Artistic Finance
Artistic Finance provides theatre makers with honest, no-pretension insights into managing money in the entertainment industry. Hosted by lighting designer Ethan Steimel, this podcast delves into the personal finance challenges and business realities of show business, offering candid advice and practical tools tailored to creatives working behind the scenes. https://www.artisticfinance.com/
Episodes
A conversation about the business side of being a projection designer with Zak Borovay, who on Broadway has designed Elf, Xanadu, and Rock of Ages. He has also done work for Disney and Universal theme parks, lots of cruise lines, and the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular.
Topics:
⭐️ Protections of a union
⭐️ Keeping your investments
⭐️ History of projection designers joining USA 829
⭐️ Freelancing versus being employed ...
Choreographer Staś Kmieć explains how he’s handled the business side of his theatre and dance career.
Topics:
⭐️ Tax filing
⭐️ Healthcare
⭐️ Fiddler On The Roof
⭐️ Not spending money when on tour
Video Version: https://youtu.be/CUtkLbPZnQ4
Staś Kmieć
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sta%C5%9B-kmie%C4%87-462b8519/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sta%C5%9B_Kmie%C4%87
Guernica by Pablo Picasso
Broadway lighting programmer Brad Gray discusses financial literacy and the importance of making that choice to prioritize your finances so that you aren’t forced to hustle until your dying day.
Topics:
⭐️ Rich Dad, Poor Dad
⭐️ Programmer day rates
⭐️ Rental real estate investing
⭐️ ROTH IRAs and Retirement Accounts
⭐️ Starting them early and NOT dipping into them when purchasing a new home unless you really have to
Video ...
Tax expert Susan Lee discusses tax implications and best practices for freelancers.
Topics:
⭐️ Cashflow
⭐️ Having a will
⭐️ Being your own bookkeeper
⭐️ A financial health checklist and a financial disaster kit
Video Version
Freelance Taxation
https://www.freelancetaxation.com/
Pieter Bruegel The Elder
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_Bruegel_the_Elder
The Beekeepers
(Audio problems? I made a mistake uploading, so delete the episode and then try to play it again.) Costume designer Elsa Hiltner talks about the lack of pay equity in theatrical design and what she is doing about it.
Topics:
⭐️ Living wage
⭐️ The Pay Equity Standards
⭐️ The Theatrical Designer Pay Resource
⭐️ Annual income for Chicago-based non-union costume designers
Video Version:
Part two of the conversation with Broadway lighting designer Jane Cox.
Topics:
⭐️ Keeping overhead low
⭐️ Paying theatre designers hourly
⭐️ Penny Remsen - Jane’s lighting mentor
⭐️ Paying for assistants / drafting out of the design fee
⭐️ Two recent design fees - one for an opera, one for an off Broadway musical
Video Version
Artistic Finance
https://linktr.ee/artisticfinance
False Steps - Off...
Lighting designer Jane Cox discusses life as a freelance theatre designer who has also taken on some full time academic work.
Topics:
⭐️ Parenting while working in the arts
⭐️ Paying student loans with a credit card
⭐️ Prioritizing the needs of the community above the market rate
⭐️ The financial system working against theatre design as a career
⭐️ Jane’s tax rate as a freelancer nearing 50%, and having it lower once she started...
An update on the $6,000 of investments we made in May of 2021.
Four lighting designers and a bond investment CEO review how our investments compare to the S&P 500.
Video Version
Artistic Finance
https://linktr.ee/artisticfinance
False Steps: A Ballroom Comedy
https://www.falsestepscomedy.com/
ETFs:
Stocks:
Set designer Vincent Gunn talks about the benefits of tracking the hours that you work.
Topics:
⭐️ Valuing your time
⭐️ Investing the money in your retirement account
⭐️ Writing things down and getting them out of your head
⭐️ Designers thinking about work even when they’re not at work
Video Version
Artistic Finance
https://linktr.ee/artisticfinance
Vincent Gunn
TheatrIcal lighting designer Jason Lynch talks about freelancing in Chicago.
