Happy Earth Day GCCE’ers!

Below are a few cultural entrepreneurship related sites and opportunities I thought might interest you.

1. Culture Label: Living and Breathing Cultural Entrepreneurship by Mark Nagurski on iddictive.com

Check out Mark’s article about a service called Culture Label, a “one-stop-culture-shop, bringing you an edit of products currently available from over 70 leading museum shops, galleries, artists and culture institutions from around the world.“

Here’s what Culture Label has to say about cultural entrepreneurship:

“For us, cultural entrepreneurship is all about connecting culture and consumers – demolishing walls and supplying enormous mainstream demand. In doing so, over and over we’ve seen vibrant new relationships develop between museums, galleries and the world at large.”

2. Craft Research Grants from the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design

The Craft Research Fund is calling for applications for the 2010 Craft Research Fund Project Grant, and the 2010 Craft Research Fund Graduate Research Grant. The deadline to apply is July 1st.

While you’re on the Center for Craft, Creativity and Design’s site, check out their 2008 report about The Economic Impact of the Craft Industry in Western North Carolina.

3. International Summer School 2010 in Economics of Art and Culture in Deventer, The Netherlands.

“The courses, led by Professor Arjo Klamer, Chair of the Economics of Art and Culture, Erasmus University Rotterdam, examine the relationship between culture and economics, and the link between creativity, arts, and business. They serve to bridge the knowledge and experiences of those involved in the various cultural sectors.”

Check out the cool course listings!

• June 28 – July 1: Economics of Cultural Heritage and Museums
• June 28 – July 1: Cultural Entrepreneurship
• June 28 – July 1: Art Production and Markets
• July 28 – August 4: Creativity, Economy, and Society
• August 4 – 11: The Value of Culture: On the Relationship between Economics, Culture, and Art

4. Annette Naudin’s Blog

I keep running into Annette’s blog, so I thought I’d share it with you. According to her bio, Annette is a senior lecturer at Birmingham City University and award leader of the MA Media and Creative Enterprise programme. She is currently doing a PhD, part time, at Warwick University on the subject of Cultural Entrepreneurship and Education.

She describes her blog as being, “a blog about my research in Cultural Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship Education for the creative, media and cultural industries.”  You can also follow her on Twitter at @annettenaudin.

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If you have sites, blog posts, events, or articles that you would like to share with the GCCE community, please post them in the comments, or email links to me at britt AT brittbravo DOT com.

Image credit: Screenshot of Culture Label: Living and Breathing Cultural Entrepreneurship by Mark Nagurski on iddictive.com.

Many of the artists and craftspeople who sell their work on Etsy have designated percentages of their sales to be donated to nonprofits working in Haiti.

Two Etsy shops, Craft Hope, and Hearts for Haiti, are collecting donated items from other Etsy sellers. The profits from both stores will be donated to Doctors Without Borders. Collectively, the shops have raised over $30,000.

If you would like to donate work to Craft Hope, according to the Craft Hope blog post, State of Hope, they have stopped taking donations for two weeks so that they can, “get a more formal system in place for accepting donations.”  If you would like to donate pieces to Hearts for Haiti, see the shop’s policies for donation guidelines.

What are other examples of how artists and craftspeople are raising money for relief organizations working in Haiti?

Related blog posts:
DIYers Get Crafty to Aid Haiti on Planet Green
Etsy Hosts Hearts for Haiti Shop on Cara’s Scrap ‘N Stamp Art
For Haiti on Happy Shack

In 2006, filmmaker Faythe Levine traveled 19,000+ miles visiting over 15 cities, and interviewing more than 50 indie artists, crafters, and designers. The result is a fun, fabulous documentary that recently came out on DVD, Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design.

Nikki McClure

I watched it a couple nights ago, and *loved* it. Levine not only captures artists like Jenine Bressner, Nikki McClure, and Jenny Hart working in their studios, but also profiles the owners of independent stores, galleries and online distributors, like Little Otsu, Beehive Co-op, and buyolympia.com. She also has lots of footage from events, like the Renegade Craft Fair (which I’m hoping to report back from later this month).

You can watch a 10-minute trailer on YouTube, and the film is still being shown across the country. Look in the right sidebar of the Handmade Nation blog for upcoming screening dates.  It is also available on DVD from buyolympia.com and Amazon.

Jenny Hart's Desk

Whether you identify with the people profiled in the film’s desire to create, be independent, work sustainably, make a living as an artist, preserve craft, or find community, I think you’ll be inspired by the film’s end.  I was.

I received a review copy of the DVD, which I’d be happy to send off to a lucky someone.  To enter in a raffle to receive the DVD, post a comment with your DIY/handmade holiday gift idea, and a way to contact you if you win, by December 21st.

Images: Jenine Bressner, Providence RI 2006. Nikki McClure, Olympia WA 2006. Jenny Hart’s desk, Austin TX 2006

While on vacation last week, I read a book I wanted to share with you, Craft Inc.: Turn Your Creative Hobby Into a Business by Meg Mateo Ilasco. It’s fabulous!

Meg covers everything you need to know to get your craft business off the ground: financing, legal structure, trademarks, business licenses, packaging, pricing, production, marketing, publicity, trade shows, sales, order fulfillment, and more in a fun, accessible way.

Plus, she profiles inspiring entrepreneurs and enterprises like Denyse Schmidt, KleinReid, Sunshine Scarves, Wool & Hoop, and Jill Bliss throughout the book.

After reading Craft Inc. (the Thanksgiving break would be a perfect time!), you can pick yourself up a  Craft Inc. Business Planner: The Ultimate Organizer for Turning Your Crafts Into Cash to start planning for 2010.  The Planner is rich with useful tools.

She has everything from an “open-for-business checklist,” to a pricing worksheet, to templates for designing your tradeshow booth, to marketing campaign worksheets. There is also a to-do list notepad in the front, folders in the back, and an address book separated into sections for business contacts, vendor/supplier contacts, and industry contacts.  Pretty awesome.

You can see more images of what the Planner looks like on the inside in these blog posts:

• What I’m Reading: Craft Inc. Business Planner on megan auman’s blog
• craft inc. business planner . . . on oh joy!
• craft inc. business planner on poppytalk
• meg mateo ilasco – craft inc. business planner on sub-studio design blog

What other resources would you recommend for craft entrepreneurs?

Full disclosure: I received a review copy of the Craft Inc. Business Planner.