Solidartsy - Empowering women artists

In the US, women artists earn, on average, 74¢ for every dollar made by male artists. Only 2% of the almost $200 billion spent on art auctions in the last 10 years was on art made by women. The permanent collections of prominent art museums in the US are made of 87% of male artists, and 85% of white. What these number tell us is that being a women artist is really tough, and the world of art definitely need more diversity. 

At Solidartsy, we want to help, starting with two main things: 

1. Empowering women artists by providing them with the business & marketing advice they need to successfully enter the competitive art market, and reach financial independence.

2. Create a strong Sharing Economy network of women bonded by their passion for art and women empowerment, allowing them to exchange skills: business & marketing advice for an art commission. 

Today, according to the National Endowment for the Arts, there are nearly 2.5 million artists in the U.S. labor force, of which nearly half (46%) are women. But visual women artists in the United States earn, on average, 74¢ for every dollar made by male artists. A survey from Artfinder conducted in 2017 shows that 84% of the female artists earned less than $10,000 a year from their art. Women have been disregarded in the world of art for centuries, and still only 2% of the almost $200 billion spent on art at auction in the last 10 years was made by women. A data survey of the permanent collections of 18 prominent art museums in the U.S. from the Public Library of Science (2019) found that out of over 10,000 artists, 87% are male, and 85% are white. However, a researchers from Oxford University who studied the influence of gender on art price in auctions demonstrated that people are unable to guess the gender of an artist simply by looking at a painting.

What this tell us is that women artist have a much tougher job entering the art market, and the world of art definitely needs more diversity.

Solidartsy currently offers to female artists online 1:1 sessions of 45 minutes, on Zoom or Hangout. In the first session we define their short-, mid- and long-term goal, as well as current blockers. We then set up a clear strategy to reach them, and the steps that will lead there. For one month we see each other once a week and check on their progress, brainstorm on ideas, find solutions to their problems together and answers to their questions. We, the co-founders, are as well supported by prominent experts from the world of art, to which we can also refer to. 

What we already saw, after only one month, is a huge increase in the artists confidence in their abilities to solve their problems by themselves. They started producing more, advertising more, and learned how to define their price better. 

Our aim is to scale up the mentorship to allow more women from business and marketing to advise artists, and in return get an art commission from that artist. A lot of value is therefore generated by this exchange from and by the people involved. We measure it in skills rather than money.  

Being an artist is tough. But being a women artist who wants to live off her art is even harder. Our solution addresses women artists, crafters and creators. 

Most of them lack the basic business & marketing skills required to sell, advertise and market their work properly. We want to build more bridges between women in art and women in business & marketing, allowing them to exchange their skills and talent, in a win-win relationship where the currently is skills rather than money  

Our aim is to give as many women artists as possible the means to become financially independent. On the long run, this would help as well bridging the huge gender gap in the world of art. We want to see more women art in the market, in galleries, in auctions, in museums, and in history books. Is is crucial that we start showing the full picture, not only the vision of white male artists. 

Solidartsy is an initiative that aims at solving the problem of "Good Jobs & Inclusive Entrepreneurship" for women artists, crafters & creators. 

Indeed, our solution would provide those women with the business and marketing tools they need to become successful and earn a living with what they do best: creating. We offer them the advice they need to feel empowered and build their own profitable business.

By creating a mentorship program between women from art and women from business & marketing, we allow each of them to learn from the other, exchanging skills and growing together.

Solidartsy's solution is innovative because it targets a niche market that wasn't really put in any focus yet. Gender inequality is a thing, but we haven't found any competition in the domain of really making thing change for women in the art world. it look like it's a field still widely dominated by men standards. 

The long term approach of Solidartsy is to build an online platform that would offer tailor-made classes for artists, covering all their pain points. 

Currently, we use digital technology to connect with the customers and to conduct our coaching sessions, allowing us to reach artists from all around the world - from NYC to Brussels. 

The technology currently used has a proven track record: it is Zoom or Google Hangout, as well as a WordPress website. 

