Supporting Artist Careers
Since 2002, EHTF directly expanded career opportunities for visual artists by increasing access to business development expertise, entrepreneurial skills, and related professional practice and career supports. As grantees in the arts service and university arenas began to look at the comprehensive conditions needed for artists to thrive (including professional practice and business/entrepreneurial supports), EHTF seeded and is now functioning as the backbone organization for a field-wide formative assessment tool called Artists Thrive. The vision for Artists Thrive includes improving conditions for artists and creatives within traditional art settings; in integrating visual art and design benefits into the emerging economy; and in diverse career development. As EHTF invests in the growth of Artist Thrive through summits, working groups and potential communities of practice, grantmaking will also support leading nonprofit art & culture organizations engaged in this work.
