WEDNESDAY, September 13, 2023, 5:30pm - 7:30pm

Tax Planning and Schedule C for Creatives: Filing as a Business Since You Are One

When you receive a grant for a project that is paid to you as an individual your first reaction is to rejoice: you got funding! Your next should be how am I going to track the income and expenses so I don’t pay too much of the money as taxes. This workshop provides info to help you understand planning for taxes, organizing record keeping and what you can write off against your 1099 (grant & other) income. We focused on how to manage tracking what should be declared on your Schedule C or other tax records filed under your own tax id. .

The program was held on Zoom.

Presenters

Jenny Clark
Founder of Innovative Cloud Accounting, Inc., a bookkeeping, and consulting firm supporting entrepreneurs, small businesses and individuals with bookkeeping, consulting and setup. Before starting IC Accounting in 2020, Jenny worked for 8 years as a Bookkeeper and Onboarding Manager for another firm. She was responsible for bringing on new clients, cleaning up their accounting software and reviewing the needs of the clients. She was the full charge bookkeeper for the old firm as well as other clients through that firm.

Melissa Rizzo, MST
Melissa is the owner of MRizzo Tax where she focuses on business advisory and tax services for small business clients. Melissa has been in the accounting industry for over 15 years helping business grow by providing insight on budgeting and cash flow analysis. She also helps prepare tax returns for ongoing clients as well as the clients of IC accounting. Before starting MRizzo Tax, Melissa worked as a tax accountant in public accounting working with an array of industries. She also spent time as a managing director of a large bookkeeping firm out of Providence RI.
www.mrizzotax.com

Denn Santoro
Although he is a working fine art photographer, his background and career experience is wildly varied. From an early career in human services to a stint in politics and a couple of decades in policy development in childrens’ services and health care he has worn many professional hats. He started his own consulting company, Resource Development Associates, a couple of years out of college, first doing policy development and management consulting, then moving into database development. Basically, everything was centered around his nature as a problem solver. He continues to run the consulting company and his other small businesses as well. Over the years he has learned a lot about running businesses, being a working artist and how to avoid being taken advantage of as an artist and a freelancer. He has been filing a schedule C for over 4 decades.

Thanks to our principal sponsor Fall River Arts & Culture Coalition. Thanks also to our other generous funders. This program is supported in part by grants from Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation and the Dartmouth, Carver & New Bedford Local Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

The program was held on Zoom.

WEDNESDAY, June 7, 2023, 5:30pm - 7:30pm

Essential Marketing for Creatives: How to Promote Yourself and Get Results

Even the most interesting work you can do can languish if no one is aware of it. Learn why you need marketing through social media and how to promote yourself (and get results) through that and effective email blasts. Learn how to manage your marketing and your public identity. Find out the basics of how often to put things out and what are the basics of good posts in social media and good content in email blasts. Learn some basics of the tools available for social media management and email marketing creation. This is a basic level workshop and no previous experience is necessary. .

The program was held on Zoom.

Presenters

Helen Granger
Helen Granger is an artist and design professional with skills in website design & development, brand building, print and digital production, graphic design, information organization, and production management. As an artist her work has been shown in New Bedford and Southcoast galleries & museums. She has been working in graphic design for over 30 years and has been building websites since the since the 90s. She has an abiding interest in how the organization of information effects our comprehension of the information presented.

Patti Rego
Patti Rego is the Executive Director of Viva Fall River, a community-based commerce, culture, and creative economy initiative that draws on the City’s unique and diverse assets to foster economic revitalization, support active community engagement, inspire a vibrant arts scene, and elevate the profile of the City as a premiere South Coast destination.
Born and raised in Fall River, MA, Patti returned to the South Coast in 2015 after 17 years working in the marketing, communications, and event departments of notable publishing and media companies in New York City. Following 5 years as the Director of Marketing & Communications for the social justice non-profit, The Marion Institute, she became the Executive Director of Viva Fall River in June 2021. With this pivotal new role, Patti is fulfilling a long-time goal of being able to make a difference in a community that she deeply loves. In addition, she is the co-founder and “chief city cheerleader” at We Love Fall River, a social media movement that promotes positive narratives about Fall River.
Patti is an active participant in the regional community: she’s co-chair of the SouthCoast Spring Arts’ Steering Committee, serves on the Executive Committee of the Fall River Arts & Culture Coalition (FRACC), and sits on the Fall River YMCA Advisory Board and the Southeastern Massachusetts Visitors Bureau Board of Directors.
Patti graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York in 2000 with a Bachelor of Science in Advertising & Marketing Communications. She is also a 2019 graduate of Leadership Southcoast. When not working, Patti tries her best to keep up with her effervescent daughter, Maxine, and make sure her dog Tig doesn’t sneak too many treats. She enjoys practicing yoga and is an avid indoor cyclist, loves planning social events (like her daughters’ yearly birthday extravaganzas) and is a devoted indoor gardener with a passion for spider plants

Alison Wells
Originally from Trinidad & Tobago, Alison Wells relocated to the South Coast of Massachusetts in 2004, to pursue a Masters Degree in Fine Art Painting at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Alison's paintings have been exhibited in galleries and museums internationally and her work is part of private, public and corporate collections. Her most recent local public commissions were for the Boston Children’s Hospital in both Boston & Dartmouth MA, St Luke's Hospital in New Bedford MA and UMASS Memorial, Worcester, MA.
Wells is the owner of Alison Wells Fine Art Gallery and Studio in historic downtown New Bedford where she showcases her paintings and features guest artists throughout the year. Alison's artwork has been featured in several publications such as Harvard Magazine, Art New England, the Boston Globe, Artscope and South Coast Almanac to name a few.
Alison Wells lives and works as a full time Artist, Art Educator, Curator and Gallerist in New Bedford Massachusetts.

