Get It Together: A Guide To Planning Your Art Career

Intro to The Five Year Roadmap

You’re probably thinking it’s ridiculous to plan five years in advance. On the other hand, you might be thinking I’m already an artist, I don’t need this! The Five Year Roadmap is not here to discredit you or your achievements, regardless of what stage you’re at with your art career.

The Five Year Roadmap is like a to-do list for your hypothetical future goals, or a written version of your manifestation or vision board. This roadmap is not a fail-safe plan. You may not achieve all of your goals. Please remember that you don’t have to follow it to the absolute, and you can change your goals at any time.

This sweet resource guide is an expansion of reflective writing  ‘Developing & Sustaining Practice’ by Eye Suriyanon focusing on section 1 - ‘The Beginning - Goal Settings’. The guide was created in collaboration with Jiggle n Juice with the aim to bridge the gap from art school to professional practice, thus we will be concentrating on the graduate to emerging/early career route. It is here to nourish and ease you into why you should map out your journey, how to get comfortable with your goal setting, and lastly give you some ideas and examples of how to use SMART goals to create your own roadmap.

Part One: Who Am I?

Who am I? You asked.

I'm nobody. Is my art career popping off? Not really. I’m a first-generation migrant from Thailand, with no connection to the Art World. An oddball and stubborn as hell. I graduated from Manchester School of Art in 2015 with a Fine Arts degree and had a year or two out. In 2020, I created a Five Year Roadmap as a note to myself, to test how much and how far I can go by committing the next five years to my practice. By the end of 2025, if it doesn’t work out, I’ll get a ‘normal’ job. It would not be sad if it ends, at least I’m giving it a go.

The first year was surreal and full of firsts; I got my first paid commission with a public gallery, my first international show, my first studio, and my first artist talk and completed a Masters in Sound For Moving Image at Glasgow School of Art in 2021. By the beginning of the second year, I secured a residency in London, wrote and submitted a funding application, got funded for R&D work, and secured a paid residency. As of 2023, I’m in my third year -  I finished my R&D, working with new collaborators on paid projects for major public institutions in Glasgow. It’s crazy how much has happened.

I’m not writing to brag about my achievements. I’m writing these milestones out to highlight what could be possible in a year or two. When you’re persistent and commit your time to developing your career.

I care deeply about finding ways to sustain my art career, how can I make it work for me and how can I use my experience to advocate for choice. It’s up to you whether your art career lives or dies. No one else can make it for you.

Before we start, listen to Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield. Get yourself pumped because today is where your book begins.

Part Two: What is a roadmap?

A roadmap. A plan. A timeline, whatever you want to call it. Making one is easy, committing to it is something else.

A roadmap is often used in business to create structure and direction for growth. There’s no shame in wanting to grow and do well. It’s tough trying to establish yourself while having to make rent, repeatedly explaining that it’s more than a hobby and handling the application rejections.

Getting a plan in place helps you keep focused, track your progress, and keep yourself accountable for your goals. After all, you are the brand, you are the work - not just a maker.

Writing it out makes your chosen path less daunting. Instead of a giant lap, you can break it down into tiny steps making it feel more manageable. Another upside to this is it can be used as a point of reference when networking or applying for opportunities. When someone asks you “Where do you see yourself in five years?”  - you can whip out this career plan.

Part Three: What is an artist?

According to A-N, the largest artist’s membership organisation for visual and applied arts based in the UK:

‘Practising artists tend to be carrying out activities such as seeking to exhibit or sell their work in galleries and fairs, seeking or accepting commissions, selling to collectors, undertaking artists’ residencies and community projects and receiving artistic coverage through reviews, features and critical writing’

A-N offers practical information and insight into professional practice from the perspective of active working artists. Their mission is to stimulate and support contemporary visual arts practice and affirm the value of artists in society. In short, Artist’s work is work.

If you are unsure of where to start on your career planning journey and not as comfortable in giving yourself a title of an artist. I have brought forward A-N’s criteria for professional artists who should join the organisation.

Because of benefits like PPL and PI insurance, you must ensure you meet three of the following before joining:

• You hold a degree (or equivalent qualification) in a visual arts practice.

• You have held at least one public exhibition, installation or live art performance (other than a degree show) in the recent period.

• You have carried out on a paid-for basis at least one artist’s residency or community project in the recent period.

• You have sold art or craft work through a gallery, exhibition space or retail outlet in the recent period.

• Your work has been reviewed, featured or profiled in an arts magazine, website or other relevant publication.

• You are a current member of another professional body for artists such as the Contemporary Glass Society, DACS, and Royal Society of British Sculptors.

• Your work has been commissioned on a paid-for basis on at least one occasion by a public or private client.

• You have received at least one prize, grant, award or bursary in your capacity as a practising artist.

• You have had at least one work purchased for a public or a private collection.

You don’t have to meet these criteria yet, I thought it would be helpful in building your confidence and give you a rough idea of what an artist actually does. Feel free to use some of these points as a part of your career goals.

Part Four: What to Expect in the Upcoming Years

Year One: Starting out

The first year, you could be wrapping up your studies, feeling exhausted and searching for jobs. It’s overwhelming. You’re not sure what to do first or if it’s the right thing to do. Spend time learning about how you work and how much time you can commit to your practice.

To do: Give yourself a break, find a way to stay connected to your peers, flesh out your plan, research your local creative community, and see what kind of support you can get from your local area - for your health, finances and social.

Year Two: Pivoting

The second year is where you build the foundation for the upcoming years. This is an expansion of your first year in more detail. This is when you need to organise your life, do you need a studio? Can you afford one? What’s most important right now - paying the bills or making art?

