ARTSMART ORACLE
THE ARTSMART TOOLKIT
The ArtSmart Method + The ArtSmart Triangle
01 Plan
ArtSmart Cost + Benefit Matrix
02 Operate
03 Exhibit and Sell
ArtSmart Consignment Agreement
“The best way to predict your future is to create it”
-Abraham Lincoln
Nobody can predict outcomes. What’s round the corner will always surprise you. The way you reach your goals and the form they take may be different from even your best predictions.
Strategic, autonomous thinking can help you forge a path amid uncertainty. Throughout this book I’ve shown you how to recognize opportunities and maximize potential. By looking at real-life scenarios through the prism of the ArtSmart Triangle, I’ve emphasized the three goals of support, money, and exposure, which can help guide your planning.
Now that you’re familiar with these goals, I want to take it a step further. To make the most of the ArtSmart Triangle, think of each decision—whether it’s to spend a month learning a new medium, or investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into a studio property—as an opportunity to recognize and articulate your needs and expectations. You can do this by focusing your energy, negotiating your position, and pivoting to your best advantage.
Organizing your thoughts and actions in this way will help you put your business autonomy first, every time.
Ask yourself:
What do I want and why do I want it? | Focus
What can I change in this situation? What do I stand to lose? What must I protect? | Negotiate
Have I done what I can to influence the situation in support of my goals? Am I ready to cut my losses if it’s not going to work out? | Pivot
Knowing when to pivot is probably the most important skill—it’ll help you decide when it’s time to walk away. Sometimes, rather than solving a problem, it’s better to drop the problem entirely.
Divining the Numbers
Now that we’re ready to focus, negotiate, and pivot, it’s time to put the ArtSmart Method into action—with the ArtSmart Oracle. This is part of your online toolkit. I use the ArtSmart Oracle every day to face life’s challenges.
Just like the other tools discussed in this book, the ArtSmart Oracle uses numbers to make projections. It combines known factors with best guesses to help you get a handle on a situation and decide a way forward. In the tradition of the Oracle of Delphi, whose sage words “Know yourself and you will know the universe and its gods” continue to resonate, the ArtSmart Oracle is a conduit; it works best when you look for the answer within.
I based the format of the ArtSmart Oracle on the Magic 8 Ball that I, and maybe some of you, grew up with. This was a hand-sized plastic sphere full of liquid that you’d shake, then peer into its magic eye to see the answer you sought floating in front of you on a small icosahedron-shaped die. If you asked whether your crush liked you, and you were lucky, the Magic 8 Ball would answer: “Without a doubt.” If you weren’t so lucky you’d get “Very doubtful.”
I’ve morphed this classic invention into something that works with the ArtSmart Triangle goals of support, money, and exposure. To commune with the ArtSmart Oracle, pose your question, then answer either “Yes” or “No” to each of the four questions asked by the ArtSmart Oracle, about each of the three goals you are trying to achieve. The binary structure requires determined thinking. If you’re unsure how to answer a particular question, take a guess and keeping moving!
Remember, money is about financial stability, resources for assistance, funding to run your operation and make your work, abundance for the future, and creative freedom. The emphasis of exposure is on awareness, reaching audiences, and growing at scale. Support is about your team, community, patrons, collectors, wider network, and strategic alliances, and the company you keep.
If your answer is positive, then you score it with a 1. If it’s negative, you score it with a 0. (There is no direct correlation between positive and Yes = 1 or negative and No = 0.)
The lowest total score you can end up with is 0, which means you should probably sprint away from whatever situation you’re contemplating. The highest score is 12, which means whatever you’re being offered is probably worth your time.
THE ARTSMART ORACLE SCALE
12 = Seize this opportunity!
11 = Yes! We love this for you.
10 = This is a solid opportunity.
9 = We like this opportunity.
8 = Most likely Yes, but this opportunity needs some work.
7 = Most likely Yes, but we should enlist some outside help.
6 = Unsure, let’s think further about this opportunity.
5 = I see some promise, but we think maybe not.
4 = Most likely it’s a No.
3 = Houston, we have a problem.
2 = Not worth your time.
1 = Better luck next time.