Rising Stars: Meet Diane Scott of Kansas City, MO

Today we’d like to introduce you to Diane Scott.

Hi Diane, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My artistic education was excellent, but it didn’t prepare me for a career in the arts. After three years of trying to figure it out, I pursued an MBA, and I constantly thought, “If only I’d known this as an artist.” Post-MBA, a mentor encouraged me to apply for a lecturer position in the business school, where I spent 12 years teaching management and organizational behavior.

Later, I joined the Innovation Center at the University of Missouri-Kansas City to create and deliver programming to entrepreneurs. Around that time two Kansas City arts organizations, ArtsKC and Charlotte Street, approached the UMKC Innovation Center needing research on business training for artists. With ArtsKC and Charlotte Street, I conducted a feasibility study, expecting to find an existing program for artist business training that we could adopt.

Instead, we found a gap.

We applied for grant funding and built Artist INC from the ground up. It’s an eight-week professional development program for artists. Artist INC recently celebrated 15 years of empowering creators.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My focus in the M-AAA programs like Artist INC and co-hosting the Artists Thrive Summit is helping artists create enduring practices—ones that allow them to keep making art throughout their lifetimes.

How any individual artist puts together the pieces they have to invest (money, time, and creative bandwidth) to create an enduring practice is wholly unique. They’re all starting from different places and working toward their unique definitions of success. Watching the myriad of creative ways they do this inspires me everyday.

The obstacles that most artists face in creating enduring practices center on several areas.

First, society doesn’t give artists much credit. Societal perceptions of artists are often negative. “Artists are bad at business.” “Artists are bad with money.” “Artists are starving.”

I have personally worked individually with more than 1,000 artists, and I can without hesitation say this is untrue. Given information, resources, and a network of support, artists can and are excellent entrepreneurs. They’re creative, they have amazing work ethics, and they can make a dollar stretch better than anyone.

Second, society has limited definitions of success for artists.

We assume there are only limited ways one can be successful if they pursue a career in the arts. Think Broadway for theatre artists or the Philharmonic for classical musicians. Only a small portion of artists will ever achieve those archetype models of success.

Knowing that there are many more paths to enduring creative practices and that you can determine what success looks like for you, is a game changer. We understand this in other industries. No parent is upset because their child becomes a doctor and pursues a career in general practice with a regional medical group instead of performing brain surgery at the Mayo Clinic.

And finally, like me, most artists have an education in their craft, but not in the business practice portion of creating a creative career. Unfortunately, not much has changed in the past 35 years. Still the most common response we get from participants in our programs is, “I wish they had taught me that in art school.”

This is why my personal passion is getting this information and support into institutions of higher education in addition to individual artists. Writing my book Artist Entrepreneurship for Life: Making Art Work for You was a big part of this mission.

One of the most powerful ways to address the challenges artists face is through developing networks with other artists. That’s why I’m so excited that Kansas City will host this year’s Artists Thrive Summit, May 6–8. The summit is an ideal place for individual artists in the region to meet artists peers, arts administrators, and arts educators from the region and across the country. There are many growth opportunities including sessions, learning journeys, and individual coaching sessions. All this is surrounded by ample opportunities to connect with peers and receive feedback on your own work.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Artist INC, now a program of Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA), has a network of more than 2,500 artists across eight states and it grows daily. The power of that network in supporting each other is nothing short of amazing. Even though I know this is how it works, I am still surprised by it. Traditional business people have long known the power of networks—think fraternities, sororities, and rotary clubs. Artist INC helps artists create a similarly powerful network for themselves.

This work with other artists has inspired me so much that in 2010, I set a 10-year goal to write a book sharing what we’d learned so more artists could access it. Realizing I wouldn’t have time as a full-time arts administrator, I became a professor of arts management at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Seven years in, a sabbatical allowed me to make the book a reality. Though I missed my original timeline, Artist Entrepreneurship for Life: Making Art Work for You was released earlier this year. Now, my goal is to get it into the hands of as many artists as possible.

Through my work as director of artist services at M-AAA, I’m excited by Artist INC’s ability to create entrepreneurial networks for artists as we grow the program. Now, with the upcoming Artists Thrive Summit we hope to build on a nationwide network, extending this work to more artists and communities.

What are your plans for the future?
My goal is to get my book Artist Entrepreneurship for Life: Making Art Work for You into the hands of as many artists as possible.

I’m excited by Artist INC’s ability to create entrepreneurial networks for artists as we grow the program. Now, with the Artists Thrive Summit happening in Kansas City, we hope to build on a nationwide network, extending this work to more artists and communities.

The summit will also be held in Kansas City in 2026 and 2027 as well. We’re setting up a continued dialogue about the arts from our base here in the heartland—a view of the artworld from the middle of America.

Registration is still open for the Artists Thrive Summit but it’s filling up fast. Pricing for tickets is $150–250 per person. Register: https://www.artiststhrive.org/summit

Mid-America Arts Alliance’s Artist INC program has a variety of short, free workshops available in Kansas City and throughout the region, as well as applications for the 8-week workshop in many locations. Artist INC Express is free. Pricing for the 8-week Artist INC workshop is $150. Sign up and learn more at maaa.org. If you are interested in hosting Artist INC program or learning more, contact M-AAA at [email protected].

Also, sign up for our Pushing the Flywheel e-newsletter to hear about upcoming programs and grant deadlines: https://artistinc.art/contact/newsletter-sign-up/

Pricing:

• Artists Thrive: $150–250 per person
• Mid-America Arts Alliance’s Artist INC 8-week workshop: $150
• Mid-America Arts Alliance’s Artist INC Express: FREE
• Mid-America Arts Alliance’s What Works Workshop: FREE

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.dianerscott.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dianereneescott
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scottdiane
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianescott/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@midamericaartsalliance
• Other: https://www.maaa.org/