwork because they felt apart of it.

Note that Tania wrote @luke_henery, a fellow photographer with 14.4k followers, in her post, perhaps he will @ her in a post back, exposing her Instagram handle to all his followers.

Collaborative Infinite Synergy

It’s important to @ other artists, followers, and anyone else you are interacting with on Instagram. It brings attention to them and if they chose to repost, you can gain exposure to all their followers.

To build on this collaborative synergy, you can also @ brands/companies that are related to your art content, or entities whose attention you would like to get, engage with them on Instagram with your art/posts)

It’s also important to use geolocation, another way to get discovered.

You can put where you are in the city, where you made the artwork, or even a location that inspired the content.

Find other artists to pair with, maybe do a 21-day 5-minute painting-a-day challenge where you are constantly tagging one another in posts, encouraging your followers to follow this other person, and engaging both groups of followers in the challenge, letting them vote on which 5-minute painting is the best.

The 80/20 Rule: Don’t Be Ashamed to Encourage Sales

80% of the time show your followers how and why they should buy your art (posts of new work, posts of your lifestyle in the studio, posts of your process).

20% of the time give your followers an irresistible offer, created compelling need to get it now and a sense of urgency.

This requires a call to action, don’t be too pushy or too vague.

Instagram Live and Videos

Think of Instagram as a show and tell. When you post a live story or video to Instagram, it gives your followers a more in depth understanding of who you are and your process. Seeing "a day in your life" builds a like, trust, and respect factor for your followers that can eventually translate in a desire to collect your work for themselves.

Instagram Live is free publicity, every one of you followers will get a notification that you have “gone live, ” so it’s a great opportunity to demonstrate your process, show off your studio, and talk about your inspirations and current projects. Instagram live helps because people are more likely

ArtSmart Commission Contract

The ArtSmart Commission Contract is an agreement that defines the scope of either a private or public commissioned artwork or project. The contract addresses all of the possible factors: work schedule, deadlines, scope of project, artists responsibilities, collector/institution responsibilities, travel reimbursement, materials reimbursement, labor, structural engineering, insurance, installation, timing of payments, artist fee and what happens in the event of the commission being canceled by either of the parties.

It is critical for artists to protect themselves with agreements such as a commission contact, especially when a great deal of time and money are on the line.

Whether you’ve been working with a gallery for years, just beginning a new relationship, whether it’s for a solo or group exhibition or for an art fair, I highly advise creating a consignment agreement. This is probably one of the most important tools that you will be need in most artwork transactions throughout your career.

I want to bring up an interesting and subtle distinction between an expectation and an agreement. With any relationship, both personal or business, it’s critical to be explicit about what you need. As business coach Steve Chandler describes, having expectations of others is toxic because it can only lead to either one of two results and neither one of them are good. Either you get what you expect and you feel neutral about it because you got exactly what you expected or, and more often the case, you feel disappointment because you did not get what you expected. This can lead to feelings of anger and betrayal. What is better to have in place is an agreement with another person. By creating an agreement with someone you are co-authoring something that is unequivocally clear. It allows for the other person to express what they need in order to give you what you need as well. And the bonus is that you will know ahead of time if the other person cannot make what you need happen. This way of thinking and approaching all relationships, whether they be personal or business, will change your way of dealing with people and yourself in magical ways.

TERMS OF THE CONSIGNMENT SHOULD INCLUDE:

LIST OF ARTWORK- Title, date, medium, your inventory number and an image of the work. This information identifies the work without a doubt.

TIME PERIOD OF CONSIGNMENT- A beginning and ending time frame. This could be exact dates or simply state that the consignment ends a certain amount of months after the closing date of the exhibition.

COMMISSION SPLIT- This is how much money you will get from the proceeds of the sale and also how much money the consignee will keep. This is typically 50/50.

DISCOUNT SPLIT- This is how much a discount you are willing to split with the gallery. Typically, artists share up to a 10-15% discount. Anything above that you can stipulate that you either will not share the discount or you would prefer to be consulted before the sale is complete.

