Phase one: Getting the job you want

Be an artist (not a starving one)

STEP 1: Sell yourself. It’s all about self-promotion! “If you don’t have a website these days, it’s like you don’t exist as an artist,” says Barbara Rachko (barbararachko.com), who’s been a painter for 22 years. The Net is also teeming with websites like manhattanarts.com, myartspace.com and gallerynow.com, where you can upload images for free and share your work with the global village, in the hopes that aesthetes looking to buy art will happen across it and jump-start your career.

STEP 2: Network. No one wants to go it alone, so find an organization that can connect you with your peers. The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) (nyfa.org) and Soho’s Cupping Room Cafe (cuppingroomcafe.com) run workshops and meetings where you can discuss things like the relevance of modern sculpture and the cheapest place to get ramen. But to make it into a gallery, you’ll need to track down the movers and shakers. “Get out there,” says David Nolan Gallery director Katherine Chan. “Work in a museum or gallery where you can meet curators, critics and dealers.” Westwood Gallery president and co-owner James Cavello agrees: “Socialize! We have openings during the season that are open to the public.” That doesn’t mean you should show up with a stack of postcards in hand (please don’t); instead, use these opportunities to work the room.

STEP 3: Gain gallery access. With exposure to curators and collectors (and their money), galleries are the place to be—that’s why getting your work into one is so tough. (Cavello estimates his gallery takes on one new artist annually from the hundreds who submit.) To maximize your chances, do some homework before sending anything in. “Go to galleries to get familiar with what they’re showing,” says Gloria Rabinowitz, an artist who heads New York Artists Online (newyorkartists.net), a virtual exhibition space for area artists. “Then you can send your artwork to the ones that best fit your work.” When you do, keep it simple with a DVD or an e-mail with links to your site. (Hi-res photos that crash computers won’t make you any friends.) Some galleries won’t even look at submissions, but that’s where your networking comes in handy. “Many times galleries will pick up an artist when one of their artists recommends or champions a friend,” Cavello adds.

STEP 4: Find money. It might seem too good to be true, but it is possible for an upstart artist to get some government funding. Groups like the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (lmcc.net) already have applications online for various 2009 programs, and last year NYFA awarded 144 fellowships (worth $7,000 apiece) to artists who made it through a panel-review process. But don’t expect a wheelbarrow of money to be dumped at your door, because most grants are project-specific. “People will call and say, ‘I want money to fund my art,’ but not many places will do that anymore,” says Christa Blatchford, NYFA’s program officer for artist learning. “I encourage artists to look for grants only after they have a specific project in mind.” Likewise, you might want to consider applying for more meat-and-potato offerings, like the ones that provide supplies or workspace. Hey, you need those, too.

STEP 5: Find space. For $300 per month you can join a collective like 3rd Ward in Williamsburg (3rdward.com), a one-stop multiarts space that gives members access to a digital media lab, wood shop, metal shop and photo studios. And they host events and parties where you can trade notes with like-minded creatives. Consider joining a co-op gallery that’s owned and run by the artists who exhibit there. Places like Phoenix Gallery (phoenix-gallery.com) and Ceres Gallery (ceresgallery.org) will give you guaranteed exhibition space for an initiation fee and monthly dues. “You just show what you want to and build whatever following you can,” says New York Artists Online’s Rabinowitz, who once earned a positive review from a New York Times critic who saw one of her co-op shows. (See? It does happen.)

STEP 6: Wait for the dough to roll in. Lots of overhead (paint and canvases ain’t cheap) means that you’ll be scraping by for a while. However, says Rabinowitz, “It is possible to support yourself. Many of the artists on my site do, but they really have to market it.” Indeed, Westwood’s Cavello optimistically notes, “Our prices for selected emerging artists’ initial work have been in the low thousands. ” And David Nolan Gallery’s Chan knew of some who sold early works for $10,000. But if you do score a deal like that, make sure you don’t spend it all on palette knives—the gallery typically gets a 50 percent cut.

—Mike Olson

Employment in numbers

6,200 new jobs in leisure & hospitality
According to Martin Kohll of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the leisure and hospitality industries have benefitted in the past year, with a 2 percent hike in new positions added, including hotel and restaurant jobs, because all those visitors need somewhere to stay and something to eat.