About
We are a design research studio that develops didactic media, exhibitions, publications, and other forms of intellectual property for artists, nonprofits, and creative businesses.
Book free 15-minute consultation
Book sliding-scale hourly consultation
Staff
Wye Coday
Senior Researcher
wye@nor.la
Evan Kleekamp
Operations and Development
evan@nor.la
Client Services
Product and Publication Development for digital, print, and subscription products.
Ghostwriting for business plans, grant proposals, fundraising and emial marketing campaigns.
Business Management including lead generation, coaching and consulting, triage and austerity audits, strategic communications, web portfolio development, and competitive research.
Statement of Purpose
We pride ourselves on the quality and thoroughness of the investigations we develop for artists and creative businesses who seek to grow their enterprise and repair their relationships to money, power, labor, and personal identity.
Unlike many art professionals, we encourage artists to develop fully integrated businesses that hold no illusory distinctions between artistic expression, studio practice, commercial labor, and business administration.
This means conducting audits, interrogating financial objectives, setting measurable goals, and preparing our clients to advocate for themselves — and their businesses — with confidence while also supporting the development, production, distribution, and sale of their artwork.
In our view, this integrated approach represents a movement toward transparency and financial stability in an industry that is widely disingenuous, opaque, and exploitative.
It is also an optimistic gesture that demonstrates our commitment to advocating for artists who seek to make an independent living through their creative practices.
Statement of Method
We describe ourselves as a design research studio because we use research methodologies to define and counter the structural inequity and economic disenfranchisement that plague the arts.
Our artworks extend our research practice. To date, they have taken the form of grant proposals, photographs, sculptures, catalogue essays, legal interventions, lecture performances, and recorded conversations. We also advocate for what we described as “post-institutional” business models that allow artists to diversify their sales portfolios.
Rooted in the core of our approach is our belief that artists must reconcile their relationship to money if they want to have uninterrupted time to produce their work.
Statement of Equity
Artists with nontraditional backgrounds are encouraged to contact us for specialized consultations. We proudly work with and support neurodivergent, queer, disabled, and otherwise economically marginalized groups.
studio@nor.la
newsletter
newsletter
About
We are design research studio that develops didactic media, exhibitions, publications, and other forms of intellectual property for artists, creatives, startups, media companies, small businesses, and nonprofits.
Staff
Wye Coday
Senior Researcher
wye@nor.la
Evan Kleekamp
Operations and Development
evan@nor.la
Book free 15-minute consultation
Book sliding-scale hourly consultation
Services
HOW TO COMMUNICATE IN WHITE PEOPLE
A POST-INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH TO ARTIST GRANTS
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HOW TO COMMUNICATE IN WHITE PEOPLE examines grantwriting as an activity charged by race, class, sex, and gender. Understanding that artist grants require multiple cultural competencies, this workshop will deconstruct application questions and demystify what artists are being asked to perform on the page.
The workshop begins by identifying what a grant is and to whom they are typically awarded, then end with some strategies for transforming individual grant applications into reusable materials. Participants will be asked to bring a sample question from a grant they are interested in applying for, along with a provisional answer to that question, which we will discuss as a group.
Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to use the strategies it outlines for other proposal-based applications — such as admissions essays and cover letters. Artists who are curious about improving their application materials are encouraged to enroll.
Sessions and Tickets
A POST-INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH TO ARTIST GRANTS
+
HOW TO COMMUNICATE IN WHITE PEOPLE examines grantwriting as an activity charged by race, class, sex, and gender. Understanding that artist grants require multiple cultural competencies, this workshop will deconstruct application questions and demystify what artists are being asked to perform on the page.
The workshop begins by identifying what a grant is and to whom they are typically awarded, then end with some strategies for transforming individual grant applications into reusable materials. Participants will be asked to bring a sample question from a grant they are interested in applying for, along with a provisional answer to that question, which we will discuss as a group.
Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to use the strategies it outlines for other proposal-based applications — such as admissions essays and cover letters. Artists who are curious about improving their application materials are encouraged to enroll.
Sessions and Tickets
Slide from HOW TO COMMUNICATE IN WHITE PEOPLE deck.