Artistic Finance

Theatre performer and educator, Rayme Cornell, talks career finances as a single mom.

Topics:

⭐️ NOT having hobbies

⭐️ A resume versus a CV (Curriculum Vitae)

⭐️ NOT preboarding an airplane with a child in tow

⭐️ Playwrights being the most famous people in theatre

⭐️ NOT opening a 529 education savings plan for your child

⭐️ Raising a child, as a single mom, while working in theatre

⭐️ Training students who then go work on Broadwa...

Researcher, educator, and director CeCe Ortiz-Barnett discusses funding and access in theatre education.

Topics:

⭐️ Imposter syndrome and the importance of ego

⭐️ Giving grace and providing safe space in higher education

⭐️ Training all types of learners and accommodating them as we’re able

⭐️ CeCe’s exchange program for students from HBCUs to experience PWI of higher education, so they can have a higher likelihood of ...

Lighting designer Carl Faber returns to the show to discuss freelancing in the performing arts in Portland.

Topics:

⭐️ Zone defense

⭐️ Using local Credit Unions

⭐️ AI entering our workflow

⭐️ HELOC - home equity line of credit

⭐️ Ethics of Credit Cards and Big Banks

⭐️ Freelancing in theatre in Portland, Oregon

⭐️ Our fellow lighting designer Mark McCullough

⭐️ Being a father and freelance theatre designer

⭐️ Building systems in y...

An interview with projection designer Wendall K Harrington.

Topics:

⭐️ Building credit

⭐️ SEP IRAs for freelancers

⭐️ Asking producers to contribute to your SEP IRA

⭐️ Artistically building a 3rd show that’s a combo of the director’s vision and your vision

Video Version:

https://youtu.be/tOYo1Qd1WXQ

Wendall K Harrington

http://www.wendallharrington.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendall-harrington-6678a95/

https://...

A conversation about the business side of being a projection designer with Zak Borovay, who on Broadway has designed Elf, Xanadu, and Rock of Ages. He has also done work for Disney and Universal theme parks, lots of cruise lines, and the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular.

Topics:

⭐️ Protections of a union

⭐️ Keeping your investments

⭐️ History of projection designers joining USA 829

⭐️ Freelancing versus being employed a...

Choreographer Staś Kmieć explains how he’s handled the business side of his theatre and dance career.

Topics:

⭐️ Tax filing

⭐️ Healthcare

⭐️ Fiddler On The Roof

⭐️ Not spending money when on tour

Video Version: https://youtu.be/CUtkLbPZnQ4

Staś Kmieć

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sta%C5%9B-kmie%C4%87-462b8519/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sta%C5%9B_Kmie%C4%87

Guernica by Pablo Picasso

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerni...

Broadway lighting programmer Brad Gray discusses financial literacy and the importance of making that choice to prioritize your finances so that you aren’t forced to hustle until your dying day.

Topics:

⭐️  Rich Dad, Poor Dad

⭐️  Programmer day rates

⭐️  Rental real estate investing

⭐️  ROTH IRAs and Retirement Accounts

⭐️  Starting them early and NOT dipping into them when purchasing a new home unle...

Tax expert Susan Lee discusses tax implications and best practices for freelancers.

Topics:

⭐️  Cashflow

⭐️  Having a will

⭐️  Being your own bookkeeper

⭐️  A financial health checklist and a financial disaster kit

Video Version

https://youtu.be/uJQLmbiwCA0

Freelance Taxation

https://www.freelancetaxation.com/

Pieter Bruegel The Elder

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Bruegel_the_Elder

The Beekeepers

htt...

(Audio problems? I made a mistake uploading, so delete the episode and then try to play it again.) Costume designer Elsa Hiltner talks about the lack of pay equity in theatrical design and what she is doing about it.

Topics:

⭐️ Living wage

⭐️ The Pay Equity Standards

⭐️ The Theatrical Designer Pay Resource

⭐️ Annual income for Chicago-based non-union costume designers

Video Version:

https://youtu.be/8DZsxRe0w_g

https://www.els...

Part two of the conversation with Broadway lighting designer Jane Cox.