Thanks to our principal sponsor Fall River Arts & Culture Coalition. Thanks also to our other generous funders. This program is supported in part by grants from Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation and the Dartmouth, Carver & New Bedford Local Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

The program was held on Zoom.

WEDNESDAY, February 15, 2023, 5:30pm - 7:30pm

Writing Placemaking Grants

Publicly accessible art and community participation are at the heart of many arts and culture grants, known as place-based grants. This workshop covers the basic building blocks that make up a proposal, including the review process and how to persevere through rejection. Led by reviewers and successful grant writers with place-based grant experience, they discuss what makes a good proposal and what makes a good placemaking project. Participants will leave empowered and prepared to write a grant proposal. .

The program was held on Zoom.

Presenters

Dawn Estabrooks Salerno
Dawn Estabrooks Salerno has been working in the museum field for over 25 years, including positions at the Wadsworth Atheneum (Hartford, CT), Mystic Museum of Art (Mystic, CT), and currently, the Rotch-Jones-Duff House & Garden Museum (New Bedford, MA). She holds a Master’s in Education from Bank Street College and completed the Getty Leadership Institute for Museum Leadership in 2017. She also serves on several local leadership groups including the South Coast Community Foundation Corporators, NB Creative Consortium, and New Bedford Education Foundation. Dawn has been writing grants for most of her career. She has also been a grant reviewer for the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the New Bedford Local Cultural Council and NB Creative. At Connecticut Humanities, she not only reviewed grants, but also served as the Chair of the Grants Committee, helping design the overall grant program. She has published articles and essays, and presented extensively about the museum field in various blogs, magazines, on-line publications, and books, most recently on the subject of equitable compensation.

Dena Haden
Dena Haden received her BFA from UMass Dartmouth and her MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Currently she is the co-founder and Director of the Co-Creative Center, a space that offers artists the ability to develop and create the work they are passionate about, while offering the opportunity for community growth and collaboration. Haden is also the co-founder for SuperflatNB, a Mural Arts organization in New Bedford, Massachusetts. She is the Co-Chair of the New Bedford Creative Consortium and the Director of the Boston Art Critique Group. For her work in the arts, Haden has received many awards and grants, including the South Coast Emerging Leader Award, Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and a Mass Cultural Council Grant. In addition to her work in the arts community, she has an extensive exhibition record of her own, with numerous solo and group exhibitions in Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta and around the North East of the United States. Haden has also exhibited her work and received recognition internationally in Europe and now Japan. Dena was recently enrolled in a residency at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Tennessee, Baroque Blue Residency in Nardo, Italy and is continuously working in a year long residency with Oika and the Maria Mitchell Association on Nantucket, MA

Abby Hevey
Abby Hevey is the Manager of Grants & Development for Coastal Foodshed and the Development Consultant for Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Y.O.U.). Abby began working in communications and development in 2011 and has written and managed dozens of successful grant applications from private, state, and federal funders. Abby has also consulted as a grant writer and grant manager for a number of local nonprofits, and has successfully secured grant funding for a range of projects, including infrastructure, youth programs, arts and culture programs, capital projects, local food programs, mental health programs, and more. Abby is also a Trustee for The Millicent Library in Fairhaven and a mother to two beautiful and energetic children.

Thanks to our major sponsors Fall River Arts & Culture Coalition & New Bedford Creative. Thanks also to our other generous funders. This program is supported in part by grants from Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation and the Dartmouth, Carver & New Bedford Local Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

The program was held on Zoom.

WEDNESDAY, January 18, 2023, 5:30pm - 7:30pm

Project Planning for Creatives

Many of the things creatives do require a complex set of plans. Deciding the type of project, its goals, the scope, the timeline, the materials, the team (if any), the budget, finding funding, or producing a project proposal on guesswork and marketing… can feel daunting without a plan. This workshop breaks that down into more straightforward ways of planning and developing a project for any creative person. A plan you can execute is more likely to lead to success than flying by the seat of your pants. Participants will learn how to plan an appropriate project for the appropriate opportunity. This is an introductory-level workshop. .

The program was held on Zoom.

Presenters

Kat Knutsen
Kat Knutsen is a multimedia artist with a focus on community engagement, visual design production, and education. She teaches drawing, painting, computer graphics, digital photography, video art, and visual design at the college level. She worked as an animator for the Oscar-nominated film ‘Loving Vincent’ in Gdansk, Poland where she became inspired to build project pipelines.
In 2020 Kat was the designer and lead painter for the ‘Jazz Mural’ that was installed in downtown New Bedford. She went on to create the ‘Dance Mural’ for the CEDC in 2021, managed artists for the install of ‘Flora Fauna’ mural panels, and executed a commercial design for ‘Hatch Street Studios’ in 2022. Kat uses the projects to recruit and integrate new creatives into the local art scene.
“I’m inspired by the ripple effects that come from lateral thinking. The arts directly connect to city’s history and business entities. I love being a part of a community that not only makes ideas come to life, but also enhances the growth of small businesses in and around New Bedford. It would be amazing if the music scene mixed more with the visual arts and city events scenes. That mixing is where my most recent efforts have been invested, and I’m already seeing a lot of potential here.”

