AWAD’s founder and member Susan Johnson Mumford recently announced a brand new initiative that steams from her current advisory services as well as from her now famous ‘Be Smart About Art’ tweets (see # besmartaboutart).

Starting in 2012, the Be Smart About Art Academy brings artworld & commercial savvy to the work loved by artists. The Academy will offer the first training course for artists from 16th April 2012; each course encompasses six half-day workshops – once a week over a six-week period – run by Susan Mumford (herself an established art consultant and the founder of AWAD, the Association of Women Art Dealers), along with a selection of specialist guest speakers. Areas to be addressed include: Defining their niche; writing a vision statement; overviewing and implementing marketing strategies (online and offline, exhibitions, fairs, etc); pricing; starting and closing sales; incorporating legal essentials into the business; book-keeping; transporting & insuring art and and the artist; and much, much more.

The course for artists is aimed at professional artists who are ready to take a step to the next level in their career as well as at those who may have been established for a while but would benefit from a business skills refresher. The programme is available here. The total price for the six-month course is normally £550, with an “Early Bird” price of £495. We are making a first course offer of £295 only, for the April-May 2012 course. Interested applicants must complete our online application form available here. (more…)