As a working musician, and as the COSE Arts Network Leader, a good portion of the feedback I have heard from the arts community revolves around sales and marketing.  Generally speaking, artwork, music and arts experiences are wants of the consumer, not necessarily needs, and during economic downturns, it becomes harder for the average consumer to justify the purchase of wants.  Additionally, much of the networking done within the creative workforce is between artists and other artists, not with potential clients in the business community or for-profit sector.  Although camaraderie with other creative artists is needed to ensure a healthy, diverse arts community, often times artists and musicians complain that they can’t sell to other artists and musicians, but don’t know how to breach the business community to develop clients.

It is also tough for many artists to put a value on their art, and in many cases very hard for artists to separate their emotions and egos from the artistic product. But addressing these issues sooner rather than later will position an artist to not only weather the current recession, but ultimately come out on top as someone that is diligent and proactive about treating their art as a commodity and business. One of the first steps to doing so includes convincing yourself of the value of your art. Once you are comfortable doing so, it will be easier to answer questions about pricing and services without hesitation. Consumers and potential clients don’t want to sense fear or trepidation when discussing prices, so being at ease with the process before you enter negotiations will allow you to get a fair price for your time and work.

On Thursday, January 8^th from 4:00 to 6:00pm COSE Arts Network will present an education event with two leading business and marketing coaches, to help address some of the issues listed above, and many more. The goal of the seminar is for attendees to leave with actual self-promotion and marketing strategies that they can apply to their own careers.

COSE Arts Network Education: Creative Marketing for the Arts
Thursday, January 8^th 2009
4:00 to 6:00 pm
The Cleveland Play House
$5 for Members, $15 for Nonmembers

Join us at the Cleveland Play House for an event that will help you help your arts-based sales and marketing!  Diane Helbig (Seize This Day Coaching) and Cindy Earl (Corner Your Market Cleveland), two leading business coaches and marketing and PR experts, will be on hand to guide you through exercises and activities that will help you define your business vision, determine your artistic value, improve your networking skills and recognize several core self-promotion strategies.

This workshop will not only benefit individual artists and small arts businesses, but also small and medium-sized arts nonprofit organizations who have limited staff time and resources to devote to marketing.

For more information please call (216) 592-2472 or email mcharboneau@cose.org

Please also click the Event Registration Link to sign up.

From Off the Streets of Cleveland

I am a pretty big fan of Harvey Pekar, most notably his American Splendor series. Harvey’s comics and writing have always involved a heavy dose of jazz and creative improvisation-based music, from his ongoing music reviews and jazz criticism, to the tenor of American Splendor where he chronicles his ongoing experiences as a jazz-head and record collector. Now Mr. Pekar is making his operatic debut with the help of musician Dan Plonsey and musicians and theater students from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. The jazz opera, Leave Me Alone! will premier Saturday, January 31^st 2009 at 8 pm in Oberlin’s visually and acoustically beautiful Finney Chapel. Visit the Conservatory’s Web site to view the press release, and also visit the Leave Me Alone! Web site for more information about both the author and the composer. The audio and video of the event will also be streamed live to an international audience from the opera’s Web site.

Here are some updates from the Greater Cleveland Film Commission (GCFC) about the ongoing film production tax incentive issue in Ohio. I am happy to say that the GCFC are active members of the COSE Arts Network, and that their Executive Director Ivan Schwarz is a member of my Arts Network Advisory Committee. Many thanks to both Ivan and the GCFC for their efforts to help establish Ohio, and specifically the Cleveland area, as an attractive location for film companies to shoot and produce films.

Tax Incentive Update

The Ohio House of Representatives passed HB 196, the Film Production Industry Tax Credit Bill, by a vote of 50-39, on Wednesday, December 3

If you would like to watch the hearing in streaming video click here (the Film Tax Credit portion of the hearing is the first 32 minutes of the video stream)

HB 196 was introduced in the Ohio Senate following its passage in the House. The next step for HB 196 will be next Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 9:00 AM, when it will be heard in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The Ways and Means Committee Hearing will be held in the Senate Hearing Room in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus and will be open to the public.

To contact the Governor and share your thoughts on HB 196 write to

The Honorable Ted Strickland
Governor of Ohio
Office of the Governor
Riffe Center, 30th Floor
77 South High Street
Columbus, OH 43215-6108

Or use their online form by clicking here

To find who your local Senator is and contact them to share your thoughts on HB 196, click here

City of Cleveland Update—Cleveland on the Verge of Attracting New Film Studio

Cleveland City Council recently approved legislation granting 17,000 square feet of space rent-free at the Cleveland Convention Center to Nehst (pronounced “next”) Creations, an independent film production and distribution company out of New Jersey. Nehst intends to build its production and post-production facility in Cleveland if HB 196 becomes law. As a show of good faith, Nehst is already shooting two films in the area and anticipate shooting 10-12 films each year–assuming passage of the state tax incentive legislation.