Auspicious Arts is proud to announce the maiden voyage of the Auspicious Arts Business Skills Development Program at the new Auspicious Arts Incubator. Ten resident companies have been selected and are busy 'plotting the course' for their sustainable arts businesses. "It is exciting to be building new creative arts businesses with this elite group of resident participants." said John Paxinos, CEO of the Auspicious Arts Incubator, who has spent more than 20 years "offering advice to the obsessed" - mentoring and coaching hundreds of arts projects, arts organisations and independent artists.
Through this Australian Government funded initiative under the 'Building Entrepreneurship in Small Business program', Auspicious Arts Business Skills Development Program will provide business skill training and mentoring for 282 arts businesses over the next two years. With the combined strength of partners, the City of Melbourne, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia Business Arts Foundation and Biz Arts MAkers and with support from Arts Victoria and the Australia Council for the Arts, Auspicious Arts Incubator will be 'dry dock' for the creation and re-engineering of businesses in the small / medium sector of the arts industry.
"Creating sustainable arts businesses is the key for artists to be able to stay and keep creating here in Australia" said John Paul Fischbach, program coordinator, who brings a wealth of international experience in assisting small independent arts organizations. When one signs up to the life of an artist, no one tells them that they will also need to be a competent small business operator. No matter how brilliant an artist may be, no artist can survive long term in this industry without business skills.
The Incubator will help build creative businesses in three ways. Firstly residents in the program will be provided with offices, seminar rooms, a presentation space and meeting rooms for up to 18 months. Secondly they will receive training, mentorship and coaching from industry and business experts. Thirdly and most importantly they will be part of a group of like-minded artists each developing a new business or re-engineering their existing practice. Artists involved with the Auspicious Arts Incubator will be able to move out of the isolation that has been identified as a real problem for independent artists developing their own work.
The initial resident participants are:
Chris Bendall - Theatre@Risk
Moira Finucane & Jackie Smith - Finucane & Smith
Phil Heuzenroeder - Club Wild
Derek Ives & Azaria Universe - The Candy Butchers
Sharon Jacobson - Off the Map
Margot Knight - Shy Tiger Productions
Matt McConnon - Easy Tix
Xris Reardon - Takin' UP Space project / Third-Way Theatre
Christian Schooneveldt-Reid & Casey Douglas & James Brown - This side up
Gerard Veltre & Simon Green & Minerva Draeger - Phunktional
Carla Yamine & Gabrielle Barton - The Town Bikes
Latest Reviews
1. Prima Facie | Griffin Theatre Company Melbourne
2. Retrograde | Melbourne Theatre Company Melbourne
3. The First Murder | Pinchgut Opera Sydney
4. Savior | Griffin Theatre Company Sydney
5. At Home at the Zoo | Flightpath Theatre Sydney
6. Helios | Wright & Grainger Canberra
7. Waitress the Musical Melbourne
8. The Glass Menagerie | Melbourne Theatre Company Melbourne
9. Hamlet | Sh!tfaced Shakespeare Brisbane
10. Dancing at Lughnasa | New Theatre Sydney