Do the top 42 art schools don't care if you learn how to sell your art?

(Transcript)

 

Who is Ann Rea?

Ann Rea: 00:04 Hi there, my name is Ann Rea and this is Rebel Rea and I’m the creator of the Making Art Making Money program, and I’m also an artist. I just wanted to say hello because usually what I do is I show my students faces. And this week I wanted to show you mine, and talk to you a little bit about this subject; which is why art schools hate me so much.

Why do you only show your students?

Ann Rea: 00:29 My students are my brand’s hero. I never wanted to build a “personal brand” for the Making Art Making Money program. I wanted to really showcase the accomplishments of my students. But this week I’m making an exception.

Why are you making an exception?

Ann Rea: 00:46 I want to talk to you about the reason why the top 42 art and design schools in North America hate my guts. (Well, apparently she doesn’t) And give you a little bit of background on how I learned this.

Do you mean all art schools?

Ann Rea: 01:04 I do want to say that I do have tenured art school professors in my program, including Harvard Faculty, and this message is not at all directed to them. This isn’t a black and white thing, but it was pretty startling; the response that I got.

What happened?

Ann Rea: 01:22 I reached out to the top 42 art and design schools in North America by writing them a letter and proposing that I offer their alumni, not their students, but their alumni, some free classes and then if the students were so inclined they could apply to enroll in this program. So in my mind it really set up a win-win scenario.

What was the response?

Ann Rea: 01:46 So I sent out the letters and I followed each and every one of them up with a personal phone call and I got one of three responses. The first response was hate! I mean really rude, caustic behavior, and if you’re one of those art schools who got my letter, you know who you are, and as they say ‘the path to hell is paved with good intentions’.

What was the other responses?

Ann Rea: 02:14 Some art schools, and you know who you are, tried to actually steal my program. They wanted access to the entire program and everything that I have copyright on. I said “No! you should know better.”

What was the other response?

Ann Rea: 02:32 The third response was they actually, (and this is a much smaller group of people who were already following me and loved the whole idea) but the problem was the title Making Art Making Money and I talked at length to one woman, who was actually lovely, who headed the career office and an art school, a well known art school, and she said, I would absolutely love to offer this resource to our alumni. But the problem is is that if I go to our administration and I put Making Art Making Money in the same sentence, I could lose my job.

Why do artists need this education?

Ann Rea: 03:18 There is nothing more affirming for an artist than to sell their art. They have every right to earn a living.

Why are some artists conflicted?

Ann Rea: 03:26 They think that somehow if they sell their art, they’ll compromise the integrity of what they’re creating. Look, I’m all for, and I absolutely believe that you must maintain your integrity. You must maintain your values if you’re going to be happy, but they don’t understand about the 4-Part Code. So I get their confusion.

How do you know what art professors think?

Ann Rea: 03:47 I have tenured art professors in this program who have admitted to me that they have a requirement to show their work at curated exhibitions. Do they ever sell their work? No, they don’t and their colleagues don’t either. And if anybody does they’re often met with a lot of really just harsh and destructive criticism.

What happened to you in art school?

Ann Rea: 04:21 I’ve always had a rub with the art establishment and arts schools

QUESTION: 04:28 What happened?

Ann Rea: 04:29 My experience when I was an industrial design student, and this was many years ago, was that it was mostly white men who were in the program. There were a couple of minorities and there were a few women and we all started to complain to one another that we weren’t getting enough time and attention from our art professors and we weren’t getting valuable internships. Internships are pretty important when you’re an industrial design student because they can lead to a permanent job. I found my own internships and it worked out, but I realized that we were just sitting there bitching and moaning about not getting enough time and attention from our professors and we weren’t really doing anything about it

What did you do?

Ann Rea: 05:15 So I said; hey, why don’t you just simply all log the amount of time that you get with each professor and then log the time that the other students who they favor were getting. So we did that and we just showed them the math. Oh my God.

What happened to you?

Ann Rea: 05:34 The head of the design department at the Cleveland Institute of Art, Mr. Hess, tried to get all of my scholarships pulled, and fortunately, the man who ran the student aid department made me aware of it. So I approached Mr. Hess and I asked him to come to lunch with me and then I suggested that he order a Martini.

Why did he need a drink?

Ann Rea: 06:03 I said: I’m going to be real straight with you. You either restore my scholarships and you do it today, or I’m just going to take this to the press and I’m going to take these time logs to the press. It’s going to be a fascinating story. It’s not only going to hurt the Cleveland Institute of art, it’s going to hurt your design firm. So lo and behold, that same day, all the threats to remove my scholarships were gone. Now, there was still a lot of hostility from, frankly the white male students, and the art professors just lawyered up.

What should they have done?

Ann Rea: 06:43 Instead of just addressing the problem, which is, they obviously felt more comfortable and favored people who are like them, other young white dudes and whatever reason they had very unconscious or a very conscious bias against their female and minority students. The problem, was that we had all paid the same amount in tuition and we were all going into the same amount of student loan debt, so it wasn’t fair.

How have you responded?

Ann Rea: 07:21 So I’ve kind of carried this around and I thought; how can we make it fair?

