BOYA- The Business of Your Art
The objectives of this programme are as follows:
- To introduce basic principles for arts business practices
- To educate artists about supply and demand
- To train artists/cultural practitioners in creating a plan for their business
- To introduce basic marketing principles and market research to cultural pratitioners
- To assist artists in understanding finance, fundraising and cash flow
- To serve as a seeding program/incubator for cultural products and services for either the local, tourist or international markets.
BOYA- The Business of Your Art is a six module seminar series which takes place over six months. BOYA aims to: (a) equip cultural practitioners with the skills needed to determine the shape and viability of their artistic enterprise, (b) to understand the fundamentals of financing a business and (c) to make a solid business plan.
The series is structured in such a way that each module builds on the other, each imparting a particular and discrete set of skills and tools, leading to a tangible outcome which is the creation of a viable, fundable project proposal.
In order for cultural practitioners to best access and profit from the proposed facilities and mechanisms, including the Cultural Industries Development Act, they must have an understanding of the basic principles of sound business practice.
Barbados’ cultural sector is made up mostly of persons working on a semi-professional, amateur and/or part-time basis. They are often trying to maintain households on salaries from their “traditional” jobs at the same time as they are attempting to grow their artistic business venture.
Some major challenges posed by this approach are the issues of time management, capital investment, and the general sourcing and management of funds since with little or no collateral it is often very difficult to secure funding from lending institutions in order to further develop businesses in the arts and culture. It is therefore necessary for practitioners to fully understand the sector or industry which relates to their artistic talent as well as the risks involved with going into full time business in order to minimize said risks and maximize growth.
Participants were mentored in: Business Incorporations and Intellectual Property Rights Management, Strategic Planning, Financing Creative Enterprise, Marketing and Brand Development, and Operations Management by highly qualified facilitators in their fields. The seminars were hosted at the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination at the University of the West Indies in Cave Hill St. Michael.
Each participant who successfully completes the course will produce either a business plan or a full project proposal which can be used to ‘pitch’ to potential investors, funders or sponsors.
US$ 11,500