BUSINESS
RESOURCES

This page will be a work in progress as we add content, templates and links to help you with the business side of having an arts practice. Suggestions are always welcome.

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• Business Victoria
• Australian Copyright Council

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In the meantime, visit:
> LINKS to find relevant professional organisations for your area of interest.
> PROMOTION to learn where you can market your event/activity.

WEBSITES > which platform should I use?

Ah... the big question! And it's not black and white.
​We surveyed a number of creatives to find out how they developed their websites and what platform/online website builder they use.

While some artists pay someone else to create their website, many tackle the task themselves thanks to a range of options. 

We'll add more to this section, but in the meantime the top 4 are:

• Shopify: used a lot for websites that offer online shops / 'e-commerce'. Some people don't find it very intuitive, but it provides lots of the bells and whistles you need to set up shop.
• WIX: is also way up there as a preference. Considered more user friendly, it also offers the ability to sell your items online.
• Squarespace: is still popular, but it's losing a bit of interest due to the popularity and functionality of the above choices. But if you want a simple option that is directly connected with the 'Square' payment system, this one might be for you.
• WordPress: there are two versions of WordPress. WordPress.com is a service that helps you build a website using the WordPress software with managed hosting (it's limited like the above), while WordPress.org is the source where you can download the software itself, to build and maintain a website on your own. So the latter is for those clever people who can code to adapt the website to meet their own needs!

SURF COAST SHIRE
'Elevate' online workshops

Visit website

During Covid-19 lockdowns, the Surf Coast Shire responded to the cancellation of the Arts Trail by developing PORTAL, an online series of talks and workshops to help us upskill, provide inspiration, learn about the history of various arts activities in our region, hear visions for the future and keep us connected.

The videos are still available to view, so click the button above to visit the website.

The Elevate topics include:

• Going digital: website or social media? Sabrina Lunn
  
• Expanding your reach: workshops, online events and more... Natalie Martin
• Photograph your artwork - using your Smartphone. Mollie Vaughan
• Studio tour basics: using your mobile device. Josh Conn
• Options and opportunities for creatives to sell online. Fiona McPherson
• Writing about your work for promotion, funding and other opportunities. Stacie Bobele
• Getting that grant: Learn how to be competitive for grant funding. Harriet Gaffney
• How to budget for Arts Grants. Gretchen Gibson

Legal Assistance

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> Arts Law: www.artslaw.com.au
Empowering artists and creative communities through the law. Get informed from a wide range of free or low cost resources, legal advice and education for artists and organisations in Australia.

> Not-for-profit Law: www.nfplaw.org.au 
​Justice Connect's Not-for-profit Law program provides free and affordable specialist legal help for not-for-profit organisations and social enterprises. We give community organisations the legal supports they need so that they can spend more time and energy realising their purpose. We prevent legal problems through plain language resources and education, and provide access to free lawyers when eligible organisations need specialist legal advice.