Topics:
⭐️ LLCs
⭐️ Estate Sales
⭐️ Keeping our humanity
⭐️ Investing in the S&P 500
⭐️ Some of Jason’s recent design fees
⭐️ Moving to a big theatre city, that’s not New York
Video Version
Artistic Finance
https://linktr.ee/artisticfinance
Jason Lynch
Projection designer Sven Ortel talks about career finances.
Topics:
⭐️ Being persistent
⭐️ Insisting you get credit for your work
⭐️ Organizing your taxes and writing it down
⭐️ Separating the production budget from the design budget
Video Version
Artistic Finance
https://linktr.ee/artisticfinance
Sven Ortel
Discussing designer pay and transparency with Broadway, Off-Broadway, and West End lighting designer Isabella Byrd.
Topics:
⭐️ Dealing with the IRS
⭐️ Union pension, healthcare, and the union ledger
⭐️ Commercial theatre fees (aka Broadway) versus off-Broadway fees (aka non-profit theatre)
⭐️ CDs, as in Certificates of Deposit
Video Version
Artistic Finance
https://linktr.ee/artisticfinance
Isa...
Today is the 5th anniversary of Artistic Finance. A quick thank you to mark the occasion and announcing a non-AEA casting notice for NYC!
Broadway lighting designer Beverly Emmons discusses commercial theatre practices for designers.
Topics:
⭐️ Adding riders onto your contract
⭐️ Theatre Law which aims to protect investors’ money
⭐️ W2 and 1099 and how that impacts copyright for designers
⭐️ The history of the theatre design union - United Scenic Artists
⭐️ Those union contracts, what they protect, and how they’re helpful for expediting theatre negotiations because...
Alvin Hough Jr, who’s currently the associate music director of The Lion King on Broadway, talks about career finances and a few things about musical theatre musicians.
Topics:
⭐️ Dollar pizza
⭐️ Being a saver, not a spender
⭐️ Living off per diem while touring
⭐️ Rehearsal call versus a performance call
⭐️ Rates of pay for different numbers of instruments
⭐️ The differences between the piano and the keyboard
⭐️ Working a double,...
Technical director Tab Birt discusses his journey through live entertainment, financial lessons learned along the way, and his dream of trading the stage for a glass artist’s studio in Norway.
Topics
⭐️ Glass blowing
⭐️ Not selling yourself short
⭐️ Getting on a stagehands union call list
⭐️ Burning out, being cynical, and the joy of theatre
⭐️ The secret investment vehicle called a ROTH IRA
Video Version
Today’s show is an “ordinary and necessary” episode in which we learn about prepping and filing taxes for freelancer 1099 income.
Topics:
⭐️ Documentation matters!
⭐️ Personal expenses versus business expenses
⭐️ Tracking your expenses as you go
⭐️ Missing expenses are the number one way to pay more in taxes.
Video Version
Artistic Finance
https://linktr.ee/artisticfinance
Aja M Jackson
A guide of financial resources, and where to find them, for freelancers working in theatre or other facets of the entertainment industry.
⭐️ Unions
⭐️ Job boards
⭐️ Scholarships
⭐️ Financial Planning
⭐️ Taxes / Accountants
⭐️ Financial Communities
⭐️ Educational Worksheets & Supplements
⭐️ Community Resources - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
⭐️ Episodes of Artistic Finance - separated out by career focuses
Video Version:
A panel of live event lighting and media professionals having a Q&A about career finances.
⭐️ Theatre Lighting Designer Christina Watanabe
⭐️ TV Lighting Designer Mike Grabowski
⭐️ Media Designer Zak Borovay
⭐️ TV Gaffer Seán Linehan
Topics:
⭐️ Taxes
⭐️ Agents
⭐️ Contracts
⭐️ USA 829 / LORT Contracts
Youtube Version
Artistic Finance
https://linktr.ee/artisticfinance
LDI
An interview with television lighting designer Josh Hutchings about how intimate and taboo it is to discuss finances.
Topics:
⭐️ Compound interest
⭐️ Not having a financial plan
⭐️ Investing early and consistently
⭐️ It’s an industry based on relationships
⭐️ How intimate and taboo discussing finances is
⭐️ Making a financial life plan with the help of professionals
Video Version
Artistic Finance
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