Jim McKeag
Jim McKeag is the Southcoast Cluster Lead Strategist for MassDevelopment’s Transformative Development Initiative (TDI), a place-based development program for Gateway Cities designed to enhance local public-private engagement and community identity, stimulate improved quality of life for local residents, and spur increased investment and economic activity. He also served as a TDI Fellow in New Bedford from 2016-2019.
Originally from Worcester, Massachusetts, Jim has over twenty-five years of experience in the fields of urban planning, historic preservation, housing rehabilitation, and property management. Creating vibrant and engaging public spaces has been central in his work and he has led many placemaking and public art initiatives. As a trained mediator, he has a passion for working with multi-sector partnerships on challenging urban revitalization and economic development initiatives and has served as an independent planning consultant for a wide variety of municipal and community development projects. He holds undergraduate degrees from Quinsigamond Community College and Cornell University, and a Masters Degree in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University.

Mark Parsons
Mark Parsons is an entrepreneur, artist, educator, and technologist. He is the founder and Executive Director of New Bedford Research & Robotics (2022). Parsons advises startups, and sits on industrial and educational advisory boards, including a 2019 appointment by the US Department of State as a US Speaker on Creativity, Innovation and Technology. As an artist he has numerous commissions, museum and gallery exhibitions, and has lectured internationally. His 2016 TEDx talk “Making a Thing. Discovering a Space” underscores how creativity and technology can be agents that empower people and bring communities together.
Parsons has previously served as Founder of NYC’s Consortium for Research & Robotics, Director of Production Technologies at Pratt Institute Architecture, and a Director of NYSED’s STEP program. After graduating from UMass Dartmouth in 1992, Parsons sailed 3 years and 30,000 miles around the globe on a 40 foot sailboat he rebuilt, then returned to working as a carpenter in New Bedford Massachusetts before pursuing a graduate degree from Cornell University and heading to New York City. After 24 years in Brooklyn, he is now home in New England again.

Thanks to our principal sponsor Fall River Arts & Culture Coalition. Thanks also to our other generous funders. This program is supported in part by grants from Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation and the Dartmouth, Carver & New Bedford Local Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

The program was held on Zoom.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022, 5:30pm - 7:30pm

Helping Creatives to Sell

Creatives have to manage a variety of issues when it comes to selling their work. This ranges from finding venues to sell in to setting prices for the work. This workshop covered many of these issues including:

• Pricing
• Sales at open studios
• Gallery shows
• Commissioned pieces
• Managing requests for discounts

Pricing - Whether single items, multiple works priced together, etc.
Sales at open studios - open studios tend to be high traffic events. Unlike a gallery opening with a selected group of art appreciators, open studios require the ability to connect quickly with potential buyers, ask some opening questions, and to sell works today or schedule a time to meet and sell later (if they have to measure, for instance). Open studios are sales opportunities and it’s important to prepare for them to make it easy for the buyer to buy now.
Gallery shows - these tend to be invitation only for the opening and the artist is usually present. It’s an opportunity for the artist to talk to potential buyers about what they like, if they are collectors, and to be open to discussing how they work and what inspires them. It’s the gallery owners role to sell the art and the artists role to add panache and value to the event.
Commissioned pieces - How to price these, how to discuss pricing with client about specific items.
Managing requests for discounts - this can be more common at open studios than at gallery openings (the latter at which the artist would not be involved). Questions to ask to clarify the request for discounts, asking closing questions, managing pricing requests and objections. Jody Seivertt, M.Ed., IDS presenting

This workshop happened in person and on zoom simultaneously.

Presenters

Jody Seivert, M.Ed., IDS
Jody Seivert has been producing results in upper end, home fashion and design industries since 1979. She has been successful in a variety of positions in retail and wholesale, was a successful designer and an award winning regional and national training specialist with Ethan Allen and General Manager of Cabot House – a chain of high-end furniture and design stores in New England.
As an independent training and development consultant since 1988, Jody created and delivered sales and sales management training programs for La-Z-Boy and Thomasville and their retailers across the nation. In 1994 she expanded beyond retail to design centers across the nation. Trade showrooms clients include Holly Hunt, Kravet, Stark, Waterworks, Janus et Cie, Artistic Tile, Quintus, Thomas Lavin, and Century. Her executive coaching to designers and outside salespeople has created double digit increases in their business.
Jody holds a Master’s in Education with a concentration in adult learning. She is a certified residential interior designer, a professional member of IFDA, has CEU programs with IDCEC/ASID and has numerous other association memberships and is a regularly featured speaker at High Point Furniture Market.
In short, Jody Seivert helps home furnishings and creative professionals to make more money.

Anthi Frangiadis
Anthi Frangiadis is an architect, artist and retailer whose professional career is currently based in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Educated at the Rhode Island School of Design where she received a Bachelor of Architecture & Bachelor of Fine Arts, with a Concentration in Art History, her artwork and her retail shop compliment her professional career as an architect. The joy and creativity infused in her architectural projects eventually spilled over into an art and design shop, The Drawing Room which is located at 22 William St. in historic downtown New Bedford.

