Professional Artist Certification
by Cinder Street
Artists have a reputation for poor business skills.
We’re changing that.
Certified Artist
Certified Artists have been interviewed by Cinder Street and have been found to have demonstrated business level proficiency sufficient to take on a patron to complete a for-hire project. This Artist has demonstrated proficiency in
well-defined service offerings
healthy pricing and financial strategy
strong marketplace relationships
excellent communication skills
reasonable scope management
reasonable expectation management
appropriate return and complaint policy
reasonable contract and liability management
strong brand and business structure
Artists are advised to push their certification further to achieve the “Certified Professional Artist” classification.
Certified Professional Artist
Cinder Street has personally interviewed at minimum two previous Patrons of the Artist to confirm that the Artist has closed and delivered at least one for-hire artistic project to each Patron interviewed. Patrons interviewed have confirmed that the Artist delivered to expectations, had reasonable pricing, managed the deal well, and completed the project with a satisfied Patron.
This Artist has also completed the “Certified Artist” certification.
verified previous contract success
plus all standard certifications
Why do you have a certification program?
Cinder Street clients include businesses, government agencies, and strong-net-worth individuals who have
high expectations
for the results and the professionalism of their contractors. Artists have a reputation for lacking the professional skills required to land strong and solid sales with clients like these. So we’re promoting Artist Certification as a means to help buyers identify Artists prepared for the challenge.
Certified artists stand apart from the competition
so that you can feel confident that the Artist you are hiring is ready for the challenge.
Who needs certification
Artists interested in closing for-hire contracts with patrons for their services can benefit from demonstrating evidence of their professional skillset. Demonstrate your professionalism and readiness for larger projects with a Cinder Street Professional Artist Certification.
Artists who exclusively sell prints, merchandise, pre-made originals, and similar “commodity artwork” or “investment grade artwork” may not need any certification when they are not looking for patronage for upcoming projects.
The Artist certification process
Education
Artists may receive their education from anywhere, however, Cinder Street offers education services to bring Artists up to speed on what they need to demonstrate to pass certification. Any Artist may begin the application process immediately. Artists who have already established themselves successfully in the market may need to change very little about their business to become certified. Other Artists may have significant changes to make to their business to become certified.
Application
Artists fill out an application that is structured to encourage the Artist to answer questions about their business that they may not have considered before. This application process is a pre-qualification moment that guides the Artist to find answers to questions that will need to be answered before their interview begins.
Interview
Artist Certification is NOT a multiple-choice test. Artists pay to sit down with an interviewer who will review their application, meet the Artist, and discuss the Artist’s business at length. If an Artist does not have a sufficient answer to any of the interview questions they will be directed to seek the answers or receive help to bring answers into a place that any reasonable Patron would find acceptable.
Certification
Cinder Street will issue the Artist’s first certification. This certification will be downloadable and verifiable online by any future or current patron.
At this phase, the Artist will hold the “Certified Artist” level of certification.
Verification
Once the Artist has completed at least two reasonable-valued projects of quality Cinder Street will follow up by contacting at minimum two of the Artist’s prior Patrons to verify the Artist’s work was successful and that the Patron was satisfied with the Artist’s professionalism.
At this phase, the Artist will receive the higher “Certified Professional Artist” level of certification.