A business plan for art?

Available as a print here (no affiliation!)

Even if you aren't making your living from art, a business plan might be useful for helping you focus on the work you're setting out to make, and help maintain motivation. Somewhere, research has shown that when people write down their goals they are much more likely to achieve them. 

This post on the artbiz blog called for 200-word business plans, to include 1) your art or product, 2) audience, 3) promotions, 4) money, 5) how you will overcome challenges or obstacles, and 6) how you will know if you’ve succeeded.

OK, it's worth a try...

1) My product is my exhibition in the final degree show, to be ready in three months from now.

2) Audience: invited and casual visitors to the show - these are people who have an interest in student work.

3) Promotions: writing about my work, and mentioning show dates on this blog; invitations sent out; mentioning show on various online groups

4) Money: the show usually has a shop to sell books made by students

5) My main challenge is to produce innovative work of a high standard, which requires focus on my project theme and critical evaluation of the work as it develops, and copious amounts of studio time

6) One measure of success is a course grade better than just Pass; another is sales of items in the shop. Most valuable, though, would be further opportunities arising from the show.

That didn't require as much thinking as I thought it would, because having the categories helped with focus. It does leave out the immediate thing, which is ... making the "innovative work of a high standard" - and the way that ties in with my hidden agenda, of developing some strands or themes that I'll be able to draw on subsequently. Probably that requires a plan of a different sort.