What inspired your program?

Ann Rea: 07:26 I never set out to start the Making Art Making Money program. I came to San Francisco in 2005 with a goal to sell over $100,000 of my art, which I did, and I started to receive national press attention. From that national press attention artists started coming to me asking for help. Then I learned that my intern had amassed over $200,000 worth of student loan and credit card debt, and all she had was a bachelor’s in fine art illustration, no marketable skills and no real direction about what she was going to do next. It pissed me off

Then what happened?

Ann Rea: 08:07 It was that moment that really sparked the inspiration from the Making Art Making Money program

What keeps you inspired?

Ann Rea: 08:15 What keeps me inspired, are my students. When I see them taking their power back and I see them increasing their focus and their confidence and really creating offerings that have true meaning to their customers. There’s no selling out. They’re really doing something that is based in their souls truth that serves their life’s mission and really they never have to compete with another artist for the rest of their lives. Because what each one of my students do is so very unique.

24 Responses

  1. Ann, I’ve been reading your post for a long time and have found them very valuable. However, I’ve always felt that you were more interested in helping women than men. This latest post about white people (men) has now convinced me that your course is more for women than men although, I know you offer these courses to men. If you see the world as being unfair to women and advantages to men, you’re doing the same thing that that school did to you. I could be wrong, but I sense a hostility towards white men that’s hidden but just leaked out. I hope I’m wrong. You probably won’t believe this, but I think you do a great service to artist and would recommend your course to anyone who would ask… even men.

    Frank

    1. Frank,

      I made references to my very real and very painful direct experiences with white men who abused their power.

      Are you really twisting this into a blanket statement about all white men and or you?

      I highly recommend that you read The 4-Four Agreements. One agreement is to not take things personally.

      I have several male students and I welcome anyone to apply as long as they are ready to do the work and to contribute.

      That said. The fact is that women invest in their education at a much higher rate and many more women are graduating from college than men.

      Consequently, far more women apply to enroll in my program.

      Exactly how does this make YOU, or any other man, a victim?

      Ann

      1. Exactly- You expose your bigotry by pointing out they are white men. Do you mention the sex or race of others who do you wrong? I know you wouldn’t answer that question honestly, so don’t bother.

        As for not taking things seriously – why don’t you try that for once instead of demanding it from other people. It’s a cheap tactic to avoid defending your vile ideas..

        Typical SJW hypocrisy. Typical SJW victim mentality. Typical SJW “man bad-woman good thinking.

        1. Welllll um. They were “white men” and I shared a pattern of discrimination only experienced by those who were NOT white men and this was confirmed by measurable evidence.

          Are you really trying to assert that discrimination does not exist?

          Maybe that’s because you haven’t actually been on the receiving end of it?

          Really? SJW+ Social justice warrior is a pejorative term for an individual who promotes socially progressive views, including feminism, civil rights, and multiculturalism, as well as identity politics.

          Yikes. Why are you so angry and insulting?

          To your openly hostile response, I’ll quote Shakespeare. “The lady doth protestith too much.” 😉

          In other words, your aggressive defensiveness and stern denial are revealing much more about you than it is saying about me.

          If you find fairness and decency “vile” good luck to you.

    2. Wow. Trolls even on this platform. Hang in, Ann. I just randomly was reading a link in my email to your program and stumbled on these comments. White male privilege can’t recognize itself without some self reflection.

      As a woman graduating from school in the dark ages with a BFA in graphic design from a top university, I looked in the paper for jobs under “male help wanted”. Called about one job and the response was “Oh, I wasn’t looking for a girl.” I talked the guy into an interview anyway, but sat for an hour listening to how he couldn’t hire a girl. (the other employees would be uncomfortable, they couldn’t swear or I guess, scratch their butts). Not exactly the same as Ann’s experience, but close. I had a friend in Chemistry who was told by her male professor that he would fail her out because a woman didn’t belong in Chemistry. She graduated with a 4.0.

      Please. Ann’s experience is just an updated version of the same blindness.

      That said, the professors when I was in school seemed very fair. One even encouraged me to go into industrial design because the field needed women.

  2. Ann – you’ve gone down the ‘hate-white-men’ road and it is going to harm you badly. Stick to teaching artists how to make money and keep out of identity politics. Once you take sides in politics or social issues you automatically loose a good chunk of your prospective customer base and you are just left with those of the same political and social persuasions.
    By the way, your answer to Frank is over the top – he did not use the word victim.
    Mike

    1. Seriously? Where oh where did you get that I hate white men?

      Your response is just fascinating, twisting my personal story about how I came to help artists into somehow me taking “sides politically?” Whaaaaa?

      What politics?

      As important as you are Mike, this story is just not about you, or Frank, or white men, or anyone other than me 😉

      1. Whaaaaa? LOL. It’s typical that people take your experience and twist it to make it personal especially if the group you’re addressing are of the male gender. Nothing new coming from the offended man. God forbid if we should actually tell our story and choose to live our unique authentic purpose driven life outside of the art establishment and educational system that bludgeoned us or discriminated agains us because, we didn’t worship the male ego. The male ego that fills the halls of art schools. At Kwanten University from the Fine Art to the Graphic Design Degree the teachers that stayed on were all male during my term. They wouldn’t even hire women in the 1990’s. If they did it would be very short term. We had amazing talented female artist in our university the were discouraged, swept under the rug, given average marks, while men with half the capacity or talent were aced through the design programs.