Thanks to our generous funders. This program is supported in part by grants from Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation and the New Bedford, Middleborough, Acushnet & Dartmouth Local Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

The program was held on Zoom and in person.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2022, 5:30pm - 7:30pm

Pay Equity and Justice for Freelancers

What hourly pay provided to a freelancer amounts to minimum wage for an employee, a living wage or a reasonable professional wage? While it is hard to be precise it is possible to create reasonable estimates. We believe that funders, freelancers and the organizations that hire them have a role to play in creating equity and justice in freelancer pay. This workshop is for all three groups. It includes discussions of the compensation research, explanations of the various costs freelancers are responsible for that employers cover for wage earners and calculations of the real value of freelance pay when freelance costs for taxes and other benefits are taken into account. It also covers the rules for classifying a position as freelance or employee.

A free calculator for translating freelance hourly wage to employee hourly wage equivalent is also now available in the resources.

The program was held on Zoom.

Presenters

Eric Esteves, Executive Director, The Lenny Zakim Fund
Eric is a philanthropist, educator, artist, community advocate, and technologist, Executive Director Eric Esteves previously served as Director of the Social Innovation Fund at The Boston Foundation. He also served as a consultant for Root Cause, Harvard Business School’s Interpersonal Skills Development Lab, and the Boston Impact Initiative. In 2019, he co-directed LeadBoston, an experiential professional development program focused on socially responsible leadership, based at YW Boston. Eric received both his undergraduate degree in Business Administration and his graduate degree in Information Systems from Northeastern University. A resident of Roxbury, he spent the early part of his career in educational technology, including leadership roles at Lesley University and Boston Public Schools. Eric gets excited about the usual things; trivia, hip-hop, kayaking, genealogy, politics, social justice, photography, poetry, sweet potato pie, and to-do lists.

Nirali Patel, ABA Legal Fellow, LITC, Greater Boston Legal Services
Nirali is an ABA Legal Fellow at Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) in the Low-Income Tax Clinic (LITC). Her fellowship project focuses on providing education and legal assistance to workers misclassified as independent contractors. Prior to working at GBLS, Ms. Patel interned at Rhode Island Legal Services where she helped clients file tax returns and settle tax debts. Ms. Patel graduated from Roger Williams University School of Law in 2021 and was admitted to practice law in Massachusetts in December 2021.

Denn Santoro, Program Manger for Practice Best Practice
Although he is a working fine art photographer, his background and career experience is wildly varied. From an early career in human services to a stint in politics and a couple of decades in policy development in childrens’ services and health care he has worn many professional hats. He started his own consulting company, Resource Development Associates, a couple of years out of college, first doing policy development and management consulting, then moving into database development. Basically, everything was centered around his nature as a problem solver. He continues to run the consulting company and his other small businesses as well. Over the years he has learned a lot about running businesses, being a working artist and how to avoid being taken advantage of as an artist and a freelancer.
Resource Development Associates

Thanks to our generous funders. This program is supported in part by grants from the Co-Creative Sessions, Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation and the New Bedford, Middleborough, Acushnet & Dartmouth Local Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

The program will be held on Zoom.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2021, 5:30pm - 7:30pm

Art of Numbers: Bookkeeping for Creatives

This workshop is for creatives of all disciplines (music, fine art, craft, performance, dance, etc.) who want to improve, heal, renew, or start a new relationship with money. This was a workshop on what creatives who make or spend any money in their creative practice should be keeping track of and ways to do so easily and as part of your practice. We have free and inexpensive software recommendations, ideas about systems you can set up and more.
The program was held on Zoom.

Presenters

Lisa Aldrich, President, Lisa Aldrich CPA PC
Lisa provides personalized, thoughtful, accounting and tax services tailored to unique small business needs. As a CPA for over 20 years, Lisa has worked with a variety of clients in many different industries. She has a particular knack for breaking down the language of accounting and helping small business owners translate what’s happening financially in their business into the formal numbers needed to report to banks and for tax reporting.
Lisa worked in private industry for many years as Controller and Finance Director. After gaining increasing responsibility in financial operations at a small family-owned company and also at larger ones like Aetna, and Boston Medical Center, Lisa came home to her native Dartmouth to raise her two young daughters. Now she helps individuals, small businesses, and local non-profit organizations keep current with their accounting and tax compliance requirements.
Lisa Aldrich, CPA

Dolly Towne, Owner, Bookkeeping Towne, LLC
Dolly has been in this industry for fifteen years. Her professional journey started by earning her business management degree from New England College of Business in Boston. She attended school while working towards her degree. She built her accounting skills by working at businesses by helping with collections, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and payroll tax analysis.   She started in the corporate world helping people understand the value of good financial health. After a major professional challenge of trying to juggle working and being a new mom, it seemed like the right time to quit her job. She decided to be a stay at home mom for the time being which was great because she bonded with her son. She still felt that something was missing – she wanted to do something that she was passionate about. She started to look at work at home jobs and bookkeeping kept popping up so she took a leap of faith and went for it. After completing the course, she knew this is exactly what she wanted to do!
Bookkeeping Towne, LLC

