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Many women artists are very talented at creating their work but have great difficulty with fundraising and publicity. The traditional wisdom is that these artists should go to more classes that teach these skills and somehow make time to do all the extra work. But does that really make sense?
We don’t ask plumbers to fix our cars, and we wouldn’t want a dentist doing open heart surgery. Even in the world of arts management, a bookkeeper would have a hard time getting a job as a marketing director. Why do we think that a talented musician should spend her time writing grant proposals or that an actress should write her own press releases?
In almost every other sector in our economy, we recognize that the division of labor is more efficient because it lets everyone do what they do best. If we truly respected the skill and experience and rehearsal time that it takes to create great art, then we would want our most talented women artists to focus on their art, and we would find people who were talented at managerial tasks to work with them.
”Martha Richards, the founder of WomenArts/The Fund for Women Artists
