The artist as marketer and entrepreneur

‘This chapter considers how the artist can be both a marketer and an entrepreneur in the creation and development of the artwork. Contemporary professional practice requires not only a set of artistic competencies but also skills in marketing and entrepreneurship in order to deal with the sometimes chaotic nature of the external environment where instability and ambiguity impact everyday practice. The form that marketing takes is often different from that found in large organisations. The artist can be visualised as an owner/manager of his or her own enterprise who constructs a form of marketing fit for his or her purposes. In other words, a context-specific form of marketing is practised, informed by networking, word-of-mouth communication, self-branding, reputation, creativity and entrepreneurial competencies.