The Business of Being an Artist

A former Mills College course in which students created a business plan for their arts venture.

Partnership with Mills College

Intersection offered the course Business of Being an Artist at Mills College from 2018-2022

MGMT 186/286: The Business of Being an Artist is a course at Mills College presented in partnership with Intersection for the Arts. In this course students developed a business plan to launch a new—or further develop an existing—arts business venture. The instructional team served as facilitators and advisors to guide students in articulating their business vision and crafting a functional plan. Course components were driven by the use of the Business Model Canvas design-thinking tool. Upon completion of the course, students had developed a comprehensive plan that could be used as a model for supporting their individual professional arts practice, opening an arts business, or could be used as a portfolio piece to show prospective employers. Weekly class sessions were led by Instructor Amy Kweskin.

Are your students interested in building a career in the arts? Have an idea for a creative business venture? Need to figure out what it takes to get started and to be sustainable?

Talk to Intersection about arranging a graduate or undergraduate course, program or guest speaker visit to learn directly from professional artists and arts managers working in dance, studio art, theatre, music, writing, and across disciplines.

Contact: Amy Kweskin, Director of Professional Development AMY [AT] THEINTERSECTION [DOT] ORG