News & Events

"Artist-in-Business” Training Coming to Springfield this April

The Arts Extension Service (AES) will offer an Artist-in-Business Training at UMass Springfield on April 27th. In this day-long intensive, artists address key elements of both business and marketing practices to build their arts-based business. This training will provide resources for visual artists, performers, and creatives in all mediums. Session topics include pricing, web and offline marketing, understanding and reaching one’s target market, finance basics, and goal setting to reach their next steps.

How to Get an Intern

The Five College area offers great access to interns for arts organizations and artists, with a wealth of students studying the arts. For creative businesses and non-profit organizations, interns can infuse your organization with fresh energy, perspectives and a thirst for learning new skills and ideas to apply to their careers. For students, interning can help open up new career paths and build resume-worthy experiences.

Symposium: Art + Math =

The Arts Extension Service’s Arts Entrepreneurship Initiative is excited to partner with the University Museum of Contemporary Art on the Museum’s upcoming symposium, Art + Math =. The symposium will take place on Monday, April 1st from 1:00pm to 5:30pm in the John W. Olver Building (Lecture Hall 170) on the UMass Amherst Campus.

From Music to Arts Management

Allison Gilliard is currently the Special Programs and Outreach Coordinator at Portrait Society of America, a nonprofit in Tallahassee, FL, aiming to “foster and enhance an understanding of the practice, techniques and applications of traditional fine art portraiture and figurative works.” As Outreach Coordinator, Allison is primarily responsible for cultivating relationships with artists and sponsors (nationally and internationally) and connecting them to educational resources.

Happy Anniversary Arts Entrepreneurship Initiative!

The Arts Extension Service is excited to celebrate five years of its Arts Entrepreneurship Initiative devoted to supporting the careers of working artists and providing students with opportunity locally, regionally, and nationally. The development of new programs happens for a myriad of reasons. Sometimes it is inspiration that propels a new service offering into being. Just such a conversation between two people from different creative disciplines gave rise to the Arts Entrepreneurship Initiative.

Maritime Exhibits: Alumna Emma Hodges and Mystic Seaport Museum

Connecticut’s Mystic Seaport Museum is the nation’s leading maritime museum, garnering an average of 284,000 visitors annually and inspiring “an enduring connection to the American maritime experience.” The Museum’s grounds cover 19 acres on the Mystic River in Mystic, CT and include a recreated New England coastal village, a working shipyard, formal exhibit halls, and state-of-the-art artifact storage facilities.

New Graduate Concentration in Nonprofit & Arts Management

The School of Public Policy (SPP) and the Arts Extension Service are offering a new concentration in nonprofit and arts management for students in SPP’s Master of Public Policy and Master of Public Policy and Administration programs.

Having Arts Management Skills in Your Back Pocket Pays Off!

Katherine Garland (right) poses with her co-worker Lyndsey Mackie outside the Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania office. Julie Queen

Inaugural Women in Arts Leadership Symposium a Success!

The Arts Extension Service held the first Women in Arts Leadership Symposium (WALS) on October 27th, 2018. Nearly one hundred arts professionals, five college students, and nationally recognized speakers gathered to crack open the conversation about what women recognize as the barriers to their leadership in the arts, and how these barriers can be mitigated and broken down.

Announcing "Community Engagement for Artists" Workshops this Fall

Are you an artist curious about creating public art or art for social change projects with your community? Join the UMass Arts Extension Service (AES) for a free, evening-long Community Engagement for Artists Workshop this fall (pre-registration required). Learn about the innovative community-engaged art projects happening nationwide, best practices, and the skills required to create an art project that engages your community.