Artists in Action Series: Hobbyist to Professional

Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2022
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location: Online Zoom Webinar

Register once for all sessions

Cost: $45 (all sessions included)

CA residents can attend at no cost! Email events@westcenter.org for your discount code.

Artists in Action Series: Hobbyist to Professional


Supporting artists is essential for the health, growth, and innovation of our community. If you are an artist looking to take your art to the next level professionally or make your art your livelihood, join our Artists in Action webinars series, designed to give you the skills you need to turn passion into profit.


You know where you want to go, but how to do you get there?


Bob and Kate Burridge share their journey of getting started and running a successful business in the art world. This 5 part webinar series is a step-by-step blueprint on how to move from amateur to professional, in both self-definition and business practices.

The five sessions are:

  1. Goal Setting: What makes a vision a reality 
    Tuesday September 27, 2022
    Bob and Kate will share the start of their journey from being a “Saturday morning painter” to every day professional. They will share the tools of goal setting as the focus necessary to propel forward in the plan of being a professional artist. Easy to understand roadmap and handouts provided.

  2. Essential Tools: What you most need to be a professional
    Tuesday October 4, 2022
    You have set your goals so, now what? Make a list – yes, literally a list! Bob and Kate will tell you what they did next to continue on the road to be a professional artist. So, what makes a professional artist? And do you wait until all the boxes are checked and you have all the stuff? Handouts and a checklist provided.

  3. It All Starts With You: Self/Time management and dedication
    Tuesday October 11, 2022
    Focus, focus, focus. Bob and Kate will discuss their own tips for managing studio time and promotion time. Other related “activities and money-making ventures” for artists will also be discussed during this session. Thinking outside the box and dreaming big is a must. Handouts and a mind-map provided.

  4. Your Art is Your Product: Studio, equipment, inventory
    Tuesday October 18, 2022
    Reality Check… This session explores the environment and the actual nuts and bolts of what makes a professional artist thrive. Bob and Kate will make available the info of how they designed Bob’s studio space, with the focus on production and efficiency. Also discussed is a list of what equipment they found is absolutely necessary for a working studio – including inventory storage! Handouts and a checklist provided.


  5. Finding Your Audience: Promotion and representation
    Tuesday October 25, 2022
    Repeat after me… “Exposure = Success” – a classic Burridge mantra. If you don’t tell people how and where to find you, you won’t get many visitors! Bob and Kate will share their blueprint of balancing promotion and painting; galleries and other exhibition venues and painting. They have the experience and will share their stories with you. Handouts provided. 

Join us for this series to learn what it takes to make a living as an artist!

Presenter

Robert Burridge was an Industrial Designer who, after 25 years in the business, left the corporate world to be a full time, contemporary painter. Today he is a juror for international exhibits, college and national workshop instructor, and is the Honorary President of the International Society of Acrylic Painters. His honors include the Franklin Mint Award and the prestigious Philadelphia Watercolor Society’s Crest Medal for Achievement in the Arts. Bob’s work is featured in many books and magazines, on cruise ships, and his paintings are sold in galleries worldwide. 


Kate Burridge has over 20 years experience in international marketing, promotion, and professional presentations. Besides managing her husband Bob Burridge’s art career, Kate is also an author, lecturer and consultant to a long list of art associations and agencies in the United States. Kate developed “Art Marketing: The Business of Selling Your Art,” an eight-week course that she and Robert Burridge taught at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California. She also authored “News Releases: Getting the Media to Work for You,” published by Art Calendar Magazine.