Making a Business Plan for a Career in the Performing Arts

Why is a business plan is important to have? Again, your approach to the performing arts has to function like a start up business. In order to have the best chance for success, an artist has to have a clear vision of the business purpose, a strategy to attain short & long-term goals, an idea of where the artist wants to be over time. A sound business plan is a road map (which can be modified over time) that helps an artist have a clear direction of where they want their prospective career in the performing arts to go and what she/he clearly wants to achieve. (See graph.) You will be spending a great deal of time and resources on your venture—a business plan reduces the amount of guess work and increases a better sense of timing and logistics.

Key Features:

Relationships—The business of the performing arts is all about relationship building. Presenters (mainly in the larger market) will only engage artists they know and trust. Strategies of how to build your relationships is a key element in your business plan. There are several websites that list venues in the smaller markets, festivals, and you can often get up-to-date presenter lists from your state arts council free of charge (California is one of the only exceptions.). Attending booking conferences is the BEST way to develop and foster relationships with presenters. There are several types of booking conferences, from state consortia to regional to national. And don’t limit yourself to just performing arts. There are festival vendor conferences, NACCA (National Association of College Campus Activities), and several corporate events conferences.

E-marketing—More and more artists and presenters are using the internet to communicate. It is a healthy medium, and is the cheapest and fastest way to reach the largest demographic of presenters and the public. An artist MUST have web presence. (There will be another in-depth post about e-marketing facts and tips.) Make your website easy to navigate with as little clutter and flash as possible. If you have streaming video, that’s a plus.

Database—While part of your e-marketing, your database should be functional and constantly updated so that you have accurate information about presenters. There will be a post in the future devoted entirely to "E-marketing--what you need to know in the new era of communication."

Product—Do you have DVDs or CDs? If not, you will need these to market yourself. Don't budget on this part of your plan. The more polished and professional looking product you create, the better your chances of landing bookings.

Capital—The hard reality is that you have to spend money to make money. For many start up businesses, it often takes years before you will see profit. You need to budget & plan appropriately so that you don’t put all your resources into THAT part of your business plan that is less strategic than other aspects of your plan. More posts will follow on the topic of "avoiding pitfalls in spending."

Markets—Know your market of presenters. You will develop lasting relationships with presenters if you know something about their venue before you actually meet them. This will also help you determine which markets are appropriate for your plan. Presenters will more likely return your call or email if you know something about their venues. If there is a particular festival or club that you are interested in pursuing, make sure your genre matches the venue’s preferred genres (i.e., if you are part of a native American dance ensemble, don’t try to pursue a booking at a rock music club or bluegrass festival.)

Next post will focus on Markets & the different players within them. I've left out info on other aspects of your business plan, but I will cover them in future posts.

Cheers.

Bear Claw