Art is Serious BusinessDecember 1, 2000Contact: Meredith Erlewine, Acting Director of Publications 740-593-4331; 740-593-1996 fax; slinder@nbia.org ATHENS, OHIO-NBIA Publications, a subsidiary
of the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA), has released
the first book ever written on arts incubation, Incubating
the Arts: Establishing a Program to Help Artists and Arts Organizations
Become Viable Businesses, by Ellen Gerl.
This resource will be invaluable to anyone interested in developing
or refining a program to help artists and arts organizations dramatically
improve their business acumen.
Business incubation catalyzes the process
of starting and growing companies. A proven model, it provides
entrepreneurs with the expertise, networks and tools they need
to make their ventures successful. Arts incubators have adapted
the incubation model to help artists and arts groups focus on
building their businesses and their markets. "Artists are
not the only beneficiaries; the arts industry can be an important
force in a community's economic development," says Dinah
Adkins, NBIA president and CEO.
Based on the experiences of six Arts Incubator
Alliance programs, Incubating the Arts takes a no-nonsense approach
to developing and managing arts incubation programs. "This
book is a five-star addition to the literature on business incubation,'
says Adkins. "The top executives of these incubators have
offered up the details of their everyday workings, from how they've
identified funding, to client screening, to delivering a full
range of business assistance. You come away really understanding
how to create programming capable of helping artist parlay their
talents into solid business ventures."
The detailed how-to information is
supplemented by case studies of artists and groups that have gone
through these programs. It is capped off by one of the most useful
appendices you'll find anywhere — 87 pages of sample documents,
forms, checklists, price structures and other helpful tools.
The six programs that contributed to
the book span the United States from California to Florida and
in between. Their diversity is what makes the information so adaptable
to almost any circumstance. Some serve arts organizations only-San
Jose Arts Incubator in California, for example — and others
incubate both individual artist and arts groups, as does ArtServe
in Ft. Lauderdale. Arts councils or agencies operate several (MODE
in Houston, Texas, for one) and others are independent. Some are
in buildings devoted to the arts, such as Arts Bridge in Chicago,
and others have made creative use of an existing building, or
in the case of MetroArts in Harrisburg, Pa., an historic house.
The incubators can be tied into a city's tourism industry, as
is Entergy Arts Business Center in New Orleans, or they may be
a part of a regional cultural arts strategy. All, however, have
contributed important best practices to arts incubation specifically
and business incubation in general.
NBIA is the world's leading organization advancing
business incubation and entrepreneurship. It provides thousands
of professionals with the information, education, advocacy and
networking resources to bring excellence to the process of assisting
early-stage companies.
Author Ellen Gerl
is a visiting assistant professor at the E.W. Scripps School of
Journalism at Ohio University in Athens and a free-lance writer.
The book was made possible in part by generous
support from the Nathan Cummings Foundation. The Foundation is
rooted in the Jewish tradition and committed to democratic values,
including fairness, diversity, and community. It seeks to build
a society that values nature and protects ecological balance for
future generations, promotes humane health care and fosters arts
to enrich communities.
For further information or to obtain
a copy of Incubating the Arts: Establishing
a Program to Help Artists and Arts Organizations Become Viable
Businesses ($26.95 to NBIA members, $29.95 nonmembers,
plus $7 shipping and handling), contact NBIA, 20 East Circle
Drive,
#37198, Athens, Ohio 45701; 740-593-4331; fax 740-593-1996.
Buy the book on NBIA's Web site at www.nbia.org/store/index.php,
which allows you to order directly and securely. Contact Mary
Ann Gulino for press review copies at mgulino@nbia.org.
For more information, contact NBIA
at (740) 593-4331, or visit the organization's Web site at www.nbia.org.
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