FUNGA DEAL: The Art of Negotiating Successful Deals in the Arts Industry

By Buddha Blaze

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Over the years that I have been in the music industry, I have realized that an immense number of artists are losing out to the industry because they lack the skills to negotiate a fruitful deal. Many artists either get either duped, played or whatever names they want to call it because they do not pay attention to the details that are required to highly benefit from an arts deal. Most of these mistakes have been due to negligence, lack of knowledge and purely because they knew no better. We all know that in the art industry it’s never really about how much talent you have even though it’s very important but artists with better negotiating skills go way further than those that don’t. No wonder the disparity in artists.

What I have leant from this experience is that talent alone will not bring home the bacon, negotiating skills, networking skills and follow up skills are necessary to be a completely self-reliant artist making a living from the talent. As an artist you need to look out for the signs that make a great deal, you need to know when to give up on a deal and when a deal is too sweet to be true. Most artists are not meant for this kind of thing it’s a thing of the experts. I teamed up with Spark Africa and international art deal negotiator Ross van Horne of van Horn Consulting to create the first two day workshop on how to negotiate a successful business deal in the arts industry.

Ross van Horn is a global negotiations expert having worked in his home country of USA, Europe, Asia and around the African continent. Through van Horn Consulting he has led numerous consulting and training engagements in private and public sectors. Organizations he has consulted to are in the field of telecommunications, FMGG’s, health care, oil, gas, publishing and United Nations. He is a former Associate Director of an art gallery in Hollywood, CA. In his trainings he utilizes the internationally recognized simulations from the Harvard Project on Negotiation. Ross has the passion for this workshop and he loves to share his knowledge. See more of his work: Ross van Horn.
 

Spark Africa is an arts agency that’s been in the African arts industry for about 10 years now, negotiating for artists, making deals and developing as many artists as it could possibly manage. Over the years artists have come and go but those who remain at the top have a special skill our lengthy credentials speak for themselves Spark Africa The Funga Deal (Close the Deal) workshop will focus on how to negotiate a deal under tough circumstances, how to identify your clientele, how to read the language of negotiators and how to turn NO into YES. It is a process and it requires necessary professional skills and a keen eye.

We are inviting artists, managers, DJs, dancer, visual artists, designers, creative, dancers, actors, film makers, performing artists, artists managers, studio owners, photographers and those in this filed. For Ksh. 6,000 in May you will have a two day experience that will change how you look at your career.

Contact us now if interested at word@sparkafrica.com for more details. Call us at +254 718 328 717