Business for Artists Conference 2026

Sarah Melnick (née Van Sciver) is a multimedia artist and educator. A vocalist, pianist, harpist, ukulele player, technical director, conductor/music director, songwriter, and composer-performer, she writes, arranges, records, and produces music, sound, images, videos, and projection designs for concert, opera, film/TV, theatre, and studio album productions. Selected credits include crafting score, songs, and sound for the film Strange as Angels (Born Lucky Studios;) composing music for stage plays The Magnus Effect and Fifty Days at Iliam (Greenfield Collective) and for operas Shadow House (Philadelphia Opera Collective) and RUBBISH (CalArts New Works Festival;) releasing original music albums Ophelia’s Song, Overture to an Adventure, and Puzzle Pieces; and premiering Girondines, an opera with libretto by Kirsten C. Kunkle for which Sarah composed all music and designed all sound and projection elements, premiered in-concert with Wilmington Concert Opera in 2022 and fully-staged with Mission Opera in 2023. Proudly mentoring aspiring, emerging, and established artists. Sarah empowers fellow creatives to bolster and balance making art, making a living, and making a difference. In her role on the California Institute of the Arts Patty Disney Center for Life & Work team, Sarah produces the Institute’s Career Fair, manages the internship-for-academic-credit program, and facilitates dozens of field trips, guest lectures, and workshops as well as hundreds of 1:1 advising sessions each year. Sarah helps CalArtians build strategies, skills, portfolios, connections, and community to explore and enhance career outcomes in performing, visual, digital, immersive, and literary arts. Sarah holds a Performer-Composer MFA from CalArts, a Professional Certificate from Berklee, and a Music BA from the University of Pennsylvania.

Job+ Search Strategies for Artists

Session Description:A career in the arts can take many forms; and more often than not, artists experience that the juggle is real. Building a sustainable creative practice requires more than searching traditional job boards. This presentation offers practical tools and proven approaches for finding and securing a wide range of not only jobs, but also internships, apprenticeships, residencies, grants, funding, and freelance opportunities. Learn how to uncover hidden roles, build authentic connections as you network, tailor application materials, and make the most of outreach, online platforms, and industry resources. Whether you’re launching, pivoting, expanding, or simply exploring your career, you’ll leave with actionable strategies and resources to navigate the evolving arts economy with greater confidence, clarity, and purpose.

Ray Beldner has worked in art education and marketing for the last 25 years with the goal of inspiring people to create, value, and support the visual arts. As an artist, he has exhibited in more than 30 solo shows and over 100 group exhibitions, both nationally and internationally, and his artwork can be found in numerous public and private collections including the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and the Federal Reserve Board, Washington DC; the Saks Fifth Ave Collection, New York; and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, among many others. At several Bay Area colleges and universities, he taught courses in sculpture and installation art, conceptual art, and professional practices for artists. Ray is also a fine art appraiser and art collection manager and advisor.

Stop Waiting for Permission: The New Artist Entrepreneur

Session Description:In 2026, artists cannot rely on galleries, institutions, or luck to build a career. The most successful artists today are thinking like entrepreneurs: generating opportunities, expanding visibility, and creating sustainable systems for their creative lives. This session provides a practical, inspiring roadmap for artists who want to take ownership of their careers. Drawing on my experience as an exhibiting artist, professional practices instructor, and founder/director of Startup Art Fair and Startup Studio, I’ll walk artists through strategies that actually work in today’s creative economy, without requiring a massive audience, a big budget, or gatekeeper approval.

John DeMena is an artist from Los Angeles known for his unique blend of cinematic rock, flamenco, and electronic music. He has toured the USA, Spain, and Chile, sharing stages with artists such as Good Charlotte and Grammy-winner Mark Lettieri. His music has been featured by outlets such as MTV, Loudwire, and Radio 3. His music video “Eternal Eyes” has won more than a dozen awards at international film festivals, further establishing his reputation as a multidisciplinary artist. DeMena is endorsed by leading brands including PRS Guitars, Ernie Ball, Godin Guitars, Kremona Guitars, KNA Pickups, and Pig Hog Cables. Drawing from years of experience as an independent artist, touring musician, and entrepreneur, DeMena shares practical insights on building a sustainable career in today’s music industry.

Presenting: AI for Nonprofits and Artists
Session Description:Multi award-winning Los Angeles-based rock artist and entrepreneur John DeMena explores how independent musicians can bridge creativity with global reach. In this session, he breaks down how he has built an international career through touring, strategic brand partnerships, and audience development across the USA, Europe, and Latin America. Drawing from collaborations and endorsements with leading music brands, he shares practical insights into building credibility, expanding visibility, and creating sustainable income streams as a modern artist. Attendees will gain a behind-the-scenes look at how music, branding, and digital platforms intersect, and how artists can turn creative identity into a scalable global presence in today’s industry.

