From Jessica Burko:
Working with all of you for four weeks has been really invigorating. Your questions have made me think about arts marketing from new perspectives, your cocktail speeches were impressive, and seeing each one of you blossom into new artist professionals was worth every minute of that long drive to the Cape and back. 
I want to leave you with a few things to remember as you continue down the path of your developing careers as working artists:
- Take control of your career — if a venue is not selling your work, talk with them about it and/or look for a new venue that will be more suitable for your work. If a gallery and your work is a good fit THE WORK WILL SELL.
- Try something new — don’t keep banging your head against the wall. If your web site isn’t attracting visitors, REDESIGN IT AND ANNOUNCE THE CHANGE. If you’re not selling work through the traditional gallery/artist arrangement, TRY NEW AVENUES like art fairs, open studios, and showing/selling on-line. If you haven’t been getting into juried shows, REDESIGN YOUR MATERIALS, TAKE BETTER PHOTOS OF YOUR WORK, AND FIND SHOWS THAT MATCH BETTER YOUR WORK. Don’t give up, just do something different.
- Explore the on-line world — places like http://www.etsy.com/, http://www.indiepublic.com/, https://www.guild.com/, are great places for you to show and sell your work, and connect to other artists and creative people in New England and beyond.
- Ask your friends — what they are doing, where they are successfully showing/selling, how they make it happen for themselves. SHARING RESOURCES is a great way to reinvigorate, and get new ideas and tools. Maybe start a monthly artist group for these types of discussions.
- Live outside of your bubble — get out of the studio! Go to art shows, museums, lectures. Through observation you will gain creative INSPIRATION, discover NEW VENUES AND OPPORTUNITIES, get ideas for DISPLAY OF YOUR WORK, and MEET OTHER ARTISTS. All these activities will come together to enrich your life as an artist.
You are all serious about advancing your art careers, and that is MONUMENTAL. Don’t lose momentum, keep creating, keep exploring, and you will find that by applying the same dedication to the MARKETING of your work that you apply to DEVELOPING your art, you will achieve all of your professional goals as an artist. I look forward to seeing what you do next!!
Please keep in touch,
Jessica Burko
Artist, Arts Marketer, Independent Curator
Hi Jessica
I enjoyed your presentations very much. They were enormously helpful. You got me to finally finish my own website: http://www.annegarton.com. Check it out!
I love blogging, but it’s good to have the website up. I printed out your list of To DO’s and will keep them next to my easel. Many thanks.
I’ll be in touch.
Anne Garton
Thanks for everything Jessica,
I sent out my press release today. I am still sweating.
It went to the Cape Cod Times who said they could’nt use it because the event is off cape, The Boston Globe calander (Arts Editor didn’t want it) and the local Register. Waiting to see what happens. I quess like everything else in life it will get easier the more I do it. I hope so.
Also, they all wanted different size photos.
Elizabeth Embler
Glad to hear the meetings were inspiring and got a few of you to move ahead with blogs, web sites, and generating press. Keep at it!
Not every media outlet will jump on your story every time you send them a press release, not every web site will get a million hits in the first week of being live – this doesn’t mean you should quit your efforts, quite the opposite! It means you knuckle down and try, try again.
Good luck all!
Jessica
Hi Jessica:
I wanted to let you know that all your presentations were great. I learned a lot and now I’m determined to implement the information. When you have a moment could you tell me how to find the “to do” list. I cannot seem to locate it anymore and would like to print it. To do lists are a great incentive!
Please let me know when you have shows or special events coming up.
Thanks again for everything.
All my best,
Monique Goetinck
This was such a great class.! I just opened a studio and realized artists in general do not know how to market their product. I am SOOO glad I decided to sign up, now I know how to best direct my energy. I’m not computer savy, but the class gave me the confidence to work in a focused direction. Thank you so much for sharing such a wealth of information with us. You folks are such an amazing resource, I’ve told everyone I know how amazing the class is. Are you going to offer it again?