Dear Artist,

I want to talk about the courses today, because I think they sometimes get overshadowed by the curator sessions and the Portfolio.

They should not.

Joe, a muralist, used the fundraising material in Praxis to apply for a downtown improvement grant. He received $10,000. He then launched a GoFundMe campaign to match it. He wrote in our community: "Brainard - 10 emails a day works. I simply tell folks what we are doing. Consistently the money is coming."

Sabra used the grant writing guidance and the community conversations to prepare applications she might have otherwise talked herself out of. She received a grant for a three-week residency in Costa Rica, working with a master printmaker and a master papermaker in the forest outside Chirripo National Park.

These outcomes did not come from formulas. They came from clarity. From understanding how to frame a proposal, how to write about your work without losing yourself in academic language, and how to apply for things you might have assumed were not meant for you.

The Praxis course library includes:

Grant Writing for Artists -- with real examples, templates, and live sessions where grant panelists talk honestly about how decisions are made.

Artist Statements and Bios -- how to write about your work in a way that sounds like you, not a catalog entry. (And then yours is professionally edited by our in-house editor)

Selling Art Online -- building a collector base that does not depend on a single gallery or platform.

Kickstarter and Crowdfunding -- with a strategic plan rather than a hopeful post.

Social Media for Artists -- what actually works, without performing yourself into exhaustion.

Time Management for Artists -- for everyone juggling a studio, a job, a family, or all three.

Financial Planning and Taxes -- yes, that too.

These are not one-time downloads. They are updated regularly, and many include live sessions where you can ask questions directly.

I built these because I kept interviewing artists -- more than 1,700 of them for Yale University Radio -- and hearing the same thing: the practical information was always the hardest to find. Everything about the art world was either vague or gatekept. Nobody handed you a grant template. Nobody explained what a program officer actually wanted to read.

The courses translate what the insiders know into something you can use this week.

And if you join before Saturday, you will also be included in the Portfolio sent to our curator network. That is the annual membership benefit, at $595 a year. Monthly members get everything above at $59 a month, without the Portfolio.

Join here: https://praxiscenter.thrivecart.com/praxis-center-membership/

Tomorrow I want to share something a bit more personal. I do not usually write about why I built Praxis. But this week feels like the right moment.

With respect, 

Brainard Carey

Praxis Center