Lisa Raiche, CPA MST
is the Founder of Bodhi Business Advisors, Inc., a boutique business advisory and consulting firm supporting entrepreneurs with short- & long-term strategic business planning, financial modeling (budgets & forecasts) and pricing.
Before starting Bodhi Business Advisors, Inc., Lisa worked for 15 years as an accountant & tax planner in Public Accounting working with small business owners to organize their business books & creating comprehensive tax plans. She was also a controller in private industries, including software & market intelligence creating financial forecasts & analyzing actual business results for international companies.
She is also an active member of the Community wearing many hats at Entrepreneurs For All (EForAll) Southcoast to include the Leadership Advisory Board, Chair of the Advisory Board Governance Committee, an educational contributor for cohort program and committee for Women's Leadership Initiative. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Gnome, Inc. (Gnome Surf) and as a Corporator for BankFive. Lisa is proud to be a Rotarian and a member of the Rotary Club of Fall River, MA. As the past Treasurer of the Rotary Club of Fall River and a Paul Harris Fellow, she lives by the Rotary International motto 'Service Above Self'
Bodhi Business Advisors

Hollis Machala, RIWS
Besides being an artist who uses a bookkeeper, Hollis is a watercolor painter, alchemist, and puzzle designer based in Rehoboth MA. Her journey started after finally accepting her internal battle with ulnar nerve syndrome and through a love of interior design began a journey with art fulltime. Through her education and trials in graphic design & multi-media, she began to focus on specifically using watercolor art to help intentionally curate the spaces where we live our lives to reflect what we love and value most in this world.
Hollis received her Bachelor of Arts in interior design from, the former, Mount Ida College in 2006. After several years of working in lighting design and several years in freelance graphic design & retail, she began to develop an interest in watercolor painting. She spent four years mentoring under Award Winning Architectural Illustrator and Watercolor Painter, Frank M. Costantino, where her interest turned into a passion.
Now a Signature member of the Rhode Island Watercolor Society, Hollis enjoys creating realism art, however, she is always searching for new ways to expressively paint watercolor and design unique art collections, such as her current laser cut, studio made, puzzles. She is drawn to and renewed by nature, culture, photography, and food for her paintings inspirations. “It’s never all about the analog work of making art, although it is admittedly a favorite activity. No; creating in the studio is about connecting others to moments, stories, and experiences that make our unique worlds and environments truly enjoyable.”
Hollis Machala

Thanks to our generous funders. This program is supported in part by grants from Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation and the New Bedford, Fall River, Dartmouth & Fairhaven Local Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency and New Bedford Creative.

The program was held on Zoom.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 2021, 5:30pm - 7:00pm

National Park Artist Residencies:
how they work, and why you should apply!

Did you know the National Park Service has over 50 artist residencies in national parks, monuments, and historical sites across the country? Would you like to know more about the programs and how you might become a resident artist? This workshop is for you. Arts administrators and Park Rangers from across the National Park Service present about their residencies along with alumni artists who have been residents in parks. Please watch and learn more!
The program was held on Zoom.

Presenters

Lindsay Compton, park ranger and arts administrator,
New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park. With a background in studio art, public land management, and education, she has worked toward bridging the gap between public art and national parks for the last ten years. She created Artist in Residence programs at Congaree National Park in South Carolina and San Antonio Missions National Historical Park in Texas. In 2017 and 2018, she served on the curatorial committee for Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival in San Antonio, TX. She has facilitated Artist in Residence selections for Weir Farm National Historical Site, as well as mentoring other budding residency programs within the National Park Service. Since August 2019, she has served as the Arts and Youth Coordinator at New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.

Fitzcarmel LaMarre, Artist-in-Residence Alumni,
New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. Fitzcarmel LaMarre, Artist-in-Residence Alumni, New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. Fitz is an artist, collaborator, and community mentor. Trained in graphic design, his love for realism is very evident in his paintings and murals. He enjoys the creation of graphic novels to play with realism and fantasy; a place where he can have complete control over the boundaries. By mimicking traditional styles and studying new trends, his style is all his own. This style, along with humor, and proficient execution, encourages the viewer to think beyond the image in front of them.

Kristin Lessard, Visitor Experience Program Manager,
Weir Farm National Historical Park in CT: Kristin Lessard has worked for the National Park Service since 2008, serving in varied professional roles across multiple disciplines including Resource Interpretation, Education, Public Affairs, Project Management, and Youth and Volunteer Engagement. In her current position as Program Manager of Interpretation, Education, and Volunteers at Weir Farm National Historical Park, Kristin oversees the park’s visitor service operations and engagement initiatives, which include history and fine art education programming for approximately 40,000 visitors a year, as well as dynamic youth and volunteer programs.

Alissa Siegal, Artist-in-Residence Alumni,
Weir Farm National Historical Park: Alissa Siegal is a Connecticut based artist and creator. Her work centers around the natural world, and explores tensions between chaos and order. She has a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design & an MFA from the New York Academy of Art, and was Weir Farm's September 2019 Artist-in-Residence. Recent work includes a mural for the Bennett Cancer Center and a developing mural project with high school students for Stamford.

Jay Elhard, Park Ranger and coordinator for AIR program,
Acadia National Park in Maine: Jay Elhard has worked since 2008 as an Interpretive Media Specialist at Acadia, Denali, and Yellowstone National Parks. For more than 10 years, he also has managed Artist-in-Residence programs as a collateral duty at Acadia and Denali. He worked previously for 15 years in newspaper journalism, publishing, and briefly as a community college instructor in Ohio. He holds a BA in English (professional writing) and art, and an MFA in nonfiction writing.