Mims is the founder of Marooning Bodies, and an artist, abolitionist, and facilitator based in Los Angeles. Her work moves across performance art, advocacy, public art, social practice, and fine art objects. She experiences the body as a site of liberation and approaches it as her first place of inquiry. Through an ongoing exploration of relationship between self, others, land, and more than human life, Mims grounds her practice in embodied knowing. She is deeply interested in questioning as a tool for collective understanding, the role of interpersonal relationships in building healthy communities, and the sacred wisdom held in cultures and ecosystems around the world. https://www.marooningbodies.com/

From Art Project to Living Ecosystem: Building Sustainable Creative Practices

Session Description: This session explores how Marooning Bodies is being built in real time as a living creative ecosystem that spans participatory games, performance, public art, curriculum, and future relics (art objects). Rather than presenting a finished model, it offers an honest look at developing a sustainable artistic practice while actively inside the work. Participants will learn how multiple income streams can emerge from a single artistic inquiry through grants, residencies, commissions, workshops, and object-based offerings. The session also examines how creative businesses can be designed to support rest, community, mobility, and long-term sustainability rather than burnout. Grounded in participation, collective imagination, and long-term thinking, Marooning Bodies demonstrates how artists can build practices that are both financially resilient and deeply rooted in care, experimentation, and meaningful community engagement.

Christine Harris is an award-winning artist, designer, and educator who has spent her career helping people bring meaningful ideas to life. After 17 years teaching K–12 art, she now works at the intersection of entrepreneurship, design, mentorship, and community development. As a furniture designer, interior designer, muralist, and maker, Christine has experienced firsthand the challenges of sustaining creative work—from balancing family and full-time commitments to navigating workspace limitations, zoning challenges, and the economic realities of building a creative practice. She serves on the City of Santa Clarita Arts Commission and continues to explore how art can heal, inspire, and challenge the systems that limit human creativity. Her greatest passion is creating environments where people feel empowered to bring their God-given ideas into the world.

Sustaining the Artist’s Life: A Community Conversation

Session Description:What if the biggest challenges artists face aren’t individual failures, but systems shaping how creativity is valued? Artists are often told to market better, work harder, and navigate obstacles alone. This conversation takes a different approach: examining the larger ecosystem that influences whether creators can truly thrive. Artists, designers, makers, musicians, writers, educators, and leaders are invited to explore how economics, education, expectations, and institutions impact careers. Through guided discussion, participants will identify shared challenges, question outdated assumptions, and generate ideas for change. Together we’ll explore solutions involving collaboration, funding, partnerships, policy, and sustainable business practices. Rather than focusing on individual survival, we’ll imagine ways to build a stronger community that benefits everyone. This is not a lecture—it’s a conversation. To move from surviving to creating a sustainable culture for creativity, join us.

Lauren Cooper is the founder and lead artist of Rosemont Lane, a mural and design studio based in Santa Clarita, California. Since launching her business, Lauren has grown her creative practice into a six-figure studio, completing more than 250 murals for brands, businesses, schools, and communities across the West Coast and beyond. Her clients and collaborations include Trader Joe’s, Philz Coffee, Coachella’s TRASHed program, local schools throughout the Santa Clarita Valley, and small businesses across California. A self-taught muralist with a background in journalism and storytelling, Lauren uses art to connect people to places, brands, and one another. She is passionate about helping artists build sustainable creative businesses without feeling like they have to go viral or become full-time content creators to succeed. Lauren believes social media is simply one tool in a much bigger picture… one built on great work, real relationships, creative confidence, and meaningful connection.

How Artists Actually Make Money on Social Media

Session Description:You don’t need to go viral, post every day, or become a full-time content creator to make money on Instagram. This session breaks down how artists can actually sell their work and services on Instagram with a sustainable, not-one-size-fits-all approach. Learn how to turn your profile into a digital business card, build trust with potential clients, warm up real-world connections, and create content that helps people understand what you do—and how to hire or buy from you. Lauren will share practical strategies for different types of creative businesses, plus a simple framework for creating Stories that sell and a challenge to finally get comfortable talking on camera. Welcome to the anti-starving-artists club: let’s make money from your art without letting Instagram become your full-time job.

An SBDC Business Advisor since 2013, Erica Bristol provides advice on legal related areas affecting small businesses and startups. Her areas of expertise include entity selection, formation, and compliance (sole proprietorships, corporations, LLCs, partnerships); business purchase and sale transactions; intellectual property (copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets); regulatory issues (product safety and compliance); contracts and licensing; commercial leases; and alternative dispute resolution (arbitration and mediation). Erica conducts webinars on topics such as corporations and LLCs, copyrights and trademarks, ADA website compliance, trade secrets, advertising laws, electronic documents, signatures and records, and more. Erica received her J.D. from the UCLA School of Law, and her B.S. in Political Science from California State University at Los Angeles.

