by Greg Lincoln
The SouthWest Alaska Arts Group, or SWAAG, is sponsoring the Best in the West Artist Entrepreneurship Program for aspiring artists of all levels of experience.
This grant is an individual artist award through an annual competition that provides training and a financial reward to selected artist entrepreneurs that are ready to move their business ideas forward in the YK region of Alaska.
Do you sell your art? If yes, this might be the next step for you.
The Best in the West Artist Entrepreneurship Program has a screening application where you share the basics of your business idea. The first question is, are you an artist and/or culture bearer and will your business focus within the arts and culture sector?
The options listed for your art discipline include, but are not limited to: indigenous arts, performing arts, visual arts, literary arts, choreography/dance, music/composition, culinary arts, multidisciplinary, and other.
Do you have a name or proposed name for your art business? Are you a first time business owner? These are some of the questions on the screening application. You can access this online through the SouthWest Alaska Arts Group facebook page, applications are due on August 30th.
The YK delta region is full of artists – you may know some or many, you might even be one and have been now or in the past. Everyone has the ability to create art within them. It is an inherent gift that we all possess. The artwork from our region is unique, incredible, and portrays the relationship our people have with our beloved land, animals, and our way of life.
This program helps our traditional Yup’ik arts continue on into the future. It inspires and motivates new artists to keep going forward in their development as culture bearers. Many artforms are in danger of disappearing from disuse and from forgetting how things are made because they are not practiced anymore. When that happens it becomes very difficult to revive.