Deborah Bouchette, Artist-in-Residence Alumni
, Denali National Park in Alaska: Dr. Deborah Bouchette was born into a family of engineers, and she eventually found more than one career in computer science. First she taught at Ball State University and Pacific University, and then she became a technical writer and program manager at Intel Corp., working with companies across the world. But when her family downsized to two, she decided to pursue art: ceramics at first, then painting and drawing. Through a couple of serendipitous events in the 1980s, Deborah and family moved from the midwest to the northwest, designed and built her home, and fell in love with the plush green biosphere and its natural inhabitants. Now, at the ripe age of retirement, this year Deborah finally earned her PhD in the philosophy of art, writing on the topic of artist residencies as a little-known resource for world-wide peacemaking, which is especially relevant and needed in the fractured living environments we suffer today.

Thanks to our generous funders. This program is supported in part by grants from Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation and the New Bedford, Fall River, Dartmouth & Fairhaven Local Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency and New Bedford Creative.

Practice Best Practice is also supported by generous in kind support from our partners the National Park Service, New Bedford Art Museum/ArtWorks, New Bedford Co-creative Center, New Bedford Creative and S&G Project Gallery Art Brokerage.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2021, 5:30pm - 7:00pm

Taxes for Creatives

This workshop focused on things creatives who make some, or all of their living from their creative practice, or spend money trying to make money on it, should know about tax record keeping, tax filing, tax accounting for the costs and income, tax planning and retirement planning.
The program was held on Zoom.

Presenters

Lisa Aldrich, President, Lisa Aldrich CPA PC
Lisa provides personalized, thoughtful, accounting and tax services tailored to unique small business needs. As a CPA for over 20 years, Lisa has worked with a variety of clients in many different industries. She has a particular knack for breaking down the language of accounting and helping small business owners translate what’s happening financially in their business into the formal numbers needed to report to banks and for tax reporting.
Lisa worked in private industry for many years as Controller and Finance Director. After gaining increasing responsibility in financial operations at a small family-owned company and also at larger ones like Aetna, and Boston Medical Center, Lisa came home to her native Dartmouth to raise her two young daughters. Now she helps individuals, small businesses, and local non-profit organizations keep current with their accounting and tax compliance requirements.
Lisa Aldrich, CPA

Eric R. Paradis, Financial Advisor
is a Financial Advisor of 25 years and owner / operator of Massachusetts Financial Group based in Dartmouth, MA. After graduating Syracuse University he immediately began building his practice specializing in wholistic financial planning and investments. Working with small business owners, individuals and families alike, his practice boasts an independence that favors the individuality and personality of the client and an ability to adapt plans for clients as their lives, and the economy, evolve.
erparadis@cai1.com or (508)636-5300

Lisa Raiche, CPA MST
is the Founder of Bodhi Business Advisors, Inc., a boutique business advisory and consulting firm supporting entrepreneurs with short- & long-term strategic business planning, financial modeling (budgets & forecasts) and pricing.
Before starting Bodhi Business Advisors, Inc., Lisa worked for 15 years as an accountant & tax planner in Public Accounting working with small business owners to organize their business books & creating comprehensive tax plans. She was also a controller in private industries, including software & market intelligence creating financial forecasts & analyzing actual business results for international companies.
She is also an active member of the Community wearing many hats at Entrepreneurs For All (EForAll) Southcoast to include the Leadership Advisory Board, Chair of the Advisory Board Governance Committee, an educational contributor for cohort program and committee for Women's Leadership Initiative. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Gnome, Inc. (Gnome Surf) and as a Corporator for BankFive. Lisa is proud to be a Rotarian and a member of the Rotary Club of Fall River, MA. As the past Treasurer of the Rotary Club of Fall River and a Paul Harris Fellow, she lives by the Rotary International motto 'Service Above Self'
Bodhi Business Advisors

Thanks to our generous funders. This program is supported in part by grants from Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation and the New Bedford, Fall River, Dartmouth & Fairhaven Local Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency and New Bedford Creative.

The program was held on Zoom.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2020

Grant Writing for Artists

Mina Kim, Program Officer, Community Initiative, and Kelly Bennett, Exhibitions Curator/Program Officer, Artist Fellowships, will lead a presentation on the nuts and bolts of applying to grant programs for MA artist. They will focus primarily on grant programs and resources for individual artists as provided by the Mass Cultural Council.

Presenters

Kelly Bennett is the Mass Cultural Council’s exhibition curator and a program officer. She coordinates the statewide Artists Fellowship Program in choreography, crafts, drawing/printmaking, painting, photography, and sculpture/installation/new genres, and organizes exhibitions of fellows’ work with museums, galleries, and art centers. She coauthors the MCC’s ArtSake blog, which highlights artists’ work and posts exhibition opportunities. She has served as a juror and guest speaker for colleges, universities, museums, nonprofit art centers, and private foundations throughout New England. She received her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University and her BFA in painting from the Massachusetts College of Art. She is a painter of coastal New England and supports climate science and environmental protections.

Mina Kim is Program Officer for the Community Initiative at the Mass Cultural Council. She works with cultural and civic partners in over 70 municipalities in the Commonwealth to help build relationships and understanding around the integral role of arts, culture, and creativity in cultivating healthy, inclusive communities. Before joining the Council, she served as Assistant Director of The Fenway Alliance, supporting the development of the Fenway Cultural District, cultivating new partnerships between the academic and cultural institutions, local businesses, and neighborhood coalitions, and seeking grant funding to enhance District programming. She has an MA in Urban Planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and a BA in history from Smith College.

