The other day imomus mentioned that when money people get together they talk about art and when art people get together they talk about money. The money of art is something that can be rather difficult to talk about. I think this is a primary reason professional artists generally have agents. Leave the money dealings to someone else so the artist can focus exclusively on the art.
But the business of art is very important. After all it is with money that food and shelter are procured. In the theatre the business of the art is at the fore. Unlike disciplines like painting or sculpture that one might do in seclusion and then, once completed, present to the market, theatre is done from the beginning in collaboration and those collaborators must agree on what fees are paid, to whom and when. They must agree as to who controls the rights to what and under which circumstances.
Working in the theatre it is necessary to be at once a “money person” as well as an “art person.” But often one is a “money person” without much actual money. Or at least with an income with as much fluctuation as the stock market. Since all my work is on a contract basis and my checks(portions of the total design fee) are paid on an irregular schedule it can be very difficult to organize this financial situation.
I am a big believer in saving and investing and find the typical American’s reliance on credit cards as a “cash reserve,” or worse yet supplemental income, to be reckless at best. At the same time, due to the often inconsistent nature of my work, I have at times been forced to use this less than ideal “cash reserve.” But how does one save and invest reasonably and responsibly with such a fluctuation in income?
What I have found to be of greatest use is to treat everything I make in terms of percentages. I do have fixed expenses, things like rent and utilities, so there is a minimum I must make each month. But after that, everything can easily be scaled to the amount of money I take in. I put away a certain percentage for taxes, and another percentage for savings. Then what is left over is free for all other expenses.
By dealing with my money on a check by check basis(as opposed to yearly or even monthly), I am able to save money during the leanest times. If I try to save ten percent of my income, when a thousand dollar check comes in I can take out one hundred dollars and this is not noticeable in the regular flow of things. Certainly not when compared with attempting to gather thousands of dollars at the end of the year to put in savings.
Breaking finances down to small easily manageable increments makes the whole thing a lot easier to understand. This is why I enjoy sites like Get Rich Slowly. It takes a reasoned approach to personal finance and breaks everything down into components that are easy to manage. So much so that almost insurmountable feats like paying off credit cards is broken down into five easy steps.
The business of art need not be something to fear. With a little planning and research even the most organizationally averse can practice the art of money.
