PROSPEROUS CITIES FOR ARTISTS TO LIVE

1. Operate as a business not as a hobby. Register to make your business official. The IRS limits deductions that operate as a hobby.

2. Apply for an EIN and create an LLC. You can still take deductions even as a sole proprietor but having an LLC has more advantages if you decide to be taxed as an S-Corporation.

3. Have a bookkeeping software in place. QuickBooks or Wave are great tools to streamline and track all your business income and expenses. This will also help during tax time to easily get financial statements to your tax preparer.

4. Keep your business finances separate from personal by opening a business bank account and use it strictly for business purposes

5. Once you form an LLC it is your duty as a business owner to protect it. You’re piercing the corporate veil by commingling funds! Doing so can have a negative impact on your LLC.

6. File & Pay your taxes on time to avoid interests and penalties. Filing late incurs a 5% penalty per month and not paying your taxes incurs a penalty of 0.5% of the smiling owed. It adds up! Take advantage of tax write offs and save money! Tax write offs or deductions reduce your taxable income. Keep receipts of every expense.

7. Home office - deduct the space dedicated for business use only. You can also deduct the actual home office expense like utilities, rent etc

8. Advertising & marketing - expenses to promote your business. Social media ads, business cards, logos, websites etc.

9. Materials & supplies- as an artist your work rely on materials to produce your work like canvas, paint, brushes, etc

10. Vehicle - actual vehicle expenses like gas, repairs and maintenance or take the standard mileage (the total business mileage). Make sure you download a mileage app to track your mileage easily!

Famous Artists That Died Poor

Art can be a very lucrative career, many artist have amassed great wealth. However, the opposite is true as well. Many artists in the past were “starving artists” and unfortunately died poor, like the lists of artists below.

V A N G O G H

J O H A N N E S V E R M E E R Born March 30, 1853, in the Netherlands— Vincent Van Gogh is famous for his paintings “The Starry Night,” “Wheat field with leaves,” “Sunflowers” and many more works somewhere near 2,000 pieces were created. Today Van Gogh’s top three selling pieces amass a total of approximately 280 million dollars. Sadly, Van Gogh only sold one painting throughout his lifetime and died in 1890, at 37 years old by a self inflicted gunshot wound. Never seeing any wealth from his art.

Johannes Vermeer was born in 1682, in the Netherlands. Vermeer was born into substantial wealth.Vermeer painted only 35 paintings during his career as an artist. A few of Vermeer’s notable paintings were “Girl with the pearl earring.” “The art of painting” and “The milkmaid”. Vermeer’s top paintings sell close to approximately 30 million dollars each. Unfortunately, struggling in debt with a failed art career— in 1675, Vermeer died. Never touching his wealth or relishing in his fame that his art has earned him today.

C L A U D E M O N E T

E L G R E C O

W I L L I A M B L A K E Born in 1840 in Paris, France— Monet was raised near the Normandy Coast, which is where his connection to landscape & outdoors originates from. Monet receives praises for being a pioneer and leader of the impressionist movement— a few of his most famous pieces are “Impression Sunrise,” “Woman with a parasol,” and “Water lilies in bloom”. Todays Monets top three sold pieces total near 274 million.

El Greco was born in 1541 and died in 1614– he is considered an important icon in art history. El Greco’s paintings contain a unique style that has influenced generations of artists since his death. El Greco was also known for being eccentric, and was often ridiculed for his appearance and behavior. During his lifetime, he sold few paintings and died poor. If he were alive today he would have earned approximately 14 million dollars from his painting “Prayer of St. Dominic” which sold at a Sotheby’s auction in 2013.

William Blake was born in London in 1757. Blake was a poet and painter who despised the political system of his time.

In fact, he said that I “must create my own system or be enslaved by another man’s.” Despite his efforts to make his work known, Blake died without wealth due to poor sales of his art. In 2019, a 19 piece watercolor painting series was sold for 5 million.

