Professional artists residing in Bexar County are encouraged to apply for the upcoming Creative Capital Professional Development Retreat for visual and performing artists in San Antonio, August 13 - 15, 2010. The weekend-long training will teach artists the skills to strategically plan for and build their careers. The workshop is hosted by the City of San Antonio Office of Cultural Affairs in collaboration with New York-based Creative Capital. For more information on Creative Capital, visit their website at www.creative-capital.org.
 
THE APPLICATION PROCESS FOR 2010 IS CLOSED
 
The Professional Development Weekend Retreat is designed to deliver skill-building opportunities to diverse communities of artists. The goal of the retreat is to provide a cohesive structure that will help artists organize, plan, and sustain their creative careers.  The retreat will use an integrated approach to developing skills in marketing/ public relations and fundraising with a particular emphasis on strategic planning for individuals, and aims to help artists break patterns of crisis management and increase satisfaction in their art practices and careers.
 
Professional artists may apply in the visual art, theatre, dance, music, creative writing, and film/ video disciplines.  Applicants must reside full time in Bexar County.  "Generative" artists only may apply :  those who are creating original work in their field (composers, writers, visual artists, choreographers, theatremakers, and filmmakers).  For the purposes of this opportunity, a professional artist is defined as an individual who creates, on an ongoing basis, original works of art within an artistic discipline, and is pursuing this work as a means of livelihood or a way to achieve the highest level of professional recognition.
 
Up to 24 applicants will be invited to attend the weekend retreat.  Submissions will be judged by a panel of arts experts.  To select the finalists, the panel will take into account the artist’s level of professional involvement based on submitted materials.  The selected artists will be required to attend all three days of the 2010 workshop, August 13-15.  The schedule includes Friday evening and daytime hours Saturday and Sunday.
 
Details about eligibility and the application process and forms are available from Rafe Saenz, with the Office of Cultural Affairs.  Contact Rafe at 210.207.6968 or rafe.saenz@sanantonio.gov.

Comments from past San Antonio Creative Capital workshop participants:

"I have been so lucky since the Creative Capital thing. I really thank them and the Office of Cultural Affairs for including filmmakers in the program, and all of you for the support and the boost in confidence. It has turned things around for me."

-A San Antonio Filmmaker

"Thank you so very, very much for bringing Creative Capital to San Antonio. Tutelage by successful major market artists enabled me gain a bigger vision  for my art and my community--and equally important,  the tools to bring that vision to life!"

-A San Antonio songwriter

"I just found out that I won the composition competition that I wrote down as my goal at the creative capital workshop. The power of doing that workshop really helped me and all of us!!!!"

-A San Antonio composer

"It has been nice to hear of the success of my fellow Creative Capital workshop attendees and I am not surprised; I was inspired while in the presence of prolific artists of diverse disciplines from many places. Since last summer's workshop I have applied for a few dozen public art projects and artist registries with very positive results. I truly believe that the Creative Capital Workshop provided me with the tools and I needed to improve my presentation material and my presentation skills, which is why I had the nerve to apply for a million dollar monument competition open to international artists. "

-A San Antonio visual artist