The First Step on the Runway to Success

The carpeting is soft underfoot; the lights are dim except for those illuminating the paintings on the wall; the room hums with people crowding around the canvases, murmuring their approval and delight. You stand at the center of a group of admirers, glass of champagne in your hand, receiving praise and congratulations on your latest show. It's already an unprecedented success, which even on this opening night has brought you many thousands of dollars in terms of sales and dozens of requests for interviews in international art magazines.

Does it sound like a dream? It may be just a dream at this moment. But it can happen. However, before it does, you have to want it to happen. And that means setting goals.

One of the most important steps artists can take when looking at their careers is to determine very clearly what their goals are. It's been said that it's not achieving goals that's difficult for artists, it's setting them that's the problem. Many artists fail to do this, or if they do, it is only a very vague, "I want to be famous!" You need to be more specific about what you want from your art career.

Setting clear goals sounds simple, but can be difficult. When you start setting goals, ask yourself these questions: How many hours a week, a month, a year, do I want to spend on my art career? What type of lifestyle do I want to maintain? How much money do I feel I need-or want--to earn from my artwork? Honest answers to each of these questions will give you a sense of the types of goals you need to set in order to succeed on your own terms.

Keep in mind that there are many different levels of success in the art world: the part-time artist, the professional artist who makes a good living at his or her art, and the ambitious artist who wants national and international acclaim. The bottom line is that you have to know what you want in order to get what you want.

Once you have a sense of your goals, make a list of short-term goals. These should be things you want to accomplish within the next six months. Limit yourself initially to the three or four most important ones, and be realistic about the amount of time you can spend on reaching them. Here are some typical short-term goals: 1. Inventory all my artwork 2. Update my portfolio 3. Have a show at my studio

Once you have clearly identified the goals you want to reach, break each of them down into action steps that need to be taken to achieve them. Also identify any special resources that you will need to complete the goals.

Action Steps to reach Goal No. 3:

• Complete five small paintings, five medium-size paintings, and 10 monoprints
• Create and mail out a press release two months before the show
• Design and mail out postcard/invitation three weeks before the show
• Organize and update mailing list

Special resources needed:

• 500 postcards for mailing
• My own stationery for press release mailing

When you start identifying your goals and action steps, you will become very clear about precisely what needs to be done for the goals to be achievable. If for some reason you do not accomplish that goal, it will be obvious to you why it was not completed. What you are starting to do here is to design and implement career strategies that can be analyzed afterward for their effectiveness.

Geoffrey Gorman, a former gallery director, attended the Maryland Institute of Art and the Boston Museum School. Five years ago he founded GG+A, an artist career development firm that works with artists individually and through workshops.

This article was originally created for TheArtBiz.com. It appears on NYFA Interactive courtesy of the Abigail Rebecca Cohen Library.