Topics:

⭐️ Keeping overhead low

⭐️ Paying theatre designers hourly 

⭐️ Penny Remsen - Jane’s lighting mentor

⭐️ Paying for assistants / drafting out of the design fee

⭐️ Two recent design fees - one for an opera, one for an off Broadway musical

Video Version

https://youtu.be/1qBXKh3-QfM

Artistic Finance

https://linktr.ee/artisticfinance

False Step...

Lighting designer Jane Cox discusses life as a freelance theatre designer who has also taken on some full time academic work.

Topics:

⭐️ Parenting while working in the arts

⭐️ Paying student loans with a credit card

⭐️ Prioritizing the needs of the community above the market rate 

⭐️ The financial system working against theatre design as a career

⭐️ Jane’s tax rate as a freelancer nearing 50%, and having it lower once s...

An update on the $6,000 of investments we made in May of 2021.

Four lighting designers and a bond investment CEO review how our investments compare to the S&P 500.

Video Version

https://youtu.be/_hiXSC5HY6A

Artistic Finance

https://linktr.ee/artisticfinance

False Steps: A Ballroom Comedy

https://www.falsestepscomedy.com/

ETFs:

IVV - iShares Core S&P 500

Stocks:

VST - Vistra Corp

LAC - Lithium Americas

TAP - Molson ...

Set designer Vincent Gunn talks about the benefits of tracking the hours that you work.

Topics:

⭐️ Valuing your time 

⭐️ Investing the money in your retirement account

⭐️ Writing things down and getting them out of your head

⭐️ Designers thinking about work even when they’re not at work

Video Version

https://youtu.be/g1BZrnh3l7A

Artistic Finance

https://linktr.ee/artisticfinance

Vincent Gunn

https://www.vincentgunn.c...

TheatrIcal lighting designer Jason Lynch talks about freelancing in Chicago. 

Topics:

⭐️ LLCs

⭐️ Estate Sales

⭐️ Keeping our humanity

⭐️ Investing in the S&P 500

⭐️ Some of Jason’s recent design fees

⭐️ Moving to a big theatre city, that’s not New York

Video Version

https://youtu.be/y5PApxbBG_I

Artistic Finance

https://linktr.ee/artisticfinance

Jason Lynch

https://www.jasondlynch.com/

https://www.linkedin.c...

Projection designer Sven Ortel talks about career finances.

Topics:

⭐️ Being persistent 

⭐️ Insisting you get credit for your work

⭐️ Organizing your taxes and writing it down

⭐️ Separating the production budget from the design budget

Video Version

https://youtu.be/YDxUvU-in4U

Artistic Finance

https://linktr.ee/artisticfinance

Sven Ortel

https://www.svenortel.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/svenortel/

https://www.instagra...

Discussing designer pay and transparency with Broadway, Off-Broadway, and West End lighting designer Isabella Byrd. 

Topics:

⭐️ Dealing with the IRS

⭐️ Union pension, healthcare, and the union ledger

⭐️ Commercial theatre fees (aka Broadway) versus off-Broadway fees (aka non-profit theatre)

⭐️ CDs, as in Certificates of Deposit

Video Version

https://youtu.be/HJ1wBWuLwKQ

Artistic Finance

https://linktr.ee/artisticfinance

Is...

Broadway lighting designer Beverly Emmons discusses commercial theatre practices for designers.

Topics:

⭐️ Adding riders onto your contract

⭐️ Theatre Law which aims to protect investors’ money

⭐️ W2 and 1099 and how that impacts copyright for designers

⭐️ The history of the theatre design union - United Scenic Artists

⭐️ Those union contracts, what they protect, and how they’re helpful for expediting theatre negotiati...

Alvin Hough Jr, who’s currently the associate music director of The Lion King on Broadway, talks about career finances and a few things about musical theatre musicians.

Topics:

⭐️ Dollar pizza

⭐️ Being a saver, not a spender

⭐️ Living off per diem while touring

⭐️ Rehearsal call versus a performance call

⭐️ Rates of pay for different numbers of instruments

⭐️ The differences between the piano and the keyboard

⭐️ Working a do...