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The Kerr Arts & Cultural Center has teamed up with Artist INC to bring a career-building workshop to Hill Country artists.
Artist INC is a multi-disciplinary training program offered by the Mid-America Arts Alliance that encourages networking and develops entrepreneurial skills within communities in Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Artist INC partners with local organizations to bring programming to their communities. This is the first year the program has visited Kerrville.
Artists from across Texas congregated at Schreiner University’s Junkin Campus Ministry Center for a weekend of creative fellowship. The Program Facilitators, who are all active working artists, are Chris Dahlquist, Eepi Chaad, Dominique Røyem, and Sonny Mehta.
“Through a partnership with the Kerr Arts & Cultural Center we’ve brought a program to strengthen the careers and capacities of artists here,” said Dahlquist.
From Oct. 5-6, participating artists attended two five-hour sessions dedicated to success in artistic careers.
“Funding one’s artistic practice is often a mystery, even among artists. We facilitate an open and frank conversation with working artists to see how they make a living,” said Dahlquist.
No matter the discipline, many artists find it difficult to break into a profitable market. Artist INC offered insight from their program facilitators and peer support to give tips for success.
“We talk about goal setting, marketing, funding a practice, and writing about your work. These are the primary steps. They are fundamental to being able to communicate about your work and move it forward,” said Dahlquist.
The program is intensive and extremely interactive, giving artists the opportunity to get answers and opinions on issues specific to making money in art.
“We try to break down the idea that there’s one definition of success, or one way for an artist to do things. There’s as many ways and many paths as there are artists, which is the exciting thing about this work. This is a way for artists to build their own individualized plan,” said Dahlquist.
Many of the activities in the Artist INC itinerary involve connecting with other artists, an aspect that stresses their goal of strengthening the local art community.
“One of the strengths of the program is that it’s all cross-disciplinary. So artists of all disciplines are in the room with us this weekend. We’ve got writers, visual artists, musicians, and choreographers which helps build the network of artists locally,” said Dahlquist.
Melissa Muse, a Hill Country artist attending the workshop, is an example of how artists and the community mutually benefit from investing in each other.
“My fiancé, Gary Lovelace, and I were sponsored by Texas Runs on Water to paint a mural on the wall of East End Market. The focus was to highlight how integral the Guadalupe River is to everything we do, especially here in Kerrville,” said Muse.
The mural incorporates 100 hidden native species of flora and fauna for viewers to discover. To encourage community involvement with the piece, Muse and Lovelace sought the help of the Riverside Nature Center.
“The Riverside Nature Center helped us with the list of all the creatures. After we finished the list, we brought some copies over to the center so people could start there then go look. It’s a real hide-and-seek,” said Muse.
For more information regarding the Mid-America Arts Alliance’s Artist INC program, visit their website at https://www.maaa.org/ artists-grants-fellowships/artist-inc/.
To check out the progress photos and backstory of Melissa Muse and Gary Lovelace’s Texas Runs on Water Mural visit their website at https://theartistcouple.com/TexasRunsOnWaterMural.html.