The program was held on Zoom

SUNDAY, JANUARY 26, 2020 AT 4:30 PM EST – 6 PM EST

Applying for Artist Residencies

Have you ever written an application for an artist residency or fellowship? Have you not applied for one because you were not sure how to write a strong application? This workshop is for anyone who has ever thought about or tried applying for a fellowship. Learn how to write a strong application. Find out what sort of things reviewers look for.

Presenters will include Lindsay Compton of the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and Jamie Uretsky of the New Bedford Art Museum. The Park's Residency program will be a primary case for discussion.

Presenters

Lindsay Compton
is a park ranger and arts administrator. With a background in studio art, public land management, and education, she has worked toward bridging the gap between public art and national parks for the last ten years. She created Artist in Residence programs at Congaree National Park in South Carolina and San Antonio Missions National Historical Park in Texas. In 2017 and 2018, she served on the curatorial committee for Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival in San Antonio, TX. She has facilitated Artist in Residence selections for Weir Farm National Historical Site, as well as mentoring other budding residency programs within the National Park Service. Since August 2019, she has served as the Arts and Youth Coordinator at New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.

Jamie (J.R.) Uretsky
curates independently and is a performing artist who has exhibited nationally and internationally at venues in New York, Los Angeles, Finland, and Germany. Her work was included in the 2013 DeCordova Biennial at The DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. She has also performed and exhibited at Art Basel Miami, FL, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University, Rhode Island School of Design Museum as well as the Museum of Art and Design in New York. Uretsky’s work has been published in print, online and video journals such as Headmaster Magazine, Gaga Stigmata, Big Red & Shiny, and ASPECT: The Chronicle of New Media Art.
Uretsky is the curator at New Bedford Art Museum/ArtWorks!. In 2018, Uretsky received a YWCA Woman of Distinction Award for her dedication to uplifting the creative expressions of people of color, women, and LGBTQ individuals.
An active member of the Providence creative community, Uretsky sits on the Dirt Palace Public Projects Board of Trustees and was a founding board member and faculty liaison, of College Unbound, an organization that provides higher education for underrepresented, adult learners including incarcerated and formerly incarcerated adults. She wrote curriculum and taught liberal arts classes about representation, intersectionality, and identity politics for College Unbound. Uretsky was also an adjunct professor of art and digital media at the University of Connecticut, Eastern Connecticut State University, SMFA Boston, Roger Williams University, and the Community College of Rhode Island.
She currently lives in Providence, RI and is the drummer of the queer punk duo Bed Death.

The program was held at New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park

THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2019

Why Haven't You Started Your Art Collection Yet?

This workshop is intended to demystify art viewing and art collecting. This workshop will help to familiarize people with learning to trust your taste, attending art openings, finding art you love, and becoming comfortable with looking at art as something to acquire and live with. Discussion included: affordability of art (it isn’t just for the rich); comparability with other things people spend their money on (you could have bought a piece of art to live with for the price of that dinner at a restaurant); why art is not usually an investment but an acquisition; the importance of buying art to your local economy. There was a moderated panel of collectors and sellers and plenty of time for audience questions.

Presenters

Blake Hudson
Blake Hudson is a 24-year-old Structural Engineer from Latham, NY. His appreciation for the arts was developed at a young age through influences from his immediate family. Blake himself has begun to venture down his own path, using visual art to mark important milestones in his life and decorate his home, while using performance art to fill his free time. Blake has also combined two of his greatest passions, art and music, to curate what he considers "the raddest vinyl collection east of the Mississippi." Art, in all its forms, has had a profound impact on Blake’s personal growth, and he is excited to share his experience with future collectors, enthusiasts, and creators!

Richard Connor
is a professor of biology at UMASS Dartmouth whose research focuses on the behavior of dolphins. His interest in visual art came relatively late in life, during a month-long residence at the École normale supérieure in Paris, where he had too much time to explore the museums and galleries. Richard purchased his first paintings in Paris and has since bought pictures in a wide range of venues, including from galleries, auctions, antique shops, flea markets and private dealers, in person and online. As a collector of mostly 20th century art in a variety of styles, Richard is drawn more to paintings that have a visceral rather than intellectual impact. Richard did not believe early advise that all collectors become dealers, but he now represents three art estates.

Alex Jardin
is a 30 year old Landscape Designer from New Bedford, Massachusetts. He started collecting in 2013 when he discovered UGLY Gallery in downtown New Bedford. The following year he was purchasing works almost once a week, quickly growing his collection by mostly buying directly from the artists via social media, the artists web stores, or directly from the artists. Initially his collections intent was to mostly purchase pieces he knew would raise in value, but eventually transitioned to buying only stuff he really enjoys. His collection is mainly numbered print editions but is now growing larger with smaller sized original works. He recognized that his biggest creative influences always used drawing and painting for vehicles to express their ideas and has purchased pieces specifically to study an artists process thus helping to further his own creative abilities.

Xander Marro
is an American artist, underground puppet maker, and arts non-profit director based in Providence, Rhode Island.

J.R. Uretsky
curates independently and is a performing artist who has exhibited nationally and internationally at venues in New York, Los Angeles, Finland, and Germany. Her work was included in the 2013 DeCordova Biennial at The DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. She has also performed and exhibited at Art Basel Miami, FL, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University, Rhode Island School of Design Museum as well as the Museum of Art and Design in New York. Uretsky’s work has been published in print, online and video journals such as Headmaster Magazine, Gaga Stigmata, Big Red & Shiny, and ASPECT: The Chronicle of New Media Art.
Uretsky is the curator at New Bedford Art Museum/ArtWorks!. This year, Uretsky received a YWCA Woman of Distinction Award for her dedication to uplifting the creative expressions of people of color, women, and LGBTQ individuals.

