January 26, 2022 • 10 mins
Ever struggle with putting together a budget for your art project? In this episode I share my tips on how to put together a budget for a public art project.
Show notes & get a free budget template: https://distillcreative.com/blog/2022/1/25/how-to-budget-for-a-public-art-project
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Stephanie Eche (00:00):
Welcome to the first show, where we explore
public art, how it's made andwhy it matters. I'm your host,
Stephanie Eche, an artist andart consultant based in
Brooklyn, New York. I interviewartists, cultural producers,
designers and funders on how artin public space happens, and how
to create more equitable andinclusive projects in public
space. I also share my tips onhow to curate and commissioned
(00:22):
art projects for your business,how I run my art consulting
business, distil creative, andhow I'm developing my own art
practice. If you're interestedin my art consulting services or
artwork, check out distilcreative.com. Thanks so much for
listening. And I hope you enjoythis episode.
So I have five steps to come upwith the budget.
Step one, list out everythingthat you need to create your art
(00:46):
project. Now, if you are theartist, you're going to have a
much better idea about this thenif you are someone commissioning
the artwork, but either way, youshould have an idea of what it's
going to take, I'm going to talkabout things to include if you
are commissioning a project foryour business. But these are
pretty similar if you are theartist putting together a budget
for your own project. So thefirst thing I would include is
(01:08):
an artist stipend. This isbecause you might want to ask
for proposals or sketches orideas from artists for the
project that you have in mind.
Like, again, going back to themural idea, if you want a mural
in your common area, maybeyou're going to reach out to a
few artists and ask them to sendyou a concept, you need to pay
them for that. So put a budgetitem for stipend that will allow
(01:30):
you to prepare to pay them. Nextthing is the artist fee. So this
could basically covers the laborof creating the work, including
designing the work, researching,actually physically making the
work or covering the cost ifthey're hiring out other people
to make the work. So I includethat all in the artist fee. Next
are materials, you might notknow what materials are needed
(01:54):
for a particular project. Butyou can put in a number. And
I'll talk about how to actuallycome up with these numbers in a
second. But first, put in a lineitem for materials. Next, you
want to put a number in forinstallation. So this should
cover like a lift rental or foodand accommodations. Maybe if
you're putting the artist up fora few days or a few weeks to
(02:16):
work on the project.
Signage, you always want to havesignage for for the work. And
this can be done in so manydifferent ways. But you want to
set some money aside to actuallypay for the signage. You also
want to set some money aside forany kind of digital component of
the work. So maybe you're goingto have this on a website, maybe
(02:37):
it's a website, that's part ofyour business website, maybe
it's a standalone website. Andyou want to think about that
ahead of time. So you have somemoney to spend on that permits.
Some projects in public space,many of them actually require
permits of some sort. And thoseusually have some fees
associated with it. So put thaton as a line item -- consultants
(02:59):
like me, sometimes you will findthat you have an idea and
everybody's on board at yourcompany, but no one has time to
do it. This has happened to meso many times when I've been in
house. And then when I've beenhired as a consultant, so many
people are excited about thisproject. And honestly, it might
be the most fun thing going onat the company. And so everybody
(03:19):
wants to work on it. But ifthere's not one person driving
this project, it's never goingto happen, it's just going to be
an idea. And one of the quickestways to make a project happen,
besides putting a budget asidefor it is to hire a consultant
who can move the ball forward,see the project from start to
finish. And that's exactly whatI do. So if you are like, Oh, we
(03:41):
have so many ideas of artworkthat we want to do on our site,
and we want to hire theseartists, and there's this cool
thing, maybe it's a community orcultural program you want to put
on but no one has time to do it.
Set aside a budget and includein that budget, some money for
consultant and feel free toreach out to me if you have a
concept and you're like I don'tknow how much this would cost
for a consultant to work on. Ican give you a ballpark of what
(04:02):
I would charge and I can giveyou an idea of what it would
cost for me to do it and alsomaybe just head you in the right
direction and help you out alittle bit. I love working on
projects like this. Sodefinitely reach out if you need
help.
