The Business of Art | Shearwater Productions

Arts in Community: creating a smoother process flow

June 29, 2012

Whether you are directing a show or putting together a community pageant, you need a smooth process flow. Without one you’re likely to encounter major stress and early onset balding (or maniacal laughter…), not to mention a less positive outcome for all involved. Here’s a few tips to help it go well! Schedule Number one arch nemesis. Everyone has other things to do, there are different skill sets represented (and so, of course, different members of each subgroup have different needs), people forget, and things come up at the last minute. What are some steps you can take so as

Holly Adams in her studio recording an audiobook

Pirates! In praise of swordplay

June 3, 2012

I love pirates. Not, of course, modern real-life pirates, but the pirates of history and fiction with whom I fell in love as a girl. I still remember the thrill I felt when I met my first wild and adventurous pirate, Sinbad the Sailor from 1001 Arabian Nights. I was a shy, bookish, wandering girl of 8 who spent long afternoons alone in the woods to recover from school where having both too much energy and an agile, hungry mind made me ….. well, let’s call it “less than popular”. My discovery of the swashbuckling, adventurous narrative saved me. To

Three clowns in a hospital in Tuscany, Italy

A Mime is a Terrible Thing to Waste

May 25, 2012

(Sigh.) Let’s face it. I’m gonna let the truth be known. YES, I studied as a mime. I loved Shields and Yarnell (start with “The Breakfast Show”), Marcel Marceau, and the Mummenshanz, so it seemed natural to have intensive mime training as a part of my career development. I took workshops and courses, and enrolled in the renamed Dell ‘Arte School of Physical Theatre. As the official website beautifully frames it, “Originally called the Dell’Arte School of Mime and Comedy, the School’s name was changed to The International School of Physical Theatre in the late 1980s as a result of

Fun and Dreams: the creation of “Last Stand at Sunset Pass”

April 4, 2012

This week I have decided to sing the praises of doing something crazy and seemingly beyond reach for the love of doing it. And somehow making it work out. A couple years ago was a particularly stressful time in my life, and I wanted more than anything to be in an action-adventure film, to play a part in a movie where, after the going got tough, my character found a way to save her damn self instead of being rescued. Preferably after an awesome fight sequence. Yeah, and I’d also like a pony and world peace, right? My awesome husband,

Holly with her son Chris riding camels in Egypt

Shout-Out to Students Going into the Arts

March 14, 2012

There’s a lot I love about being an artist. So much that I can’t get it all in one place, but I do want to put a few things out there about what being an artist means to me—and how that can apply to you. Practical Advice Being an Artist is in many many ways like every other business: if you only sell one product, your business will fail. If you are a shoe saleswoman and all you sell is aqua-marine stiletto slippers, your business will fail. If you are an artist and all you sell is performing other people’s

Holly holding a pistol for a mystery dinner

Making Your Arts Business Successful

February 9, 2012

So, there you are, gearing up for another busy month. As usual, “work on website” and “go to networking event” and “get business cards” move to the bottom of the “to-do” list. They can, right? Face it—your schedule is full! But then business trauma hits—a school loses its funding, a theatre has to hack at its budget, a community organization is cutting the department which contracted you. How do you turn these moments into success? First off, allot yourself no more than 10 minutes to spend on despair and the feeling of failure. I would say, “Skip this step”, but