Artist Resources, Grants for Artists, Creative Projects, Making Money for Artists

Fractured Atlas cordially invites you to our first Ignite the Arts Livestream - an online telethon to raise money for some of the artists and arts organizations with whom we work. Please join us on Tuesday, July 21st from 5pm-7:30pm Eastern Time to celebrate the creative contributions of these individuals and companies, and to support artists when they need it most. RSVP on Facebook here!

How are you doing?

If you’re like me (and roughly 90% of US taxpayers), you claim the standard deduction when you file your income taxes each year. For those of us who don't have enough qualifying expenses (mortgage interest, property taxes, etc.) to itemize when we file, the standard deduction probably makes the most sense. Because of this, I am not able to deduct my charitable contributions, despite the fact that I donate to 501(c)(3) organizations.

Teach someone to fish… This platitude has been variously ascribed to ancient philosopher Laozi or medieval philosopher Maimonides. Either way, it’s been with us a long time, you’ve all heard it, and I don’t need to expand upon it here. However banal it may be, the sentiment is a major part of our guiding philosophy here at Fractured Atlas.

Savvy arts entrepreneurs chase any and every funding opportunity under the sun. If this describes you, you’ve already got a robust plan to solicit individual giving and know which foundations best aligned with your work. So you’re probably also eyeing that yummy, yet problematic, buffet of corporate cash. Before you try to fill your tray with these dollars, it’s important for you to know the distinction between corporate sponsorship and advertising. Any support that you receive from a corporate funder will fall into one of these two categories.

When you’re setting up a crowdfunding campaign, one of the first decisions that you’ll make is setting your goal, the amount of money that you want to raise. This decision can have far-reaching consequences and is often where the campaign lives or dies.

One of our favorite books at Fractured Atlas is Brandraising. We have several copies floating around our office and we recommend it at every opportunity. In 2014, I inaugurated our blog book club with a write-up.

I confess to being somewhat mystified by the personal development aisle in the bookstore. Self-help I understand because boy do I need a lot of it. But there are always a couple of shelves worth of books that never quite made a lot of sense to me. I’m talking about books like The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People or The Power of Positive Thinking.

Unsurprisingly, there aren’t a ton of grant deadlines in the month of December. In fact, you’re probably spending a lot of your efforts trying to gin up end-of-year giving from individual donors — and keep fighting that good fight. But now might also be the perfect opportunity to do a quick check-in on your arts practice or arts organization to evaluate your readiness for grant opportunities in the new year. For those of you who’ve never applied for a grant before (and even for many of you who have) here are five juicy tidbits to stew on about as you determine your preparedness for the upcoming grants season.

With the lazy days of summer squarely in the rearview mirror, it’s time to get serious with some back-to-school reading. And while you could pick up Pride & Prejudice or, perish the thought, an arts business book to improve your practice, I’m here with some great recommendations for blogs that specialize on the cultural sector. Pro-tip on an excellent question to ask in your next job interview as a candidate for hiring: What blogs do your company’s employees subscribe to?