Unit 0: Course Introduction - Orthelious/pdcp_2020 GitHub Wiki

Course Introduction

Professional Development for Creative Practices | Winter 2020

omg, u guys welcome to class!
Before we get started, a short video to set the tone for this course:*

Mike Monteiro "Fuck You, Pay Me"

Welcome to 60-350 Professional Development for Creative Practices!

Sections

  1. Introductions
  2. Syllabus Review
  3. Course Framing and Approach

1. Introductions

A. Who Am I?
B. Who Are You?

A. WHO AM I?

Tom Hughes

Associate Director, Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry
Adjunct Professor of Arts Management, CMU School of Art

Education Master of Arts Management (MAM), 2012 Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University

Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), 2008
Bowling Green State University

Professional Background Here are a few of the places I've worked for and worked with:
Assemble, Attack Theatre, ATONATON, Bunker Projects, Contemporary Craft, Conflict Kitchen, The Drift, The Mattress Factory, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Processing Foundation, Prototype, VIA Festival, The Wick Editor as well as hundreds of artists across multiple disciplines.

I have about a decade of experience working in arts management which includes fundraising, project management, strategy development, artistic programming, marketing, and special events. Since 2015 I have served as the Associate Director for the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, an interdisciplinary research lab in Carnegie Mellon University's College of Fine Arts.

B. WHO ARE YOU?

Let's go around the room:

  1. Your name and pronouns?
  2. What kind of creative practitioner are you?
  3. What do you hope to get out of this course?

2. Syllabus and Schedule Review

3. Course Framing and Approach

A. How this course works
B. Our Approach
C. A Few Guiding Philosophies
D. Thoughts on Scope and Scale

A. How this course works

This course focuses on business fundamentals and professional skills as it applies to the creative practices and was built specifically with CFA majors—Art students in particular—in mind. The content of this course is designed based on the most common questions I receive from current students and CFA alumni.

This class is a series of primers. Basic explanations in plain language. An introduction to concepts. My goal is not to make you an absolute expert in subjects like business formation or finance or intelectual property, but to give you the starting language and skills.

My goal is to get you to a point of having a serious conversation. Our focus here is empowerment—getting you to the next step to learn from mentors and competitors; identify models that would work for your practice; and to think constructively about how to organize a professional creative practice.

B. Our Approach


Charles and Ray Eames, Powers of Ten (1977)

  • We're taking the 20,0000 foot view in this course.
  • We're going to cover a lot of ground, very quickly.
  • Units will be primers on business concepts and how they relate to creative practices.
  • If there are topics you want to delve more deeply into, I am happy to suggest further readings or other courses.

C. A Few Guiding Philosophies

C1. All Career Paths Are Valid
C2. Think of Business Like Cooking
C3. The Correct Answers ≠ The Right Answers
C4. Be Yourself
C5. Practice, Career, and Hustle

C1 — All Career Paths Are Valid

There are going to be endless opinions that you will hear/have heard throughout your life on what makes a great artist, an amazing designer, or a brilliant architect. If you choose to adhere to these standards, that is your choice. We will not debate or discuss the best career path in this course. Likewise, we will consider career success to be however an individual student defines it for themselves.

If you want to work in a corporation, go for it. If you want to run an anti-capitalist social movement, do it. If you want to be an art world gallery star, rad. If you want to be a hermit in the woods, awesome. Any of the units we cover in this course can apply to whatever career direction you want to take, but we will not debate which is the best.

C2 — Think of Business Like Cooking

I've spent a lot of time over the few years teaching myself to cook. One of my favorite books on the subject is Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat. The basic premise is that mastering four basic factors will make food taste delicious. But these are just elements of good cooking. There is a world of amazing food that depends heavily on our culture, background, personal taste and preference—and our appetites.

Business is very much the same way. We're going to discuss how business works and go through many of the best practices—but how you best apply these factors to your practice depends on your background, your tastes, your needs.

C3— The Correct Answers ≠ The Right Answers

The units we will cover throughout the semester are frameworks, guidelines, skillsets, and concepts for achieving business success in creative practices. These are not hard and fast rules. So, while an answer may be correct and match best practices, that does not make it automatically the right answer for your practice.

C4 — Be Yourself

Please consider this class a safe space that, for once a week, for three hours, you get to explore what you want to do with your life and creative practice. Ask the questions that are difficult, that feel dumb, and especially those that feel intimidating to ask out loud.

C5 — Practice, Career, and Hustle

One of the most irritating questions I remember from art school was "How are you going to turn that degree into a job?" We live in an extremely capitalist society and personally I think there is too much focus on profitability and productivity. We're here to talk about how to make your practice sueccssful, but not to put the pressure on turning that practice into a lucrative career.

So, instead of thinking of our lives as a singular pursuit for a professional career, I've broken things down a bit.

In running your creative practice, I think your time and effort is basically split into three groups. Think of these groups as how you work every week.

  • Practice — Your creative practice. Your artistic identity.
  • Career — Your professional presentation to the world.
  • Hustle — How you make money.

These things can be related. Your hustle could also be your career. Your practice could be the moneymaker. Your career can incorporte both your hustle and your practice. But these things can also be seperate.

D. Some Thoughts on Scope and Scale

A number of the business concepts we will cover in this course will seem basic at the surface level, but as we apply them in practice, they will become increasingly complex.

For example, filing your individual taxes each year is something you can often do on your own, but filing taxes for a corporation, correctly, will almost always require the aid of a certified accountant.

D1. Scope
D2. Scale

D1 — SCOPE

Throughout each unit, we will address a number of different challenges that all creative practitioners must deal with. To keep things manageable and within the scope of this course, we're going to focus on three levels of problem-solving:

  1. DIY — Do It Yourself. Take an online class. Google it. This is the default starting point.

  2. Find an Advisor — Very few problems in business are unique. Talk to your network, seek out industry experts, call on your friends. Workshop. Brainstorm. Find people who can mentor you through a challenging process or who will provide honest feedback.

  3. Engage a Professional — Often it’s necessary to call in an expert: Lawyers, accountants, agents... working with the right professional can save you money, reduce risk, and enable you to take on more challenging endeavors.

D2 — SCALE

To place units in a real-world context, we're going to discuss topics in relation to three different scales:

1. The Individual Level

“I’m a loner Dottie, a rebel,” Pee-Wee Herman.

This is the starting point. It is approaching business with only your interests in mind. You are the sole beneficiary of your work, but you are also solely responsible for all aspects of your business.

  • Terry received his BFA from the CMU School of Art ( I also went to graduate school with him).

2. The Small Group Level

At this level, the focus is on how to form a working group and operate at the small business level. What business structures will work best? How are decisions made? What if the relationship between group members sours?

  • The Institute for New Feeling is comprised of members Scott Andrew (CMU MFA 2013), Agnes Bolt (CMU MFA 2012) and Nina Sarnelle (CMU MFA 2012).

// The Large Group Level

To differentiate this from the Small Group, we’re going to consider a large group to be more than 50 employees/members. How are decisions made when working within a large corporation? What effect does massive size have on conducting business?

My example: Kevyn McPhail (CMU Arch) Kevyn McPhail