PRODUCTION SPLIT- Almost every artist incurs expenses associated with making their work. It has become customary that if you track these labor and material expenses and communicate the information in a timely manner, the gallery will split these costs with you. This is typically a 50/50 split.

IMAGE ACCESS- Galleries and institutions typically have their exhibitions professional photographed. You should absolutely take advantage of this free photography and request digital copies for your archive.

PHOTO CREDIT- When there are printed materials associated with the exhibition, it's important to have your name credited alongside the photograph of the work.

NAME OF COLLECTOR & LOCATION- Knowing who owns your work and where your sold work is located is incredibly important for your archive, for future sales and future exhibitions.

INSURANCE COVERAGE- When your work is being consigned, the consignee must insure the artwork "nail to nail." This means that from the time someone comes and picks up the work, through shipment, during the exhibition, through return shipment, and back to your studio (hopefully not as you want the work to get sold and never come back to your studio) it is completely covered and protected by the consignee's insurance.

TRANSPORTATION COSTS- All costs associated with packing, crating, and shipping the work, including the return shipment, are the responsibility of the consignee.

All of the above items are obviously negotiable. Some consignees may be unable financially, for example, to ship the work at their expense, so you will have to decide if it is worth doing the show and bear the burden of shipping costs yourself. There are a myriad of other considerations that may be included, such as access to professional photographs, photo credit, credit on wall labels, and to whom the work maybe sold. The most crucial part of a consignment agreement is stating your desires clearly. I know it’s difficult to anticipate every possible scenario that could arise so I created a sample agreement that highlights the key points of things that should be considered when drafting your own.

ArtSmart Archive

The ArtSmart Archive is a central database containing a living record of an artist’s work. I cannot stress this enough how important it is for artists to maintain their own archives.

About seven years ago I built the ArtSmart Archive database in order for artists to have a way to inventory their artwork, organize their studio and manage all the chaotic details in a way that was intuitive and affordable. The application has been a great success and artists have found it was easier than they thought and way more valuable than they could have imagined.

A good archive contains all the information about the work itself (title, date, size, medium, and an image), who owns the work, the location, the price, the discount, the production costs, where it was exhibited and where it was reproduced.

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The ArtSmart Archive tool is critical to an artist’s career on many levels. Not only is it a way to organize your studio, but even more importantly it is a way to understand historical information so that you can make informed choices about the future.

The need seems obvious but the task of beginning this project appears insurmountable. Many artists ask, how do I begin the process when there are a million other things going on? This just seems like busy work compared to making art and creating traction with your career.

How to tackle this beast? First, if you have a gallery, ask them for an excel spreadsheet exported from their own database and then you can easily import into the ArtSmart Archive. You will add in the images and your own details like production costs as you go.

If you don’t have a gallery or a preexisting archive, ever heard of “bird by bird”?[1] It’s just a way of saying one step at a time. Carve out one hour a week. Start with the most recent work first. Hire a summer intern. Listen to music while you do it. Just begin and try to figure out a way to enjoy the process. It’s a great opportunity to take stock in what you’ve accomplished, the ups and downs, the successes and failures. Who knows you might rediscover something that you forgot about. It’s kind of like exercising, you know you should do it, you know you feel good afterwards so how do you make it enjoyable and manageable while in the process.

Galleries often times employ a specialized person, an archivist, to maintain their archive, and they pay for the photography of the work. If you and the gallery part ways, the gallery is not required to share their archive of your work with you.

This is why it is important to keep your own archive, even if galleries keep one for you, otherwise they may charge a fee if you request it if/when you part ways. Definitely ask the gallery for a high resolution digital copy of the photo after the shoot. An archive helps you track production, sales, collectors, and payments.

The ArtSmart Archive not only allows you to track inventory, but also generate invoices, organize contacts, and create loan & consignment agreements.

Included in this kit is a 30-day free trial and a customized database for your studio. Simply email ariana@artsmartinc.com any contact or image data you may already have and your studio contact information, and we will get your ArtSmart customized for you!

To learn more about the online archive application and to sign-up for your free trial, visit The ArtSmart Application page.

[1] Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. 1994.