Page 27 - Flathead Beacon // 4.30.14

FLATHEADBEACON.COM APRIL 30, 2014 | 27

ARTS
BUSINESSMONTHLY

TEACHING THE BUSINESS OF

By MOLLY PRIDDY of the Beacon
thing, and it just seemed like there
would be something there I could learn Montana Artrepreneur Program
hen it comes to their about the business of art,” Hansen said.
craft, artists can be Hansen said she had been painting artists to be featured in upcoming
solitary creatures, fo- for many years, and had read multiple
cused on and dedicated books on marketing herself and her exhibit at the Hockaday
to creating their life’s work, but the MAP class laid it all out in

work. This trait allows
a simple, straightforward way.
them to follow their passion and develop “The whole business, all the nuts and
as artists, but it can also leave them in vators, Inventors and Entrepreneurs.” sons I really wanted to look at doing one bolts of the business, were presented
the dark when it comes to the business The show, which includes 27 MAP of these (shows),” Shanahan said. “One in an organized way,” Hansen said. “It
side of the art world.
artists from around the state, opens on of the things that is so hard for an artist helped me to do it. I want to paint, I don’t
That’s where the Montana Artre- May 8 with a reception from 5 p.m. to 7 is to break into the museum world.”
want the writing and the budgeting and
preneur Program (MAP) hopes to build p.m., and will run until June 21 at the
Shanahan’s hope is that other art all these things, so it was easy to put of.”
some bridges. Created by the Montana museum.
museums across the state will pay atten- During the eight-month program,

Arts Council several years ago, MAP To Shanahan, coordinating with an
tion to what the Hockaday and the MAP which includes 10 hours of instruction
teaches artists the ins and outs of mar- art museum for such a show is a coup for students are doing with the exhibit, and every other month and workshops dur-
keting themselves through an eight- the program, because not only will the follow suit.
ing the months without instruction,
month course.
artists get exposure, they also had to use As one of the artists who will be Hansen learned about business plans,
According to Jan Shanahan, a the skills they learned in the classes to showing her work in the exhibit, Gail and used what she needed to ill in the
Whiteish artist who teaches the pro- apply for and get accepted to the juried Hansen of Whiteish said she started gaps in her own knowledge.
gram in the Flathead, MAP has taken show.
MAP classes in 2011 as a way to make The course objectives are presented

of faster here than anywhere else in the “We’re kind of leading the charge in herself more well-rounded.
in a step-by-step way that helps every-
state, with 75 to 80 local artists having the Flathead, and that’s one of the rea-
“I am always open to learning some-
one complete them, Hansen said, and
completed the program already.
the artists in the class – called a cohort
“It has grown, which is really nice,” – make connections with each other “ONE OF THE THINGS THAT IS SO HARD FOR AN ARTIST
Shanahan said.
throughout the process.
One example showing that the pro- “Being with other artists who were
gram continues to pick up speed in the struggling in similar ways, there was an IS TO BREAK INTO THE MUSEUM WORLD.”
Flathead is the upcoming exhibit at the immediate camaraderie among all the
Jan Shanahan
Hockaday Museum of Art featuring MAP
students, called “Montana Artists: Inno-
See Art PAGE 29