SBDC – Intellectual Property Basics

Session Description: Intellectual Property (IP) is increasingly becoming one of the most important sources of revenue for businesses. It is also becoming one of the greatest sources of liability and revenue loss. Startups, entrepreneurs, and companies of all sizes must be aware of how to create, protect and enforce their IP and related rights, as well as how to help prevent or help reduce the risk of IP infringement claims and litigation. This presentation will educate you on the basics of intellectual property-copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and patents.

Syante is a multi award-winning pop/rock singer-songwriter who transitioned from computer science in India to being a musician in Los Angeles, earning a Master’s in Communication Management (Music Industry focus) from USC on the way. She has since won the ASCAP Foundation’s Jay Gorney Award, collaborated with icons like the late Jesse Colin Young, and continues to deepen her roots in the vibrant West Coast music scene. Featured in Billboard and Spin, Syante channels anthemic, stadium-sized energy grounded in sharp storytelling.

Building a Sustainable Creative Career Without Waiting for Permission

Session Description:Your creativity is your product, but how do you turn your passion into a thriving business? Join multi-award-winning pop/rock singer-songwriter and former tech-professional Syante for an empowering masterclass on engineering a sustainable creative career. Drawing from her unique journey of transitioning from computer science in India to navigating the realities of the American music industry, Syante pulls back the curtain on building success entirely on your own terms. In this session, you will discover practical strategies to manage your creative pivot, take full ownership of your intellectual property, and build a distinct personal brand without relying on traditional gatekeepers. Whether you are an independent musician, visual artist, or creative entrepreneur of any kind, you will walk away with an actionable blueprint to treat your art like a business and scale your career without waiting for someone else to do it for you.

Building a Sustainable Creative Career Without Waiting for Permission

Lauren Sweeney, SHRM-CP, is a leadership strategist, facilitator, and arts-informed practitioner who brings a unique blend of creative discipline and organizational expertise to her work. Lauren partners with nonprofits, public agencies, and leadership teams to strengthen organizational effectiveness through governance, talent development, and culture alignment. Before her work in organizational development, Lauren built a strong foundation in the arts as a competitive ballroom dancer and instructor. Her experience as both a performer and teacher shaped her approach to leadership, grounded in presence, adaptability, emotional intelligence, and the ability to connect authentically with diverse audiences. She continues to integrate these principles into her facilitation style, creating engaging, human-centered learning environments. Lauren currently serves on the Executive Board of PIHRA (Professionals in Human Resources Association) and holds a SHRM-CP certification, bringing deep expertise in people strategy, leadership development, and organizational culture. Known for her dynamic presence and ability to translate complexity into clarity, Lauren is frequently invited to lead retreats, trainings, and strategic initiatives that require both structure and creativity. Her work bridges the gap between people and performance, helping organizations move forward with intention, alignment, and impact.

Building Resilient Leadership in a Changing Arts World

Session Description:Today’s arts leaders face constant change, evolving audiences, shifting funding landscapes, and growing demands on their organizations. This session explores practical strategies for leading with resilience, adapting to uncertainty, and making thoughtful decisions that strengthen both organizations and communities. Participants will leave with actionable tools to navigate change while building sustainable, mission-driven leadership.

Strategist, advisor, and organizational leader Nagham Wehbe (she/her/hers) joined ACG in 2021 and currently serves as President of the firm, leading its strategic direction and advising cultural organizations on institutional planning, organizational alignment, leadership transition, stakeholder engagement, and change management. Prior to becoming President, she served as Senior Vice President, where she oversaw the firm’s Executive Search, Interim Management, Planning and Capacity Building, and Revenue Enhancement practice areas. Nagham specializes in strategic arts and cultural planning, organizational development, and institutional alignment, with experience supporting municipalities, performing arts organizations, museums, and cultural nonprofits through complex strategic and operational transitions. Nagham has collaborated with a distinguished roster of clients, including the City of Portsmouth, the City of Scottsdale, The Drama League of New York, The Naples Players, SFJazz, and Joe Goode Performance Group, among others. Before her tenure at ACG, Nagham worked in research and data analysis with renowned companies such as CBS, and 20th Century Studios. Nagham holds a bachelor’s degree in radio, television, and film from California State University, Fullerton, a master’s degree in communications management from the University of Southern California, and an MBA with a focus on arts innovation from The Global Leaders Institute, a one-of-a-kind program co-curated by top universities, including Harvard, Georgetown, Stanford, and Duke. Nagham is also a certified coach, workshop facilitator, and intercultural development inventory administrator.

Building Resilient Leadership in a Changing Arts World
Session Description:Today’s arts leaders face constant change, evolving audiences, shifting funding landscapes, and growing demands on their organizations. This session explores practical strategies for leading with resilience, adapting to uncertainty, and making thoughtful decisions that strengthen both organizations and communities. Participants will leave with actionable tools to navigate change while building sustainable, mission-driven leadership.

Building Resilient Leadership in a Changing Arts World