        One fellow showed up with a poster of a yellow happy face to get and A, while some amazing posters designs were given mere C’s. The C’s were all given to women. The only people claiming there is no discrimination against women in art school are in fact the men in my experience.

        Frankly cheers to you for stepping out and mentoring all artist…Men and Women. You obviously has some enemies out there in the male camp…What’s new. Typical response to your experience. Just water of a SWAN’s feathers! You’re a Swan for caring for all of us artists. Keep up the great work…

        Susan, Swan

  3. Ann is explaining the reason why she started her program, she wanted to help others (and defend herself for something UNFAIR) The problems at the University and the way things were, led her to become a mentor. She is just writing her experience with those specific white males. I don’t think she hates men at all. As she said, don’t take this personally. You either like her and her program or not, but don’t attack her. She is not attacking ALL white males, she is talking about a specific group of men and not attacking, only stating the facts. And this program is not only for women.

  4. Just as a man, didn’t get the hate white men thing from you, simply describing your experience and your solution. You have never come across as a women’s only program – just saying.
    Adam

  5. Dear Ann,
    I too have been very moved by your story and that you help People (artists) overcome and become successful. After all of the posts and podcasts, it is perplexing how the two individuals above feel that you hate men. I have never heard you refer to any gender, race, or religion with distain. You have refered to individuals
    When i went to art school my teachers were mostly men and yes they were caucasian. My bosses were men, that is how it was years ago. I am sure i am much older than you Ann (but definitely not as smart or as brave). You inspire many people, men and women.
    It is beyond me how someone can take the information you share and distort in such a negative way.
    i love your comment Ann, you did sum it up!

  6. Very interesting !! I attended a college and got a bfa in metals southern illinois uni carbondale It has always been somewhat of a struggle . I got a student job then thought if i cant make more than this w my art why am i doing this ???!?!! So i started doing commissions mostly earrings
    But still did many many drawings in clubs . Success finally came with fountain pens with the help of my girlfriend a wonderful time
    I was a vendor for exclusive designs for NM and made No 1 and 2 gifts for the book
    Then NM got out of the pen business . Back to struggles.
    Yes men control very much
    But women yield much power
    Perhaps more in many ways
    Thanks very much for sharing your stories — if i had a girlfriend like you we would soon be driving the bentley again . Meanwhile I am selling
    Trombones

  7. Frank and Mike – I think you both need to LISTEN again to what Ann actually says because you may not like to hear this but you have got it very wrong .

  8. Ann, as an introvert that is not very vocal, I deeply admire your ability to stand your ground. I believe it is so important to not project your personal beliefs onto others. It takes courage, awareness, integrity and objectivity to be this strong. I am proud to be associated with you! I love this course and happily advertise its genuine approach to anyone is a creative type!! Stand proud!!! You’ve earned it!!

  9. Ann, it takes a huge amount of courage, awareness, integrity and objectivity to respond to such inflammatory projections. I’m proud to be a member of MAMM. Thank you for standing up for what is right.

  10. My observation is artists don’t know and don’t like to sell. It doesn’t help that their tenured professors aren’t really selling but doing what the university requires them to do, which is to show, publish, and provide service and teach for advancement. As an artist, you have to leave that environment to figure it out for yourself. Its a by the seat of your pants affair for the most part. But it doesn’t need to be that way. For all the change that has happened since NAFTA, the market place is a little more democratic with the internet as a giant platform. But you have to learn how to use it. It continues to change. You must change also. Social media offers the greatest way to spread your message and work if you are willing to learn how to use it and to understand how ads work online. Having a web site has never been a way to drive traffic. Your web site us a funnel and you have to go outside to bring people in. And ypu have to do it well, just like the discipline you bring to your art work. I too am an SIU-C grad.

    So anyone who is willing to share what they know and to share their experience is wonderful. Having someone who knows the new field and lay of the land is an inportant resource. I taught the business of art in a graduate class a few years ago and honestly, it needed to be a two-semester course not one. It needed to go heyond the resume, cover letter, and portfolio we were taught to do. I tried to include more in my class but every student said they wanted to go on to teach once they got their MFA’s. Mercy. Huston, we have a problem.

    So take your skill and gifts seriously, but if you are so thin-skinned that you can’t stand to hear the straight dope, maybe this whole thing isn’t for you. What is going to hapoen when you get incredibly dismissive comments from visitors to your gallery, studio, or web site? You are lucky to have what you do, now go embrace the world with your greatness instead of your smallness.

    Personally, I’d LOVE to be involved in learning from and teaching with Ann Rea. Things gotta change…and they will change with or without you. Man. That sounded like a commercial, no? Thing is, I know this to be true. I have seen Ann’s stuff and it all looks solid, everything she has passed on. This is the stuff we all missed.

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