Cash flows and budgets as artists fight Mammon

Press, 31 December 1982, Page 13

Cash flows and budgets as artists fight Mammon

By

NEILL BIRSS

Young artists and craftsmen struggling for survival face many problems common to most new small businesses.

That's why many are turning to the small business advisory services. Susan Johnston and Ben Hanly. for example, have had advice from the Christchurch CityCouncil for their No Flowers glass studio in the Peterborough Arts Centre. They have used the scheme’s forms to calculate cash flow, and their problems include high raw material costs and low foot traffic near their studio.

The glass they use, with the lead, costs from $3 to $2O a square foot. The foot-traffic bind is like that of new small retailers. The struggling artist can afford only a cheap studio, usually off the main traffic flow. But this means few passers-by. and hence sales - and income.

The special glass has to be imported in minimum lots, which means a minimum of about $lOOO in advance, as

the artists are dealing with the makers. (The glass is blown into a huge cylinder when molten at the factory; the end is cut off: it is reheated and made flat, and then is cooled slowly.) Other costs include the lead which binds the glass, and the gas for the burners in moulding the lead to shape. On the marketing side, exhibitions are a big expense. Susan Johnston and Ben Hanly have had two exhibitions. The cost: about $lOOO each time. Painters face similar expenses. They have to buy canvas, stretchers, and oil paints costing as much as $lO a tube. Then, for an exhibition, they may have to pay as much as $6O a painting to have their canvases framed. On top of this comes freight, if the exhibition is out of Christchurch. After all of these costs, comes that of the greatest input: labour. Ms Lesley Clouston, manager of advisory services for the Small Business Agency in Christchurch, says in crafts particularly, hobbyists tend

to keep the prices low. "They should build into the price at least $lO an hour for labour." But for struggling young artists like the pair at the No Flowers studio, the money earned, after covering overheads and buying raw materials, is barely sufficient for food. Ben Hanly for a period worked part time in a shop to supplement the pair's income, but the glasswork involves long, painstaking hours of work, and if they are to “make it." full-time work is needed. The Government has a scheme for helping young artists set up co-operatives. Since March, 1982, there has been an officer in the Christchurch branch of the Department of Internal Affairs helping with the scheme. He is Mr Brian Hayward, the advisory officer for alternative employment programmes. The department will help if the co-operative venture is likely to create work for the young unemployed, or will result in persons passing their skills on. The department is helping

the Craftsmen's Trust, a group of about 12 crafts persons in Nelson to set up a co-operative. This is still in the formative stages. It has also given $2OOO to help the musical cum theatrical group, the Threepenny Folly. “This is fairly community based, it gives performances to schools, etc.” says Mr Hayward. . The department is helping with the Buller Unemployment Centre, which recently bought a building in Westport to become a craft centre. This will be used for training and as a retail outlet.

Help is not doled out lightly. Mr Hayward says emphasis is put on the need for a “pre-commercial” assessment. The help of advisers or professional people is advocated. The department also sees the budding artists or craftsmen get advice on legal matters and on the basics of starting a business.

“They need to have good budgeting. And they must have done some of this. before they seek assistance.” says Mr Hayward.

Internal Affairs sometimes asks the Small Business Agency for a viability report on the proposal. Arts co-operatives ’ raise special problems. One is that of sharing the fruits of cooperative labour.

But. over all. the financial problems, if not the goals, of the young artist are similar to those of the new entrepreneur.