craft your commerce SPRING 2024 Workshops

The Entrepreneur's Toolkit

Join us for Craft Your Commerce’s Spring Series: The Entrepreneur’s Toolkit! This immersive series is tailor-made for creative business owners, offering a comprehensive exploration of essential tools to enhance the operations of your business. Join us for a season of growth and innovation.

                             See the Workshops

Maker’s Mixer

Location: SewCo.; in person
Activity: Surface Design on Bandanas 
Date: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Time: 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Cost: FREE to attend, registration required

Join fellow artists and creatives from Western North Carolina for an informal, in-person gathering. This relaxed networking event kicks off with a brief introduction and presentation, offering a sneak peek into the upcoming Spring Craft Your Commerce workshop series: The Entrepreneur’s Toolkit. Enjoy an evening of socializing, light bites, and beverages.

Libby O’Bryan of SewCo. will host us for a tour of her cut and sew workshop in Asheville’s River Arts District. Following the tour, she’ll lead a hands-on surface design activity, and everyone will leave with their own personalized bandana. Be sure to register for this free event, we look forward to connecting with you!

Foundations for Creatives

with Deanna Lynch

Location: Virtual via Zoom
Dates: Tuesdays, April 23 – May 28, 2024
Time: 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Cost: $375 | Scholarships available

Join a cohort of aspiring and existing entrepreneurs to gain an aerial perspective of your vision and the comprehensive business skills necessary to help bring your visions into reality. 

All Access Pass

Spring 24 All Access Pass: $50

The All Access Pass registers you for all 6 of the Spring Series workshops below.

  • Copyright and Licensing for Artists
  • Canva for Creatives
  • Grant Writing for Artists
  • Client Relationships and Navigating Sticky Client Situations
  • AI for Creatives
  • Sales for Introverted Creatives

Copyright and Licensing for Artists

with Katherine de Vos Devine

Location: Virtual via Zoom
Date: Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Time: 1 – 3:00 p.m.
Cost: $10 (or $50 for Spring Series Pass)

Licensing is a dynamic and lucrative field that allows artists to expand the reach of their creativity while safeguarding their intellectual property. This presentation delves into the intricacies of copyright for creatives seeking to harness the power of licensing agreements.

We will cover the fundamentals of copyright, licensing, fair use, payment and royalty schemes, and examine how different choices can impact your career and income potential.

Participants will gain insights into the key elements of a successful licensing agreement, including defining scope, territory, duration, and royalties. We will provide real-world case studies and practical tips for negotiating fair and beneficial licensing terms. Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of leveraging licensing as a powerful tool for artistic expression and financial success.

Whether you are an established artist looking to diversify your income streams or an emerging talent seeking to protect your creative assets, this presentation will equip you with the knowledge and strategies.

Canva for Creatives

with Sarah Benoit

Location: Virtual via Zoom
Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Time: 2 – 4:00 p.m.
Cost: $10 (or $50 for Spring Series Pass)

Canva is a powerful tool for DIY content creation that artists, craftspeople, and creative professionals can use to produce everything from social media posts to business cards to digital ads to videos. There are many design tools available online, but Canva offers a wide variety of templates, opportunities for customization, excellent online tutorials, and the ability to embrace multimedia. Join digital marketing and social media expert Sarah Benoit as she shares tips and best practices for using Canva to tell your story, share your passion, and make connections with collectors, customers, and fans. Come prepared to ask questions and engage with others.   
 

Grant Writing for Artists

with Paul Heckler

Location: Virtual via Zoom
Date: Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Time: 12 – 2:00 p.m.
Cost: $10 (or $50 for Spring Series Pass)

The world of grants may seem intimidating, but the truth is much more formula: following directions and determining best alignment for your needs and the funders’ priorities. In Grant Writing for Artists, workshop attendees will learn the basics of developing proposals for grant funding from foundations, arts councils, and government agencies. This will include an overview of philanthropic funding and how to partner with nonprofits. 

We’ll look at real applications together and discuss strategies for finding opportunities, generating narratives, developing budgets and portfolios, managing timelines, stewarding relationships, and more. There will be ample time for questions, discussion, and for troubleshooting your grant challenges.  

Client Relationships and Navigating Sticky Client Situations

with Alyssa Phillips

Location: Virtual via Zoom
Date:
Thursday, May 2, 2024
Time:
12 – 2:00 p.m.
Cost: $10 (or $50 for Spring Series Pass)

When you work one-on-one with commissions and clients, skill isn’t enough. The truth is, there’s a lot more to facilitating a smooth project than doing nice work. In this workshop, we’ll talk about how to make sure your clients have a 5-star experience through every touchpoint of your collaboration, from the moment they inquire to when it’s time to say goodbye. Topics include boundary-setting, presenting work to clients, navigating feedback, sharing final deliverables, and more.

We’ll also review how to navigate sticky client situations, and steer projects back on track when they start to go off the rails. If you’ve ever wondered what to do when a client disappears and stops responding, a client is unhappy with the results, or a client makes a request that has you cringing — we’ll cover it all!

You’ll walk away feeling confident about guiding projects that lead to rave reviews, repeat clients, and referrals.

AI for Creatives

with John Hornsby

Location: Virtual via Zoom
Date:
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Time:
2 – 4:00 p.m.
Cost: $10 (or $50 for Spring Series Pass)

AI is a hot topic, but the technology behind it isn’t going away. In AI for Creatives, you’ll learn both opportunities and challenges presented by AI in the creative sector. The workshop will provide artists, makers, and creative entrepreneurs with a realistic understanding of AI’s role, addressing ethical concerns, and exploring how both conversational AI and image generation tools can amplify individual creativity and business growth.  

Join us for a balanced, in-depth understanding of AI’s role in the creative sector, addressing concerns, and highlighting opportunities.

Sales for Introverted Creatives

with John Hornsby

Location:
Virtual via Zoom
Date:
Tuesday, May 9, 2024
Time:
2 – 4:00 p.m.
Cost: $10 (or $50 for Spring Series Pass)

Sales is all about relationships and managing expectations. We are all in sales, whether we realize it or not, like it or not. In this workshop, attendees will learn how not being a salesperson can be your strongest asset! Finding your authentic voice will help you make sales if you king know your craft and get interested in the art and science of creative communication and psychology.

This interactive session will take a look at the why behind methods from which you can build on. The first step is getting comfortable with being uncomfortable (in a non-scary way). This is focused on communication tools and self work to overcome your internal roadblocks.

Scholarships

Limited financial need based scholarships are available. To apply for a scholarship please continue to this form

About Craft Your Commerce

Craft Your Commerce is a Mountain BizWorks entrepreneurial program designed to connect, elevate and advance creative and craft-centered companies through a series of business training workshops and classes designed by makers for makers.

Questions?

Contact Jamie Karolich, Craft Your Commerce Program Manager at jamie@mountainbizworks.org

Sponsors

Our Supporting Partners

This year’s Craft Your Commerce series would not be possible without the generous support from our partners and sponsors.