The Business of Art with Ryan Kauth: Episode 1

In 2014, I moved to Green Bay, WI with an existing creative business. When it came time to take my little business to a new area, I had no idea how to access market events, what was worth the time to set up at, and honestly what even existed for an artist or creative in my community. The following summer, I walked a local Farmer’s Market, seeking to identify individuals with similar business models who would also be willing to chat with me in peer-to-peer fashion. And thus, the baby steps towards the creation of the Green Bay based non-profit “SAGE” was born. I make regular reference to SAGE in these episodes. In short, it’s my soul project. In 2017 a small group of creative business owners took the online conversation we’d been having to a public space. We began inviting other individuals, gradually grew to have a regular location in the downtown Green Bay area, and in 2019 filed with the federal government to become a registered 501(c)3 non-profit. Regular conversations to this day center around the business aspects of being an artist and a creative, from the nitty gritty formalities to the more pleasant space of authentically branding ourselves and creating what we want to give the world, not what society would tell us has greatest sale potential. The peer-to-peer aspect of our organization is foundational, and we have a keen understanding of the importance and personal purpose of holding space to lift others up. As I refer to holding space for others, it’s important that I recognize those who have held space for me. Shortly after becoming a registered non-profit, I met Ryan Kauth through SAGE’s first fundraising event. A professor of entrepreneurship at the time, these days Ryan gets to have a little fun hosting his own podcast, “The Fractional Executive”. Over the last five years, Ryan and I have managed to make periodic “check ins” with each other, and I identified him as a mentor towards my own growth and knowledge base, particularly in the field of economics and business strategy. Where my ideas and concepts find me off in the clouds from time to time, conversations with Ryan are grounding and at the same time encouraging as to the importance of creative thinking within business planning and long-term goals. Inviting him to a session of “Warm Up to the Mic”, SAGE’s live podcast recording event, was quite intentional; once again I found myself wanting to take a conversation to a public space. I’ve always looked at art and business as standing across from each other with a raging river dividing us, but its conversations like these that show me there are well built bridges for us to move back and forth and interact with each other. The point is finding where those bridges have been built and accessing them for the benefit of not just the parties involved, but the rest of the folks seeking those connections. - Stacey