You also want to include moneyfor photo and video
documentation. Everyone on yourmarketing team is going to be
like send me a photo. Where'sthe video? I wanna make a reel
(04:25):
for Instagram. How can I put iton Tik Tok. Make sure you
document all throughinstallation and then have
photos of the project when it'sfinally done. This will just
help everyone out. You can justput money into hire someone to
do this or maybe pay the artista little bit of extra money and
they can hire whoever theynormally use. You can send
(04:46):
someone from your marketing teamto just be there ready to
document but you definitely needto have that as a line item.
Even if you're having someone inhouse do it. You'll need to put
money aside for insurance tocover both the installation and
then if you're borrowing anartwork to cover the artwork.
While it's in your possessionand travel, you might want an
(05:07):
artist who doesn't live close toyou, I highly suggest hiring
local artists. But if you dowant to hire an artist who lives
outside of like their metroarea, you'll want to cover their
flight and accommodations. Andif you have a local artist, you
definitely want to cover likeany cab subway, any
transportation costs they have,it is a lot of work to install
(05:29):
an art project, regardless ofwhat it is. You always want to
cover their transportationcosts, maybe they just want to
take a cab home because they'rereally tired, they shouldn't
have to worry about that, youshould be covering that. I also
suggest covering meals andsnacks. This is just something
that's that artists reallyappreciate if you have coffee
(05:50):
for them, or you can reimbursethem for any of their meals and
and snacks during the day.
Because again, they're workingreally hard on this project and
you want them to feel reallycomfortable, I also would
include a contingency line. Somaybe five to 10% of the overall
budget, that'll just help coveranything that you didn't think
of. Or if the project kind ofgets bigger in scope, you will
(06:11):
have a little bit more to playwith step three.
After you have your list ofeverything that you need to
budget for, you need to figureout how much money to put in
each of those buckets. If you donot know how much something is
going to cost you need to doresearch. This might mean asking
someone who's done somethingsimilar at your company, asking
(06:32):
another company who's donesomething similar how much it
cost them. Researching on theinternet, there's a lot you can
find on the internet. And youmay even find the same exact
project and how much someonespent on everything. If someone
did a project that's similar toyours, but they're not revealing
the cost, just feel free toreach out to them, they might be
happy to share, because theyprobably know how hard it was
(06:53):
for them to figure out. You canalso reach out to me, and I can
help you out. I charge a fee forbudgeting for these types of
projects. But it's also prettyfun for me and I have experience
on knowing at least ballpark forlots of different types of
projects. So reach out and letme know if you need help
figuring out the budget for addit all up. So once you have an
(07:16):
idea of what you need in yourbudget, how much money for each
item in your budget, you canjust add it all up and there's
your number. Again, maybe youhave a range, maybe it's like
$5,000 to $10,000, or $50,000 to$70,000 or $500 to $700. I don't
know what you're working on, buthave an idea of what that number
(07:39):
is. Because you're gonna want toknow that when you start
reaching out to artists, becausethey're going to need to know
how much they're going to getpaid for this project. And if
you have no idea how much moneyyou have to spend the full
bucket, how can you possiblytell them how much you're going
to pay them. So it's really,really, really important to
figure this out ahead of timebefore you start talking to
(08:01):
artists.
Last step is to review and getfeedback. So centered around
your team, ask some colleagues,maybe reach back out to those
people you reached out to whenyou were doing research, you can
reach out to me and be like,Hey, this is the budget I'm
thinking of for this type ofproject. Does this make sense
and they'll help you kind of seeany holes or let you know if you
(08:25):
need to add more moneysomewhere. But this will, this
will be so helpful for youbecause it'll give you time to
actually think through theproject and make you feel really
Thanks so much for listening tomy tips on how to create a
confident when you startreaching out and curating for
budget for a public art project.
the project.
If you want a head start oncreating your own budget, sign
up for my newsletter atdistillcreative.com/blog and
(08:47):
I'll send you a free template.