The platform we will build to offer online classes would also use well known technology. The real novelty in our approach is that we focus on elevating a group of people that were overlooked: female artists around the globe. 

Solidartsy currently offers to female artists online 1:1 sessions of 45 minutes, on Zoom or Hangout. In the first session we define their short-, mid- and long-term goal, as well as current blockers. We then set up a clear strategy to reach them, and the steps that will lead there. For one month we see each other once a week and check on their progress, brainstorm on ideas, find solutions to their problems together and answers to their questions. We, the co-founders, are as well supported by prominent experts from the world of art, to which we can also refer to. 

What we already saw, after only one month, is a huge increase in the artists confidence in their abilities to solve their problems by themselves. They started producing more, advertising more, and learned how to define their price better. 

Our aim is to scale up the mentorship to allow more women from business and marketing to advise artists, and in return get an art commission from that artist. A lot of value is therefore generated by this exchange from and by the people involved. We measure it in skills rather than money.  

Current number: 10

In one year: 2,000 (on the digital platform)

In 5 years: 50,000

We plan to reach all women artists around the globe, and to give them the tools they need earn a decent living. 

How we plan to do that? Increase our brand awareness, word of mouth, SEO, SEA & SEM. Reaching out to them on Social Media. Becoming a platform subsidised by art schools and governments all around the world. 

Simultaneously, we want to take action to increase to demand for female art on the market by advocating in museums and in politics. 

Solidartsy also would become a label of quality and fairness in the world of art. 

We would become the advocates of a fairer art world, and more equal world in general. 

The barriers are financial mostly, as it influences the time that we can dedicate to the project. It also is cultural, as we need to push for a shift in mentalities. Our goal is to operate a market shift, to create more demand.

On the financial side: apply to public financing and scholarship.

On the cultural side: through sensibilisation and events

Part-time staff: 2

The team is made of 2 part-time workers, me and my co-founder. 

We are both having extensive work experience in business, as projects managers in startups and working in business development. 

We both are passionate about art and women empowerment.

Juliette is currently working part-time on the construction of an online platform called Female Founder Space where she builds the course material together with female entrepreneurs. 

I organised a networking conference for women in business, focussed on sharing lived experiences and inspiring each other. 120 attended the first edition, 140 the second. 

We both are daughters of women artists, we saw saw their struggles and how difficult it is for them to sell their art at a correct price, and to advertise themselves. 

We currently partner with experts from the art world in Vienna, New York and Warsaw, to reflect on our ideas and brainstorm on the next steps. 

What Solidartsy does is currently providing online 1:1 business advisory to women artists. 

We are helping them gaining financial independence and stability by teaching them the basics of pricing, shipping, online marketing, etc. As well as finding solutions together to solve their blockers. 

This service is provided to any female visual artist registering on our website. 

The online platform we plan to set up would allow us to get income. 

Next to that, we want to address the problem of gender inequality in art to culture ministries and grant makers, and get public and private funding via those institutions. 

Our expenses are not much higher than the salaries of the employees, as most of the technology we use is free. But of course, money would allow us to grow and develop other initiatives like Art Nights, a Solidartsy Award, etc. 

We are applying because we believe Solidartsy helps solving one of the big problem of the world today: lack of parity and equal chances between genders. 

We think that with your support we could bring this idea forward and create a much bigger impact than we currently do. We have passion and energy, and could use some professional advice and funding to utilise them best to maximise our impact. 

We would like to partner with governments, and art institutions like galleries and museums, to create a real change in the current status quo. Art made by women is highly underrepresented and under-evaluated. There is no reason for that, and we believe it is time for it to change. 

Our whole aim is to empower women and give them more tools to develop and gain independence, while doing what they do best: creating. 

One way to a fairer and more equal world is through art, and the artists vision of the world. If all recognised artists are white and male, it only shows half a reality. The world of art needs to become much more inclusive, and for that we need more women artists equipped to enter the art market and advertise themselves. 

Inclusive entrepreneurship means giving women who wish to start a business and earn a decent living fair chances to succeed. They currently are very underrepresented and earning less than men. We wish to change that.