Artist Meredith Nemirov joins host Alyson Stanfield to walk through how she built a rare sold-out show — not by luck, but by design. Starting with a short proposal to a national nonprofit before she ever approached her gallery, Meredith assembled six collaborators, two opening nights, and a donation structure that gave everyone a reason to say yes.

Meredith reveals:

• Why she approached a national nonprofit before she walked into her own gallery
• The three options she gave American Rivers for the collaboration
• How the gallery staff went far beyond hanging the work, and why it mattered
• The missed opportunity she'd handle differently next time
• How having people depending on her changed what happened in the studio

Connect with Meredith

Visit this episode's page for all resources

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The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

The daily work of running an art business always feels urgent. The strategic work doesn't. So it waits.

But postponing that deeper evaluation isn't okay.

In this solo episode, host Alyson Stanfield names five specific costs that accumulate when the strategic work keeps getting pushed to next month, next quarter, next year.

In this episode:

• Why tactical delays and strategic delays are two different problems
• The question Alyson asks every client when a deadline feels far away
• What it means to leave money on the table, and why it's such an easy cost to ignore
• How unresolved strategic questions become a constant tax on your attention
• Why execution without direction is just activity
• What happens psychologically every day you don't begin the work you've been putting off

Resources & links

• Stop Being Busy. Start Being Strategic. (258)
• Do You Have the Art Business You Actually Want? (259)
• The Art Business Self-Assessment Every Artist Should Do (260)

Read more in depth, get links, and see featured artists

Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

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The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

My Art Business Assessment — Used with Every Client 50%

In this solo episode of The Art Biz, host Alyson Stanfield introduces the 3-zone framework she uses with every private client to assess where an art business actually stands.

It's the same structure at the heart of the Art Business Reset workshop, and this episode is your chance to walk through it on your own.

Alyson covers:

• The question she asks before any strategy conversation
• The 3 zones that account for everything you do to build your art business outside of making the work: Outreach, Presence, and Systems
• The breakdown of what each zone covers and questions to ask for your assessment
• Why you can't neglect in-person networking and follow-up

Mentioned

Do You Have the Art Business You Actually Want? (259)

Stop Being Busy, Start Being Strategic (258)

Art Business Reset on March 31, 2026

Read more, get mentioned resources, and see featured artists

Email Alyson to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

Most artists didn't design their art business — they drifted into it. In this solo episode, Art Biz host Alyson Stanfield invites you to slow down long enough to ask a question most artists never take time to ask: if you were starting fresh today, would you build it this way?

In this episode, Alyson covers:

• Why most artists are running a business they drifted into rather than designed — and why that matters
• What a business model actually is (and why you already have one whether you designed it or not)
• The difference between examining your business and evaluating it, and why the order matters
• The foundational question she asks every new private client before anything else
• The six areas to examine when you're ready to take honest stock of what you've built

Read more, get links, and see featured artists

Mentioned

Stop Being Busy, Start Being Strategic (258)

When You Want to Sell More Original Art (257)

Beyond Information: Why Artists Need Frameworks (251)

Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term art career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

Being busy is boring.

In episode 258 of The Art Biz, host Alyson Stanfield makes the case that most artists are so deep in execution mode that they never step back to evaluate, redirect, or ask whether any of it is actually working. This episode draws a clear line between working IN your art business and working ON it, and explains why both matter, but one gets almost all of the attention.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why execution without direction is just activity, and what it costs you.
• The side-by-side difference between IN and ON work across four common artist tasks
• The two failure modes: too much IN (reactive, no filter) and too much ON (perfect systems, no execution)
• What working ON your business actually looks like in practice, including the questions to ask
• Why multi-year plans have lost their usefulness, and what to hold onto instead

QUESTIONS TO ASK IN YOUR "ON" TIME

• What is actually working — and why?
• Is this still where I want to go — and why?
• What on my to-do list no longer serves me?
• What has the best potential for a long-term payoff?
• Where am I playing it too safe?
• How can I enjoy my art business even more?

Read more, get links, and see featured artists

Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

Selling products — giclées, pillows, aprons, notebooks — made sense when you started. But if you've been asking how to sell more original art and not getting traction, something may need to shift.

Host Alyson Stanfield draws on her background as a museum curator and educator to explore what actually gets in the way and what to do about it.

In this episode:

• Why the pivot to products is understandable, and when it starts working against you
• The fear that drives you away from leading with originals
• What collectors are actually buying when they choose to live with original art
• The screen equalization problem: why your $4,000 painting and your $40 print look identical online (and what to do about it)
• Two tactics for selling more original art

Read more, get links, and see featured artists

Check out Elevate Your Art: Museum-Quality Standards That Command Higher Prices

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The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

Artist and tax advisor Hannah Cole knows firsthand how shame can poison an artist's relationship with money. When her dad's accountant asked "When are you gonna get a real job?" instead of helping her understand quarterly taxes, she experienced the dismissal that makes so many artists avoid financial conversations altogether.

In this episode, host Alyson Stanfield and Hannah explore why artists develop allergies to money talk and what it takes to build confidence with your numbers.

Hannah reveals:

• Why "when are you gonna get a real job?" creates a lasting money allergy
• How believing money corrupts prevents you from advocating for fair pay
• Her ritual for making bookkeeping feel like self-care instead of dread
• Why you must have a separate bank account for your art biz
• What losing 20 years of art in a hurricane revealed about capitalism and grief

Connect with Hannah:

SunlightTax.com

The Sunlight Tax podcast

LinkedIn: Hannah Cole

Instagram: @sunlighttax

Tiktok: Sunlight Tax

Youtube: Sunlight Tax

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The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

Daniel Sipe and Karlë Woods didn't set out to start an arts organization. They just wanted to talk to artists during the pandemic. Four years later, Lights Out has produced 95 artist documentaries, thrown 18 popup exhibitions across Maine, and built a funding model that includes everything from $10 monthly donors to six-figure state contracts.

Their story, shared with host Alyson Stanfield, offers a masterclass in starting before you're ready, investing in what matters (yes, including marketing), and building something sustainable through collaboration rather than competition. They reveal:

• Why a power outage became the best thing that could have happened at their first art show
• The $800 investment that felt reckless at the time but proved essential to their credibility
• How they turned what could be seen as competition into their superpower
• The state contract that nearly bankrupted them before it saved them
• The simplest way artists can support arts organizations in their communities

Read more, see images, find resources mentioned

Connect with Lights Out

Website

Videos on YouTube

Instagram

Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

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The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.