Southeast university class teaches the business of art

~ Topics will range from intellectual property and tax laws to applying for grants.

An idea that began as an effort to teach student artists how to access public grants to support their work has blossomed into a semester course designed to give students the tools to turn their passion into a business.

Beginning in January, Dr. Joel Ray, a Cape Girardeau neurosurgeon who also operates a business known as Westray Photography, will conduct a weekly seminar for 15 students covering issues ranging from intellectual property and tax laws to dealing with agents and, yes, applying for grants.

The first semester of "Career Preparation in the Arts," which will be offered through Southeast Missouri State University's Department of Theatre and Dance, will test the best ways to present the material that will later become a required course for graduation, said Dr. Kenn Stilson, department chairman.

"If you do not have the background to understand the business world, to think of yourself as an independent business, you could be a fabulous artist that nobody ever sees your work," Stilson said.

Ray, a member of the Missouri Arts Council, first came forward with a proposal to provide a course on grant writing. Ray has repeatedly said he views his role on the council as that of an advocate for increasing the amount of grant money the council awards in Southeast Missouri.

The department's faculty members had already been considering how to approach a course in career preparation, Stilson said. The best performing arts schools around the country are also developing or providing such courses, he said, and the Southeast Missouri State University Holland School of Visual and Performing Arts is striving to establish itself as a top choice for art students.

"I had not thought that much about the grant-writing class," Stilson said. "But we merged it with career preparation, and it is just a natural marriage."

Ray said he will bring real-life examples, both from his career as a physician and from his work as a photographer, to the students. During his training at the State University of New York at Buffalo medical school, he noted, he was discouraged from treating his future practice as a business.

And as a photographer, he said, he's dealt with the need to guard his intellectual property rights.

In addition, he will bring lawyers to discuss copyrights, tax law and contracts, successful artists to explain how they built their careers, and help from the Innovation Center and the Small Business Administration on how to start an independent business.

Class work, he said, will include writing a business plan for a hypothetical business and practice writing grant proposals, including the topic of grants as a survival technique.

"The students will be seeking grants and use the grants to go out and help the community," Ray said.

The course, in addition to providing practical knowledge, will also help allay fears of some parents that allowing their sons or daughters to pursue an arts education will leave them unprepared to support themselves, Stilson said.

The Holland School recruits students from across Missouri and the Midwest.

"The No. 1 question parents ask, and students as well, is 'How is my son or daughter going to survive?'," Stilson said. "They ask, 'How are they going to make a living in this business?'"

The River Campus, which opened this fall, was built with the support of state funds, private donations and local taxes on hotel and restaurant receipts. As part of Cape Gir?ar?deau's participation in the DREAM Initiative, the River Campus is being viewed as an opportunity for arts-focused economic development.

"My initial response would be that is awesome," said John Mehner, Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive officer, when told about the plans for the course.

"It is a common belief that very talented people in those areas may not be as talented on the business side," he said. "If there is some truth to that, and I do believe that there is, that is awesome."

A course that prepares students to be successful professionals will help both the city's bottom line and the image of the Holland School, Mehner said.

Realistically, Stilson said, most of the performing artists graduating from the Department of Theatre and Dance will apply their training in the larger cities as they seek success. But a grounding in the basics of business will help them survive tough times and enhance the reputation of the school when they succeed.

Works by performers, whether it is music, films or some other form, are the one of the largest exports of the United States in terms of dollar value, Stilson said. "It is a huge business," he said.

Students, he said, "know they are going to have to make the leap, they have to make the leap into a major urban area. We will teach them how to make the jump from a university into the world."

The ideas developed in the course, Ray said, would make a good subject of study for almost any major at the university. Protecting ideas, dealing with taxes as an entrepreneur and planning for growing an enterprise can fit the needs of many students, he said.

"The whole point of this class is that it is a business," Ray said. "That's the bottom line."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126