The of

DISCLAIMER: I am not a financial advisor, this is not financial advice. Please see a Certified Financial Advisor for retirement and investment planning advice.

or artists, making art is a rewarding passion. It’s how they pay their bills, put food on the table, and clothing on their backs. But as the years pass and age becomes more relevant, will creating art to survive still be attractive and attainable? If you answered yes, that’s Great! After all, making art is a passion. But having something to fall back on isn’t a bad idea either. That’s where a sound retirement plan can provide you with a comfortable financial cushion for your golden years. According to a recent study by PWC 1 in 4 Americans have no retirement savings and a large portion doesn’t even know how much money they’ll need in order to retire comfortably. The good news is that it’s never too late to begin saving for retirement.There are several different options available for self employed individuals like artists and entrepreneurs such as Traditional IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts), Solo 401(k), and SEP (Simplified Employee Pension).

You may have heard the phrase “starving artist,” but that doesn’t mean you have to be one. As an artist, you face unique challenges when it comes to retirement planning—but those challenges aren’t insurmountable.

You may not have access to an employer-sponsored plan, or your income may be irregular, but there are still plenty of options for you to use in order to get ready for retirement. Here are some solutions that may work for artists:

*An IRA (Individual Retirement Account): An IRA is a type of account that lets you put money aside tax-free so that it can grow over time. It’s especially useful if your income isn’t consistent because the money in an IRA grows tax free until withdrawal—so even if you make a lot one year and very little the next year, you can still take advantage of that tax break! It’s also easy—you can open one with just $250!

*A SEP IRA (Simplified Employee Pension Plan): Is like an IRA but it’s designed specifically for small businesses and freelancers who want the benefits of an IRA without having their own business structure, this is a good option for saving up for retirement!

*A Solo 401(k): A solo 401(k) is a retirement account designed for selfemployed individuals or business owners with no full-time employees. It offers high savings potential and efficient ways to save for retirement.

The truth is whether your an artist or entrepreneur retirement plans and pensions are important. They provide tax deductions, access to loans, financial security in retirement and tax-free growth. They also offer a safe return on investments and the ability to extract profits from their business in a tax-efficient way. Additionally, they ensure that artists and entrepreneurs can fund the retirement they want—but these these retirement plans won’t work unless you start planning now! If you haven’t started thinking about retirement yet, talk to a Certified financial advisor to see what options best fit your financial situation.

The Sacramento Art Cooperative Breaking New Foreground

Working art studio and show space highlights multimedia artists of all levels.

By Katerina Graziosi

Elijah Pitts elicits laughs from his fellow artists as he describes their quartercentury-old cooperative as a “free-rolling hippie commune.”

Pitts, a glassblower, believes a supportive environment is critical to the development of any artist.

“I think it’s really important,” Pitts said. “Personally, I want that to be one of the cornerstones of what we do here is to encourage people to find their art and present it to the world, because art in your closet at home is kind of pointless.”

Since 1995, The Art Studios in Sacramento has cultivated an inclusive work and exhibit space currently shared by 16 resident artists who produce and display a variety of works in collective studios that focus on encouraging and nurturing the drive to create art.

Despite having formed years ago, The Art Studios is still developing what it means to be a cooperative without the bureaucracy of a traditional gallery, having made a more serious effort to define its affiliation over the last two years, according to Pitts.

Pitts’ discussing the 25 year hsitory of The Art Studios. Photo: Eddie Walker

“We’re not a gallery,” Pitts, who became involved with the studios in 1998, said. “I don’t want to be the gatekeeper or the adjudicator to see who’s good enough to be in [it].”

In addition to rejecting any appraisal process that is oftentimes a barrier for artists seeking a more formal exhibition space, Pitts said the cooperative does not take a commission from art sales as doing so would be antithetical to its artist-centered mission.

“We need to turn a profit,” Pitts said about the reality of operating a shared workspace. “But we want to avoid that gallery model where we take 40% or 50%... that’s kind of contra to being accepting and nurturing.”

Originally one large room, the building at 1727 I Street – tucked behind Michelangelo’s restaurant – has been subdivided into four studios within a larger communal studio and exhibition space. Pitts said the cooperative has participated in Sacramento’s Second Saturday art walks since its formation.

Acrylic and watercolor painter, Lori Franz, said each studio collectively covers rent between the artists which includes a maintenance fee for studio

Franz said that although the cooperative has only rented out its space publicly once before, the guest artist’s solo show was very successful.

“We’d like to offer that opportunity a little more broadly,” Franz said, adding that more structure within the cooperative would be needed to support solo exhibitions. “We’d like more people to know about us and more artists to have access.”

supplies and upkeep.

Franz sharing future plans of The Art Studios. Photo: Eddie Walker