Invest Arts Entrepreneurs

Money Matters

Setting a Price and Making a Profit

Placing a value on your work can be one of the hardest things to do as an artist-entrepreneur.  This section is a guide for setting a price on your artwork and will help you to determine how much you put in to the creation process and how much you want/need to profit from it.

The trick is to not undervalue or overvalue your work.  Take into consideration that your work is unique, original and represents hours of invested time, labour, and creative experience. On the other hand, your pricing should be competitive and representative of the market.  An emerging artist naturally will not be able to command the prices of an established artist. You may increase your rates as your career develops and your name becomes more well-known, but avoid inflating your prices too quickly. Do some research on other artists who are at similar points in their careers – what are they charging for their time and/or work? 

Keep your pricing consistent. For visual artists, the industry convention is to price by size. A 10x20 inch painting should be worth double a painting that is 10x10 inch. Musicians and performers may choose to establish a standard hourly rate.

It’s important in a small city to remain fair and consistent with your rates. It’s best to refrain from discounting, making deals, or charging a reduced ‘studio’ rate for your work.

Budgeting as a Self-Employed Artist

Cutting costs and improving profit are what every entrepreneur is after. Here are a few ways you can budget as an artist.

• Find inexpensive studio/rehearsal space. Consider setting up a studio in your home, or share space with other artists.
• Share equipment costs with other artists through a cooperative agreement or barter system.
• Set up accounts with art suppliers (may require HST number).

Finding Financing

ArtsNB offers funding for professional artists of any discipline. They administer grants in areas of creation, career development and residency. Their programs pages has a guide on presenting an effective application and details on each grant and jury process.

Canada Council for the Arts is a national arts funding agency. View their grants page for information on applying and tutorials on writing a proposal.

ArtsLinkNB is new organization designed to link and unify artists and arts organizations within the province of New Brunswick. They have memberships for students, emerging artists and professionals. ArtsLinkNB has a detailed funding page for NB artists, where they list upcoming grants, competitions and calls for proposals.