The program was held at S&G Project Gallery

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2018

Showing for Exposure - How to Avoid Classic Artist Mistakes and Get Yourself Paid

This workshop included a panel presentation and discussion. The target audience is primarily artists wishing to exhibit and sell their art work. There are many ways that art is displayed and sold from galleries, to stores to businesses wishing to display local art on their walls. Artists are often focused on creating and not on how to manage the business side of their endeavors. Organizations wishing to show local art often focus on only their perspective and best interest and often end up taking advantage of the artists. Artists should know how to work out business relationships with organizations showing and selling their art work that incorporate the needs of the artists and the needs of the organizations and an understanding of the overall art market.

Presenters

Donna Dodson
is an American sculptor who has been honored with solo shows nationwide for her artwork. In addition her monumental works have been exhibited internationally in sculpture parks and art museums. In 2011 Dodson participated in the Verbier 3D Foundation’s Artist Residency and Sculpture Park in the Swiss Alps. In 2012-2014, she was featured at the Fountain Art Fair NYC in the historic 69th Regiment Armory Building. In 2015, Donna participated in a residency in Cusco Peru at the Escuela de Bellas Artes that culminated in an exhibition at Museo Convento de Santo Domingo Qorikancha with the Boston Sculptors Gallery. In 2016 she had her first solo museum show of “Mermaids” in 2016 at the New Bedford Art Museum. In 2017 Dodson's solo show Zodiac began a national tour. In 2018 Dodson created a life size chess set, "Match of the Matriarchs- the cephalopods against the cetaceans" that premiered at the Boston Sculptors Gallery. Dodson is a graduate of Wellesley College. Dodson enjoys public speaking, and has been a guest speaker at conferences and panels in museums and universities throughout North America. Donna regularly contributes articles to newspapers, magazines and blogs that demonstrate the economic impact and global reach of the arts sector. She recently contributed an Introduction to the monograph “The Contemporary Art of Nature: Mammals” by Ashley Rooney.

Camilo Alvarez
was born in 1976 in New York, NY and resides in Boston, MA. He was born to Dominican parents and lived in Santo Domingo for 7 years. He received a B.A. in Art History from Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, NY) and a Masters of Liberal Arts in Museum Studies from Harvard University (Cambridge, MA).
He has worked at Exit Art (NY, NY), Socrates Sculpture Park (Queens, NY), MIT’s List Visual Art Center (Cambridge, MA) and the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture (NY, NY & Skowhegan, ME). He is the Co-Chair of the Advisory Board at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston and is on the National Advisory Council of Skidmore College’s Tang Teaching Museum. He is the Owner, Director and Preparator at Samsøñ formerly Samson Projects, founded in 2004. He has given solo exhibitions to William Pope.L (2010), Rebecca Morris (2006), Kader Attia (2008), and Beverly Semmes (2017) among many. Samsøn’s programs and exhibitions have been reviewed by the New York Times, ArtForum, the Boston Globe and Flash Art. The gallery has participated in art fairs including ARCO (Madrid, Spain) MACO (Mexico City, Mexico), NADA (Miami, FL & NY, NY) and the Armory (NY, NY). Samsøñ placed works in the permanent collections of the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art,the Perez Art Museum Miami, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the Institute of Contemporary Boston among others. In 2010, Samsøñ commenced sübsamsøn, a form of artist’s residency. As of 2017, Samsøñ became itinerant.

Denn Santoro
Although he has been working on his fine art photography since a teen, his background and career experience is wildly varied. From an early career in human services to a stint in politics and a couple of decades in policy development in childrens’ services and health care his background is wildly varied. He started hs own consulting company a couple of years out of college. first doing policy development and management consulting. Then moving into database development. Basically, everything was centered around his nature as a problem solver. So was his photography. Traveling a lot with his business he got to shoot a lot of his primary subject, buildings, all over the world. Ultimately, he realized that I could look at everything as architecture and you see that even when he shoots performers, portraits, and flowers. Composition and light are essential to how he shoots. When he started showing seriously in galleries he made mistakes and learned a lot along the way. He has continued to run his other small businesses as well. He started S&G Project Gallery in 2016. Over the years he hse learned a lot about running businesses, being a working artist and how to avoid being taken advantage of as an artist.
Working as an artist is both an act of creation and a problem to be solved. He thinks artists have to take a lot of control of their careers now. They really need to know more about business and how not to be taken advantage of as artists.

J.R. Uretsky
curates independently and is a performing artist who has exhibited nationally and internationally at venues in New York, Los Angeles, Finland, and Germany. Her work was included in the 2013 DeCordova Biennial at The DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. She has also performed and exhibited at Art Basel Miami, FL, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University, Rhode Island School of Design Museum as well as the Museum of Art and Design in New York. Uretsky’s work has been published in print, online and video journals such as Headmaster Magazine, Gaga Stigmata, Big Red & Shiny, and ASPECT: The Chronicle of New Media Art.
Uretsky is the curator at New Bedford Art Museum/ArtWorks!. This year, Uretsky received a YWCA Woman of Distinction Award for her dedication to uplifting the creative expressions of people of color, women, and LGBTQ individuals.

The program was held at the New Bedford Co-Creative Center