Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Carol Ward. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Carol, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
Creativity I like to think of like any muscle in my body – I need to exercise it and flex it often to keep it alive, kicking and invigorated to develop new ideas and concepts both personally and professionally.
It could be something as simple as doodling on a spare piece of paper while at my desk, taking a mental break from work for a bit. I love going to Botanical Gardens and consistently working on my macro photography, that is one of my main creative outlets right now.
Brainstorming new business plans and ideas is also always exciting to me and how I work on my creativity. I’m currently planning out a new event type of Bridgerton inspired tea parties at a location I help manage, and a colleague and I just went shopping for pillows and different accessories for the photo shoot to launch these events, that was fun!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’ve been in the arts world for over 20 years now and have degrees in both Art History and Museum Education. I first decided to work in the museum field to get people as excited about art and learning as I was – every time I go into a museum I want to know more about the paintings and artwork I’m seeing, what was happening to make that artist create that artwork at any given moment? Sharing this knowledge and love of the visual arts spurred me to create my consulting firm of “Outside the Lines.”
Originally I wanted to help museums with consulting but slowly but surely my sweet spot and target market shifted more to emerging contemporary artists. There are SO many talented artists out there, but if they don’t have the right cheerleader behind them how do they get their work seen, and importantly too, sold. So I started creating pop-up art activations in New York City and Westchester, NY. I worked with local businesses to create pop-up exhibitions, displays and events geared for this market.
An offshoot of this has become my event planning business where I’ve been fortunate enough to have a variety of sites entrust me to lead photo, film and other types of rental events at their location. This is the main area of my consulting which is currently expanding.
I’m always looking for new clients, and especially new locations to showcase the artists I represent, please reach out if you’d like to collaborate in any way!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Flexibility is definitely the #1 quality and skill which has helped me in enumerable ways along my journey. As I like to say the path is never straight and when adversity comes up you can’t freeze or hide, you need to take a deep breath and figure out the path less traveled and go from there.
In addition collaboration is key – no entrepreneur is an island. Surround yourself with people who are in similar but also vastly different fields from you and learn all you can from all of them! Combine resources, discuss which colleagues could help and develop teams which will get you to the next level.
Lastly the fact that I’ve always viewed the arts through a business lens has been one of my foundational pillars as I move through my journey. I wish the arts had unlimited support and funding, but we don’t, so we have to be creative and develop programs which will attract people to want to spend their money on art and keep us going.
The best I can give people is to breathe, count to 10, and realize there will be setbacks and obstacles . . . but you will be able to get through it, and will be stronger thanks to what you learn from each situation.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
Yes! I’m always looking for new collaborators. Right now I will love to meet both artists who need assistance in marketing and getting their name out there AND locations who might be willing to create art activations with me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.outsidethelinesconsult.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/outsidethelinesconsulting/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/outsidethelinesconsulting/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carol-ward-5985a420/
