Artist’s Statement: Finding Your Vision

If nothing else, our work asks you to look ahead to the things you want to accomplish. It challenges the notion of “going along to get along” and encourages us to dream and attach those dreams to tangible micro steps allowing us to take control of our careers. For many, seeing the path ahead inspires us to engage with the work because a general sense of “ugh – how will this ever manifest itself?” leads to complacency. To that end, the final piece of our Artist’s Statement is where you’re headed or…your Vision.

Think of your Vision as the byproduct of having honored your creative venture’s Mission + Values you’ve set for running your business.

For most of us, we have those overused, non specific phrases of “it just takes patience and persistence”, “it’s all a numbers game” and “isn’t it based on luck?” stuck in our heads so these far out, seemingly unattainable goals of ours feel even more unattainable. It’s also easy to turn to those phrases if we do not have a clear and specific Vision for our work. Matching your (hopefully) very real belief in your talent with strategy and action completely undermines the notion that you don’t have control and that it’s all up to the “creative universe” to decide our fate. Cause that ain’t true.

If your Vision is buoyed by your Mission and Values, you can be sure your Mission and Values is partially created by your Vision. You have to know where you ultimately want to go in order to understand your purpose and the Values you’ll embrace to keep you on track while you navigate the undoubtedly choppy waters ahead.

Similar to how you approached your Mission and Values, simply jotting down a few key goals for yourself professionally will lead to a hopefully succinct handful of thoughts that you can prioritize.

Think of these goals in relation to the heights you’re hoping to scale. Major producing entities, ABT, Broadway, MoMa, albums to produce and the beautiful, ever growing list goes on 🙂

You needn’t worry about interstitial thoughts between each of these sections. While the whole statement should be cohesive, one can assume that all of your pieces would work together intuitively. So with your three (short) paragraphs, layout your statement. Does anything feel out of place? Untrue? Lacking connective tissue? Refine and then…

Share it! Your statement in various forms can be used on or with:

• Websites
• Social Media Platforms
• Hashtags
• Collaborators
• Email Signatures
• Bios
• Merchandise

Building a relationship with your audience is largely based on them understanding who you are and what you have to share. If you are a creative who struggles to think of ways to market your brand beyond your Instagram that is mainly followed by your extended family and college friends, having an Artist’s Statement to share is a great beginning to broaden your efforts alongside giving you clarity around what you’re marketing (a common question).

Most importantly, however, is simply having your own true north to keep you on track.

Please share your statements with us BTW! We’d love to see what you’ve cooked up.

Also by Artist’s Strategy:

Artist’s Statement: Aligning Your Career

Creative Productivity: 7 Days is a Long Time

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