Artist Business Development Workshop Series

What does it actually take to build a six-figure art practice outside the traditional gallery system? This session pulls back the curtain.

This special closing session of Campana Studios’ Artist Business Development Workshop Series features an open conversation with Sandra and Mark Meyer. Sandra is a San Diego-based working artist who has built a multiple six-figure annual practice entirely through the festival circuit — no galleries, no middlemen. Mark, her husband and studio manager, keeps the business running behind the scenes and knows firsthand what it takes to make it work.

Rather than a formal presentation, this is a candid, off-the-cuff discussion covering what the festival circuit really looks like from the inside: how to get in, which shows are worth it, what to expect on the road, and how Sandra and Mark built and manage a thriving studio practice together as a team.

Mark will also share an informal look at what works for him on the sales floor — practical, real-world insight you won’t find in any textbook.

This is the kind of conversation that rarely happens in public. Sandra and Mark are generous, direct, and genuinely open about the realities of making a living as a working artist — something this industry doesn’t talk about enough.

Topics covered include:

• Building a sustainable art practice outside the gallery system
• Navigating the festival circuit — which shows are worth it and how to get in
• Managing the business side of a working studio
• What works on the sales floor — an informal look at real strategies

About the Instructors

Sandra Meyer is a San Diego-based painter known for her equestrian, figurative, botanical, and landscape work. Over more than 20 years, she has built a multiple six-figure annual practice through the national festival circuit entirely on her own terms. Mark Meyer is her studio manager and husband, and the business mind behind the operation.

This workshop is provided with the support of the Cultural Arts Department of the City of Carlsbad.

Campana Studios is a nonprofit, grassroots organization that creates platforms for visual artists to engage within our community.

Stay Informed! Join the interest list by sending a message to info@campanastudios.org with the subject line “Artist Economic Development Workshop”