Just find this post aboutbudgeting and you'll get a free
budget template as a Googlespreadsheet so you could just
copy it and then put in your ownnumbers. And please let me know
what else you'd like to learnabout public art projects. I am
working on some new episodes foryou. And I want to make sure
(09:07):
that I'm sharing things that arehelpful to you either as an
artist or as a businesscommissioning site specific
work. Thanks for listening tothis episode of First coat. If
you'd like this podcast, pleaseleave a review. Make sure to
subscribe to the first podcastwherever you listen to podcast
and follow us on Instagram atfirst coat podcast or still
(09:30):
create first coat was aproduction of my company still
creative? Still creative.com
Welcome to the first show, where we explore
public art, how it's made andwhy it matters. I'm your host,
Stephanie Eche, an artist andart consultant based in
Brooklyn, New York. I interviewartists, cultural producers,
designers and funders on how artin public space happens, and how
to create more equitable andinclusive projects in public
space. I also share my tips onhow to curate and commissioned
(00:22):
art projects for your business,how I run my art consulting
business, distil creative, andhow I'm developing my own art
practice. If you're interestedin my art consulting services or
artwork, check out distilcreative.com. Thanks so much for
listening. And I hope you enjoythis episode.
So I have five steps to come upwith the budget.
Step one, list out everythingthat you need to create your art
(00:46):
project. Now, if you are theartist, you're going to have a
much better idea about this thenif you are someone commissioning
the artwork, but either way, youshould have an idea of what it's
going to take, I'm going to talkabout things to include if you
are commissioning a project foryour business. But these are
pretty similar if you are theartist putting together a budget
for your own project. So thefirst thing I would include is
(01:08):
an artist stipend. This isbecause you might want to ask
for proposals or sketches orideas from artists for the
project that you have in mind.
Like, again, going back to themural idea, if you want a mural
in your common area, maybeyou're going to reach out to a
few artists and ask them to sendyou a concept, you need to pay
them for that. So put a budgetitem for stipend that will allow
(01:30):
you to prepare to pay them. Nextthing is the artist fee. So this
could basically covers the laborof creating the work, including
designing the work, researching,actually physically making the
work or covering the cost ifthey're hiring out other people
to make the work. So I includethat all in the artist fee. Next
are materials, you might notknow what materials are needed
(01:54):
for a particular project. Butyou can put in a number. And
I'll talk about how to actuallycome up with these numbers in a
second. But first, put in a lineitem for materials. Next, you
want to put a number in forinstallation. So this should
cover like a lift rental or foodand accommodations. Maybe if
you're putting the artist up fora few days or a few weeks to
(02:16):
work on the project.
Signage, you always want to havesignage for for the work. And
this can be done in so manydifferent ways. But you want to
set some money aside to actuallypay for the signage. You also
want to set some money aside forany kind of digital component of
the work. So maybe you're goingto have this on a website, maybe
(02:37):
it's a website, that's part ofyour business website, maybe
it's a standalone website. Andyou want to think about that
ahead of time. So you have somemoney to spend on that permits.
Some projects in public space,many of them actually require
permits of some sort. And thoseusually have some fees
associated with it. So put thaton as a line item -- consultants
(02:59):
like me, sometimes you will findthat you have an idea and
everybody's on board at yourcompany, but no one has time to
do it. This has happened to meso many times when I've been in
house. And then when I've beenhired as a consultant, so many
people are excited about thisproject. And honestly, it might
be the most fun thing going onat the company. And so everybody
(03:19):
wants to work on it. But ifthere's not one person driving
this project, it's never goingto happen, it's just going to be
an idea. And one of the quickestways to make a project happen,
besides putting a budget asidefor it is to hire a consultant
who can move the ball forward,see the project from start to
finish. And that's exactly whatI do. So if you are like, Oh, we
(03:41):
have so many ideas of artworkthat we want to do on our site,
and we want to hire theseartists, and there's this cool
thing, maybe it's a community orcultural program you want to put
on but no one has time to do it.
Set aside a budget and includein that budget, some money for
consultant and feel free toreach out to me if you have a
concept and you're like I don'tknow how much this would cost
for a consultant to work on. Ican give you a ballpark of what
(04:02):
I would charge and I can giveyou an idea of what it would
cost for me to do it and alsomaybe just head you in the right
direction and help you out alittle bit. I love working on
projects like this. Sodefinitely reach out if you need
help.
You also want to include moneyfor photo and video
documentation. Everyone on yourmarketing team is going to be
like send me a photo. Where'sthe video? I wanna make a reel
(04:25):
for Instagram. How can I put iton Tik Tok. Make sure you
document all throughinstallation and then have
photos of the project when it'sfinally done. This will just
help everyone out. You can justput money into hire someone to
do this or maybe pay the artista little bit of extra money and
they can hire whoever theynormally use. You can send
(04:46):
someone from your marketing teamto just be there ready to
document but you definitely needto have that as a line item.
