In Mid-January 2017, Self Employment in the Arts (SEA) hosted this webinar in partnership with Future Founders and the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO) to help young entrepreneurs better pitch their business. All three organizations host elevator and business pitch competitions throughout the year where student entrepreneurs can present their ideas and active businesses for a chance at prize money and additional help and resources. The webinar covers the basics of a business pitch, why they’re important, tips and advice, judging criteria, and more from the panel of experts. Questions were also asked by webinar attendees and answered in the hour-long webinar. Webinar presenters include: Michael Luchies, TrepRep Founder Josh Doering, Seed Slide Founder James Zebrowski, CEO Managing Director Stacey Earnest, Ace Metal Refinishers CEO Ethan Adams, Future Founders Manager of Startup Development SEA is a program geared towards helping emerging visual, performing, literary, and media artists gain the resources and connections they need to be successful self-employed artists. Our annual conference is traditionally the last weekend in February in Lisle (Chicago suburb), Illinois. For more information on Self Employment in the Arts, visit SelfEmploymentInTheArts.com.

Fashion Designer Ping Wu shares about her experience and the value of the Self-Employment in the Arts Conference. For more information about SEA visit www.selfemploymentinthearts.com. Ping Wu, completed her fashion design studies in 2006 at the Istituto Marangoni, Milan, Italy. Following graduation, she interned with Milanese designer Luisa Beccaria and with BLESS in Paris. Her professional knowledge and clinical experience in Physical Therapy gave her a unique perspective in fashion designs, making her creations friendly to human anatomy and natural body movements. Her love of 3D sculptures, attention to engineering details, emphasis on practicality created an original style that rooted in functions within. The Ping Wu innovative unisex designs offer unique transformable options that invite customers to be playful and allow customers freedom to create their individual looks based on their needs at any given moment. It turned their traditional passive role of wearing into an active fun participating role during the process. Each wearable art is both stylish and multi-functional, providing comfort, individuality, and inspirational energy. For more information visit, www.pingwudesignstudio.com

Veteran commercial photographer Charlie Yapp shares his insight into the industry from his many years of experience. He talks about finding a niche/specialty, developing a portfolio, sales, and working with clients. Charlie also talks about dealing with your dreams and balancing that with paying your bills.

Watercolorist Tom Lynch describes his strategies for marketing art. One important factor is how an artist views him/herself. Tom also focuses on how to create a demand or interest for your art. He shares many of his unique strategies that have been very successful for him.

This two part series describes the challenges in getting a musical theater production launched. Topics covered include theater budget, production costs, finding and approaching investors, organizing for profit vs. non-profit, advertising, PR for your productions, management and legal aspects.

This two part series describes the challenges in getting a musical theater up and going. Topics covered include accounting, things to consider before starting, and marketing.