Answering the call from the Regional Cultural Assessment and Central Iowa entrepreneurs in a creative field, ARTSwork and Iowa Center for Economic Success have teamed up to create a monthly professional development opportunity for creative entrepreneurs. Similar to a Rotary Club or chamber, the Creatives’ Breakfast Club will meet on the last Saturday of each month beginning in January 2023 to engage, support and energize the creative community. Each one-hour session will feature a speaker addressing a specific topic designed to further these individuals' business and networking skills.

 

Additionally, the sessions will connect Greater Des Moines’ creative entrepreneurs so that they may network with peers to advance their needs individually, gather the information that supports their careers, and provide training opportunities so that they can do less of what they hate and more of what they love. Each meeting will include time for gathering and networking. And each session will be followed by important next steps, whether it be an organized class about the subject or one-on-one training with a mentor in the field of specialization.

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Two primary goals lead Creatives' Breakfast Club.

1. More time being creative. Whether you're a painter or a ballet dancer, the less time you spend on the business of your craft, the more time you can spend honing it. The Club is designed to illustrate how you can affordably and efficiently leave the business to a trusted source.

2. The Artist Needs Assessment found that 70% of surveyed creatives make less than $10,000 annually through their creative work and subsidize their practice through other earned income. It is our goal to reverse this statistic.

 

The sessions will be held inside Studio 431 of Mainframe Studios. Registration is required so that we may accurately provide accommodations.

 

 What is a Creative Entrepreneur?

A person who uses their creative abilities to make money. Creative Entrepreneurs take their work and creates a business model around selling their work to sustain a living for themselves. This can include artists (painters, ceramicists, designers, writers, illustrators), makers (jewelry, hatters, florists), and movers (dancers, musicians, actors).  

 

Project History:

In 2016 Bravo Greater Des Moines commissioned the Central Iowa Regional Cultural Assessment to identify art and culture priorities that best support the Capital Crossroads vision plan catalyst priorities. The assessment identified “Strengthening the Creative Economy by developing the talent and skillsets of creative entrepreneurs and artists” as one of four cultural priorities.

 

In 2018, Bravo Greater Des Moines and the Des Moines Arts Festival pooled resources and connections to further understand opportunities in strengthening the creative economy in the local artist ecosystem. The organizations hired artist and arts and business strategist Chris Dahlquist to conduct a feasibility study that would lead to an action plan for professional development and capacity-building programs for regional artists of all disciplines. The study engaged local artists through workshops, round table discussions, one-on-one interviews, and an Artist Needs Assessment Survey.

 

The study results outlined three key strategies:

1. Strengthen cross-discipline artist networking: creative opportunities for artists of diverse backgrounds, disciplines and career stages to collaborate with and learn from one another.

2. Facilitate communication: establish a virtual resource center to provide information regarding opportunities, available resources/programming, and information on best practices.

3. Provide life-long learning opportunities. Coordinate relevant capacity-building programming for artists, ensuring a variety of access points for artists at all stages of artistic development.  

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