From artistic talent to a sustainable business

For an artist looking to grow their small business, the most useful instrument in the toolbox isn’t always the paintbrush, the potter’s wheel or the lathe. Sometimes, it’s training from PantherlabWorks.

PantherlabWorks, part of Pitt’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence, offers no-cost consulting to creators and gig artists hoping to expand their businesses and commercialize their products.

The pilot program began with help from a U.S. Economic Development Administration grant and was so popular that the first series of workshops sold out in about three hours. PantherlabWorks has now run these four times. Some sessions have focused on younger entrepreneurs looking to scale their businesses. Others have focused on retirees who are looking to use their talent to earn supplemental income.

The latest session was funded by a Richard King Mellon Foundation grant and allowed the team to counsel more than 100 artists across seven Western Pennsylvania counties: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Greene, Indiana, Washington and Westmoreland.

Interestingly, many of the artists hailed from river towns, a quirk that PantherlabWorks Director Victoria Hassett hasn’t quite figured out but that could inform the themes and locations of future programming.

“There’s a long history of entrepreneurs in river towns becoming makers and artists,” Hassett says. “I’m not sure if that is related to our heritage in this region, with economic downturns and people in river towns being more negatively impacted, or if there’s something deeper, with artists being attracted to the beauty of water.”

Whatever the impetus, PantherlabWorks is happy to provide those artists with workshops that include valuable training in areas such as growth investment, product development, market research and business planning as well as practical advice on things like banking and insurance.

As a bonus, the training also makes artists eligible for state-funded Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator (CEA) grants. The $2,000 grants are available to creators whose gross revenue is less than $200,000. During the last cycle, 19 creators who trained with PantherlabWorks applied for and received CEA funds.

If you’re an artist in search of business training, contact PantherlabWorks at 412-648-1544 or plw [at] innovation.pitt.edu.