Boulder artists, businesses connect with a little help

BOULDER — When Susan Haldeman came to Boulder from Boston two years ago, she recognized what she terms “a void in the amount of support and the educational end of business for artists.” She saw artists who were very creative but unsure how to deal with business issues.

Together with Suzannah Kinsman and Marni Tharler, Haldeman decided to fill that void by creating The Creative Force Collaborative.

“Businesses may not willingly take on artists who don’t know about the issues with which they have to deal,´ said Haldeman, executive director of The Creative Force Collaborative.

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The three women have been networking for a year to establish relationships with galleries, theaters and other artistic venues as well as artists and performers. Their intent is to improve the relationship between artists and businesspeople.

Haldeman said that TCFC can’t “make the financial and administrative aspects of being an artist disappear.” But she said the workshops and consulting the group offers enable an artist to “be in business and get by in life.”

The Creative Force Collaborative has been in business a year and at its Pearl Street location since June. It offers workshops on marketing, computer skills, fund raising and similar topics that are “not necessarily required by a lot of colleges for an art degree,” Haldeman said. Classes are offered at 1007 Pearl St. and throughout Colorado.

Kinsman, the artistic liaison for The Creative Force Collaborative, said “Many artists join to fill in gaps in their education. And many venues are grateful for us because they don’t have to deal with the unprofessional way in which many artists approach them.”

Currently, there are 12 workshops budgeted for Boulder, four or five for Longmont and the group is “hoping to break into” the Fort Collins market. A schedule of the classes to be offered in the fall will be available in August or can be seen on their Web site at www.creativeforce.org.

In addition to nuts-and-bolts business courses, The Creative Force Collaborative teaches artists how to determine appropriate sites for their work and how to present it. For example, if a gallery owner prefers to have a letter of inquiry first, it’s probably not wise to come in with an entire portfolio.

“A lot of artists don’t know what to ask,´ said Haldeman. “Suzannah (Kinsman) makes the contacts and gets galleries, recording studios, etc. connected. She helps research the right places for artists, from the initial phone call through the process of the business arrangements.”

“We offer free consulting services and are developing a huge pull” from those services, Kinsman said. “Artists who come from The Creative Force Collaborative are a level up because we customize their approach. We make sure it’s the exact manner in which a particular entity wants to be contacted. Entities, in turn, know we’ll only send them artists that are appropriate.

“We benefit the whole artistic community.”

The group’s main focus, Haldeman said, is creative entrepreneurs. “We guide them from business-plan preparation through bookkeeping and office procedures, through preparation of tax documents.”

Denver multimedia artist Bob Coates credits The Creative Force Collaborative with “giving me a sense that there’s somebody out there that cares about what I’m doing, helping me to realize that how I present myself and my portfolio matters. Not only that, they introduced me to the Boulder market.”

Coates will have a show at The Creative Force Collaborative Gallery this fall. The gallery features “never shown to well-known” artists and charges a 15 percent commission on works sold.

Haldeman said the advantage of having a regional concept is that classes can be held on the road as well as in Boulder. Minimum workshop attendance is usually five people, but individual presenters can request higher minimums.

First-year startup costs for the soon-to-be nonprofit were under $30,000, two-thirds funded by an anonymous donor “who really believes in what we’re doing,´ said Haldeman. It has three full-time employees, and three paid interns from the University of Colorado.

Organization developer Liz Westerfield, whose client list includes the Denver Art Museum and Peak Association of the Arts, said The Creative Force Collaborative is filling an important niche by providing access to a wealth of skills and knowledge to enhance the business skills of artists.

“With this new organization in place, Boulder- and Denver-area artists will have a one-stop place to go for a variety of support services and the chance to connect with other artists and community members,” Westerfield said.

Marilyn Reynolds, owner of the McLaren-Markowitz Gallery, located next to the group’s headquarters, agrees. “I think it’s an idea whose time has come,” she says. “I’ve always wanted to do what they’re doing. Artists’ lives could be more satisfying if they were better business managers. It’s a great thing … beneficial for both artists and galleries.”