Making It in the Art World (Third Edition): Strategies for Exhibitions and Funding

by Brainard Carey

Overview

How today’s artists survive, exhibit, and earn money—without selling out! 

Career-minded artists, this is the book you have been waiting for! Making It in the Art World, Third Edition, explains how to be a professional artist and shares new methods to define and realize what success means. Whether you’re a beginner, a student, or a career artist looking to be in the best museum shows, this book provides ways of advancing your plans on any level. Author Brainard Carey, an artist himself with prestigious exhibitions like the Whitney Biennial under his belt, draws on more than twenty years of experience in the art world and from over 1,900 interviews with artists and curators for Yale University Radio. Included is a thirteen-part workbook to help you formulate and execute a winning career advancement strategy, a process that will prepare you for navigating the art world successfully. Friendly chapters walk you through it all with topics such as:

• Evaluating your work
• Submitting proposals to museums and galleries
• Creating pop-up shows
• Presenting work to the public
• Doing it your way (DIY exhibits) 
• Organizing events
• Writing press releases
• Finding collectors online and connecting
• Using social media effectively
• Selling online
• Raising funds for projects
• Getting international recognition

Making It in the Art World, Third Edition, is an invaluable resource for artists at every stage, offering readers a countless strategies and helpful tips to plan and execute a successful artistic career.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781621538622
Publisher:	Allworth
Publication date:	07/14/2026
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
Age Range:	3 Months to 18 Years

About the Author

Brainard Carey is an artist and frequent lecturer on professional development for artists. He is the director of Praxis Center for Aesthetics, an online career development and support center for artists that provides educational materials as well as a community for artists and regularly brings in experts to talk about a variety of issues crucial to the development of an artist. Praxis Center also has ongoing lists of artist resources, including grants, exhibition opportunities, and more. As a working artist, he collaborates with his wife Delia Carey under the name Praxis; their work has been exhibited in the Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA, and other venues around the world. He has written five books for artists, and also co-authors books with Delia Carey, who is a co-founder and co-director of Praxis Center. He is on the faculty at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he lives with his wife and son.

Editorial Reviews

“In a remarkably useful guidebook for artists trying to find their way, the artist Brainard Carey has spelled out in a clear and concise manner a series of strategies and techniques that, taken as a whole, are the equivalent of that elusive course in real-world preparedness that most art schools gloss over or simply ignore. In addition to his thoughtful and thorough approach to the subject, Carey’s candor and complete lack of cynicism and posturing makes this book a must-read for any emerging artist.” —David A. Ross, chair of MFA in Art Practice, School of Visual Arts, and former director of the Whitney Museum of American Art

From the Publisher