To do: Get better at managing your money- know how much money you need to cover the essentials, how much time you need to set aside to earn that amount, establish an online presence - website building, digital portfolio, join a union, become your own studio manager, seek out opportunities, apply to them, find and secure a job that suits your needs.

Year Three: Establishing Your Presence

The third year is where anything can happen. Life may become unstable, you are tired of getting rejections, and at times you may want to call it quits. This year is the trial period for the new changes.

To do: Reflect on what you have achieved the past two years, stick it out - it will get better, find others that are on the same journey, build your support network, find your accountability buddy and keep going.

Year Four: Polishing Your Skills

By the end of the three years, you will be amazed at how far you’ve come and how much hardship you have overcome. If you are still struggling, now is the time to make adjustments. Figure out what’s holding you back, conserve your energy, and build an environment that harbours your creativity.

To do: Find what works best for you, ditch what’s not working, lean into new experiences, explore alternative opportunities and polish up your application writing skills.

Year Five: Becoming

Now, you should have a firm grasp of what works, what doesn’t and the kind of artist you are.

To do: Go full-time as an artist, and find a way to convert your skills into an earning.

Part Five: Get comfortable with goal setting

• Start small

You don’t have to think about the next five years. Start with small increments of time. What do you want to get done in the next week? a month? And three months? Give yourself some buffer time - if you know a task can be done in a month but you’ll be super stressed out, why not give yourself three months to do it?

• Goals can be as crazy as you like

Some goals may seem far-fetched or near-impossible, but those goals are the ones you need to keep. When something makes us feel uncomfortable, it usually means that it’s something we have never done before or don’t know how to do it. The goals that are outside of our comfort zones are the ones that will make us grow.

• Ask others

By stepping outside of your own comfort zone, you’ll inevitably find ways to soothe this anxious feeling. The more you know about how to achieve your goals, the better, and you can do this by reaching out to those who have completed it, researching, and talking to someone about it can help rationalise and alleviate this anxious feeling. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help. Just remember to pay it forward with what you’ve learned from others.

• Make it work in tandem with your life

When you understand what essentials you need to fulfill and how you are feeling it makes setting time aside to focus on career building less stressful to prevent burnouts. Your goals can include personal ones like getting a part-time job so you can spend more time working on your practice. Or go on a holiday to source inspiration. The choices you make in your daily life impact your practice too.

• Time-based vs. Objective-based

Time-based: goals with a fixed period.

E.g. I need to find a job within x month/s or launch a website within x month/s. Time-based goals are great when you have a tight schedule or juggling multiple things at once. By allocating a duration to it, you’ll better understand how time-consuming the task is. You might surprise yourself with how much you can get done in an hour!

Objective-based: goals that are centered on a task that does not have time-constraint. This tends to be a goal that requires additional steps to get there.

E.g. Secure a residency. To secure one, you’ll have to search for the right one, write, submit applications and secure funding. This could take months or years, you can start your goal-making based on an objective, and break it down into smaller to-do lists. You can apply the SMART principles to get these smaller tasks done.

• Be smart, use SMART

A mnemonic acronym is often used in project management to keep objectives on track. Let’s use the example of

“Get my first residency:”

• Specific: what is it, why are you doing it, where will it take place, who will it involve, and how will it help your practice?

A residency will give me time to focus on production, present myself more professionally and stay engaged with working artists.

• Measurable: what do you use to keep track of your progress, and how can you measure or keep track of your progress.

Spend one day a week collating suitable opportunities and one day a week submitting applications.

• Achievable: what actions will you need to take to achieve this goal?

Search and apply for residency opportunities on Creative Scotland, Instagram, A-N, axis and organisation newsletters.  Keep track of applications on Notion. Only applying to those that match my practice.

• Realistic & Relevant: will this goal benefit me and will it help me achieve my overall milestone.

This opportunity can be added to my CV, count towards continuous practice and allow me to produce new work.

• Time-based: How much time will you give to work towards this goal? Or How long do you think it will take? Give yourself a deadline.

Approximately 6-9 months, depending on the available residencies and whether they’re appropriate to apply.

As you can see some of the points are repeated or cross over, there’s no need to fill in every SMART objective.

Part Six: Create your dream career plan

It’s time to put this into practice!

Below is a rough outline of my roadmap that you can breeze through.

Remember: You don’t have to have as many goals per year, at least one will do. Then you can add more as the year progresses.

Still unsure about your goals? Check out the recommended section at the bottom of this page for goals inspirations.

2020/21: Getting Started (when I achieved them)

• ︎Get a paid commission (Mar 21)

• ︎Make a new piece of work (Aug 21)

• ︎Give an artist talk (Nov 20)

• ︎Get a studio (May 21)

• ︎Finish uni (Sep 21)

2021/22: Become a Freelancer

• ︎Register as Self-Employed for UTR number (Jan 22)

• ︎Quit Hospitality (Jan 22)

• ︎Gain more connections outside of the studio (Mar/Apr 22)

• ︎Get my first residency (Feb 22)

• ︎Do something in London (Feb 22)

• ︎Submit a funding application (Jan 22)

• ︎Get funding for R&D (Apr 22)

2022/23: Establishing Presence & Developing Artistically

• ︎Get a paid opportunity (Oct 22)

• ︎Develop artistically by adding context to my work (Nov 22)

• Write better (maybe an essay to accompany the work?)

• FINISH MORE THAN ONE PROJECT! (oct 23)

2023/24: Paid Opportunities

• Start applying for international residencies

• Host a workshop (oct 23)

• Write funding application for production

• A solo exhibition

2024/25: full-time artist / PhD?

• Apply for a PhD?

• Selling my skills, using creative coding & spatial audio skills to generate income

There’s no more reading to be done, let’s get cracking! Wishing you all the best in your future :)