THE ART OF SPOONING
Jim Grace literally wrote the book on spooning. Then he built the chapters of Arts & Business Council and Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts for Boston.
BOSTON MA
Today I’m talking with Jim Grace, Executive Director of the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston and the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts chapter here in Boston. The Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston invests in the people and organizations that create the art we love. They do this through fellowships, workshops, resources and tools like “Space Finder”, fiscal sponsorship, and legal services for artists.
Jim has some of the deepest knowledge on arts entrepreneurship in the country. He also knows first hand what it’s like to build a business in the arts… because well… his first book project as an author ended up in an international legal settlement. After they printed the first run of book, Jim and his team discovered that the title of their book had already been copyrighted. By the time the copyright had been resolved, the books were outdated.
When we think about the forces that are up against us as creators, we need to take into account the legal tangles that we could find ourselves in. We can work with the law, using copyright and contracts for example, or we can innovate around the legal hazards. Either way, Jim’s lesson is that ignorance of the law is no excuse.
INTERVIEW
PODCAST
DISCUSSION
Jim is the author and co-author of many “funny irreverent guide books” including the Best Mans Handbook, Babygami, The Art of Spooning, Good Deeds Guide and more. His first project was a series called “Moving To” guides for LA, Chicago, NY and DC. The books were written, produced, designed, and printed in 150,000 copies before discovering the publisher hadn’t clear the title. They discovered the title had been registered in Canada and US and so the books could not be sold. The copies spent two years in the warehouse, after which the books were old, outdated and unsellable.
“I’d experienced what it was like to create something and then have a legal issue completely sideline it... So I appreciate the consequence and the critical relationship to the business side of a creative practice.” (10:00)
Q: Is it possible that your creation is also being done by someone else right now?
As the Executive Director of a 501(c)3 not for profit with an annual budget around $500,000, Jim is entrepreneurial in his approach to the services he offers. Lucas and Jim both caution artists and cultural organizations against the assumption that they must incorporate as a 501(c)3.
Being a non profit doesn’t mean you escape competition. In fact you might just be creating an even harder path for yourself. The way we think of non profit vs for profit is often too binary. The truth is that for profits can be just as mission-driven and many are unprofitable for quite some time, either taking a loss or taking on investor money to stay afloat. Conversely non-profits can turn a profit each and every year, and can be self-serving to a degree and lucrative as well.
Q: You will face competition as either non-profit or for-profit, which is the right path for you?