It’s easy to have a dream. The hard part is putting into motion actions that will help to contextualize your dream into reality.
original photo by Kevin McShane
Out of all those who dream, artists face the toughest opposition. Funding of arts programs in public schools is decreasing. The rate of art participation is on the decline. In recent decades, it’s become more and more difficult for artists to realize their dream.
There exists a delicate, but necessary balance between making a living and creating art. Tread too far in one direction and you’ll sell out, in the other, you’ll starve.
That’s why today many artists pursue their dream on the side, usually taking a nine-to-five and spending what little margin they have on their passion.
But what if there was a way to strike the right balance between making just enough money to live and doing what you love? There is, and it’s what I like to call artrepreneuring.
When Art and Entrepreneurship Collide
An entrepreneur is anyone with a vision who puts into motion a series of actions to achieve said vision. Nowadays, entrepreneurship contains a sense of social responsibility such as making a difference in people’s lives, creating a sustainable world, and building stronger communities.
But the one thing that links all entrepreneurs together is a desire to be heard. Artists possess the same desire.
They want to share their work, message, art with the world, however, if the artist only practices their artistic skill, a painting will just be a painting. But when the artist adds value to their art with business and marketing savvy, they become something more.
What’s an Artrepreneur?
An artrepreneur is anyone with a desire to better others through their art but still have the business savvy to make it a sustainable venture. In most cases artrepreneurs are artists like painters and musicians. But this concept can apply to a much broader group of people who might not view themselves as artists.
Today, many people online are artrepreneuring via blogging, podcasting, writing, and content creating. I consider myself one of these people.
For the past four and a half years, I’ve been churning out content for the internet to enjoy. Whether it’s developing recipes tailored to college students, writing eBooks to distribute for free, developing online courses, or launching a new podcast, artrepreneurship has silently guided me the entire time.
To better demonstrate what an artrepreneur is, I had the amazing opportunity to talk with Jordan DePaul, a musician from Nashville, Tennessee who combined his musical talent and business savvy to make it as a full-time singer-songwriter.
Stay tuned later this week for Part 2 of this series…
The post The Artrepreneur: When Art and Entrepreneurship Meet (Part 1) by Declan Wilson appeared first on A Millennial Type.