Turn your creativity into opportunity.

Join Steuben Arts Scene for a full day of practical insight and inspiration featuring Eric Rhoads, national art business expert and publisher of PleinAir magazine. Learn how to market your art online, connect with galleries, handle tax and legal essentials, and build a sustainable career.

8:30 am to 4:30 pm
T. Furth Center for the Performing Arts
Trine University - Angola, Indiana

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Thanks to our sponsors:

Turn your artistic passion into a sustainable business at The Business of Art, a full-day workshop designed to equip artists with the tools, insights, and confidence to grow their creative careers.

What to Expect

Spend the day learning from nationally recognized artists, gallery directors, business professionals, and creative entrepreneurs. Each session is tailored to help you navigate the real-world challenges of being a working artist — from selling your art and building your brand to understanding contracts, taxes, and legal basics.

Highlights include:

  • Keynote Address: Eric Rhoads — CEO, artist, and publisher of PleinAir and Fine Art Connoisseur magazines. Learn his proven strategies to grow your art career and boost sales.

  • Using the Internet to Grow Your Art Business — Digital tools, online sales, and creative marketing.

  • Gallery Roundtable — What gallery directors look for, how to approach them, and what to expect in a partnership.

  • Legal & Tax Essentials for Artists — Understand the financial side of your practice with insights from Lynn Wernet, CPA.

  • Artists Roundtable: Building a Career — Hear the journeys of celebrated artists C.W. Mundy and Fred Doloresco, moderated by Douglas Runyan.

    Read more about each session and meet the presenters below!

Who Should Attend

This workshop is perfect for emerging and established artists, art educators, and creatives ready to treat their art as a business. Whether you want to sell more artwork, gain gallery representation, or simply make sense of the business side of art, this event is for you.

Registration

Price: $150.00
Discount: $100.00 until 11/30/2025
(Trine Students attend free)

Includes a continental breakfast and lunch

Space is limited — reserve your seat today and invest in your art career!

GET REGISTERED TO ATTEND

Keynote Speaker:

Eric Rhoads

Eric Rhoads, a specialist in helping artists sell more artwork and build thriving careers, will share strategies to accelerate your artistic success. He'll reveal the top principles every artist should follow to achieve substantial growth in their career and sales. Short question and answer session following the presentation!

  • Eric Rhoads is a CEO, Artist, Publisher, Radio Broadcaster and a career entrepreneur with 40 years experience in radio; launching companies and building businesses; publishing; and the art industry. He is chairman of the board of Streamline Publishing, Inc., a company he founded in 1986 that publishes Fine Art Connoisseur and PleinAir magazines and other digital and print art publications and hosts the wildly popular annual Plein Air Convention & Expo and Figurative Art Convention & Expo and other virtual live art events.

Using The Internet To Grow Your Art Business 

Learn how to use the internet to market and sell your creations and talent.

Presenter to be announced.

What a New Gallery Wants to See From You

In this roundtable discussion, gallery experts will discuss how to approach a gallery for representation, what should be in an artist’s portfolio, and what to expect from a gallery - contracts, featured exhibitions, commissions and fees, expense sharing, advertising, etc. Justin will give examples of galleries where former students have placed artwork and where graduates are currently employed in the art industry.

  • Justin Johnson has been the gallery director for the University of Saint Francis since 2002, teaches in the School of Fine Arts and exhibits his own work with major exhibitions at Huntington University, Wabash College, Defiance College, Adrian College, Grace College, Goshen College, Manchester University, and University of Saint Francis and commercial galleries. 

Creating An Art Opportunity

Presenter to be announced.

Simple Tax & Legal Considerations

In this roundtable discussion, learn from the experts on what you should know before turning your talent into a business. From accounting considerations to legal aspects, this session will give practical insight into developing your art business.

Moderated by Douglas Runyan, artist and retired attorney.

  • Lynn Wernet has been a CPA and CFP for four decades. Semi-retired, she resides in Steuben County and continues to provide tax preparation services for a limited number of clients. She has a long-time interest in not for profit organizations and gives freely of her time and skill to better her community, including serving on the Board of Directors of the Steuben County Community Foundation. 

Artists Roundtable - Building A Career

Wrapping up the day is our Artists Roundtable featuring C.W. Mundy and Fred Doloresco. Both artists are at the top of the art world in Indiana and have each developed a national reputation for their skills as painters. They arrived at their success, though, through very different paths - C.W as a full-time artist with a college degree in art and Fred as a medical doctor (cardiology) and part-time painter who attained his skill through extensive self-learning, collecting art, and taking many workshops with top artists. Their stories will both entertain and enlighten. 

Moderated by Douglas Runyan, Artist and retired attorney