Cucalorus has partnered with New York-based Creative Capital Foundation to bring a workshop to Wilmington in April on the business of art.
The workshop, “Strategic Business Planning for Media Artists,” will provide artists with an opportunity to take stock of their current situation and to build new tools to maximize their potential to reach short-and long-term goals, stated a news release.
The one-day event will be at Jengo’s Playhouse at 815 Princess St. on April 6 from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
The partnership between Cucalorus and Creative Capital was facilitated by the North Carolina Arts Council, said Dan Brawley, executive director of Cucalorus Film Festival.
The council is supporting the workshop and has partnered with Creative Capital to bring training opportunities to North Carolina communities. This workshop is the first time Creative Capital will be in Wilmington.
“They wanted to reach more filmmakers - more media artists - so that is one of the reasons why they wanted to come to Wilmington,” Brawley said. “As Cucalorus expands work with filmmakers, to include funding and skill building, we think this is just another opportunity for us to help artists build the tools for a sustainable creative economy.”
The workshop will be led by Colleen Keegan, art business advisor of the TED Fellows Program and a partner of Keegan Fowler Companies, an investment and consulting firm.
Creative Capital Award winners Ela Troyano, an interdisciplinary Cuban artist, and Nick Szuberla, director and co-founder of Wilmington-based Working Narratives, will also be at the workshop.
Participating artists will get a 60-page planning workbook that walks them through short-term goals and priorities, Brawley said.
“Artists will get to write their obituary to force themselves to think big-picture about what they are doing and where they are headed,” he said.
Creative Capital is a nonprofit founded in 1999 by North Carolina-native Ruby Lerner, an arts executive. The organization seeks to support artists with funding, counsel, gatherings and career development services, according to the Creative Capital website.
Each year the nonprofit chooses winners of its Creative Capital Awards, who receive up to $50,000 in funding and $45,000 worth of career development services.
Artists interested in attending the Wilmington workshop should
apply online by March 26. There will be a $25 fee to offset workshop costs.
Cucalorus Film Foundation will have five to six scholarship for rural artists and artists of color, as well as a few housing spots to encourage artists from places outside Wilmington, such as New Bern and Fayetteville, to come, Brawley said.
“The economic impact of the arts community is incredible,” Brawley said. “It’s important for Wilmington to have a thriving arts community.”