Even if you're having someone inhouse do it. You'll need to put
money aside for insurance tocover both the installation and
then if you're borrowing anartwork to cover the artwork.
While it's in your possessionand travel, you might want an
(05:07):
artist who doesn't live close toyou, I highly suggest hiring
local artists. But if you dowant to hire an artist who lives
outside of like their metroarea, you'll want to cover their
flight and accommodations. Andif you have a local artist, you
definitely want to cover likeany cab subway, any
transportation costs they have,it is a lot of work to install
(05:29):
an art project, regardless ofwhat it is. You always want to
cover their transportationcosts, maybe they just want to
take a cab home because they'rereally tired, they shouldn't
have to worry about that, youshould be covering that. I also
suggest covering meals andsnacks. This is just something
that's that artists reallyappreciate if you have coffee
(05:50):
for them, or you can reimbursethem for any of their meals and
and snacks during the day.
Because again, they're workingreally hard on this project and
you want them to feel reallycomfortable, I also would
include a contingency line. Somaybe five to 10% of the overall
budget, that'll just help coveranything that you didn't think
of. Or if the project kind ofgets bigger in scope, you will
(06:11):
have a little bit more to playwith step three.
After you have your list ofeverything that you need to
budget for, you need to figureout how much money to put in
each of those buckets. If you donot know how much something is
going to cost you need to doresearch. This might mean asking
someone who's done somethingsimilar at your company, asking
(06:32):
another company who's donesomething similar how much it
cost them. Researching on theinternet, there's a lot you can
find on the internet. And youmay even find the same exact
project and how much someonespent on everything. If someone
did a project that's similar toyours, but they're not revealing
the cost, just feel free toreach out to them, they might be
happy to share, because theyprobably know how hard it was
(06:53):
for them to figure out. You canalso reach out to me, and I can
help you out. I charge a fee forbudgeting for these types of
projects. But it's also prettyfun for me and I have experience
on knowing at least ballpark forlots of different types of
projects. So reach out and letme know if you need help
figuring out the budget for addit all up. So once you have an
(07:16):
idea of what you need in yourbudget, how much money for each
item in your budget, you canjust add it all up and there's
your number. Again, maybe youhave a range, maybe it's like
$5,000 to $10,000, or $50,000 to$70,000 or $500 to $700. I don't
know what you're working on, buthave an idea of what that number
(07:39):
is. Because you're gonna want toknow that when you start
reaching out to artists, becausethey're going to need to know
how much they're going to getpaid for this project. And if
you have no idea how much moneyyou have to spend the full
bucket, how can you possiblytell them how much you're going
to pay them. So it's really,really, really important to
figure this out ahead of timebefore you start talking to
(08:01):
artists.
Last step is to review and getfeedback. So centered around
your team, ask some colleagues,maybe reach back out to those
people you reached out to whenyou were doing research, you can
reach out to me and be like,Hey, this is the budget I'm
thinking of for this type ofproject. Does this make sense
and they'll help you kind of seeany holes or let you know if you
(08:25):
need to add more moneysomewhere. But this will, this
will be so helpful for youbecause it'll give you time to
actually think through theproject and make you feel really
Thanks so much for listening tomy tips on how to create a
confident when you startreaching out and curating for
budget for a public art project.
the project.
If you want a head start oncreating your own budget, sign
up for my newsletter atdistillcreative.com/blog and
(08:47):
I'll send you a free template.
Just find this post aboutbudgeting and you'll get a free
budget template as a Googlespreadsheet so you could just
copy it and then put in your ownnumbers. And please let me know
what else you'd like to learnabout public art projects. I am
working on some new episodes foryou. And I want to make sure
(09:07):
that I'm sharing things that arehelpful to you either as an
artist or as a businesscommissioning site specific
work. Thanks for listening tothis episode of First coat. If
you'd like this podcast, pleaseleave a review. Make sure to
subscribe to the first podcastwherever you listen to podcast
and follow us on Instagram atfirst coat podcast or still
(09:30):
create first coat was aproduction of my company still
creative? Still creative.com
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