The Manager’s Seat: Artist Management Foundations

Build an artist management plan through ten practical missions, using a fictional artist and real-world decisions.

1. The role of the artist manager

Write a one-page role and communication charter. Identify what you will coordinate, what the artist approves, what requires a specialist, and how routine and urgent communication will work.

2. Artist selection and readiness

Complete the Artist Assessment Scorecard, marking unobserved areas honestly. Build three development priorities across 30, 60, and 90 days and explain the evidence you will collect.

3. Business scope and professional agreements

Prepare a deal-review memo with agreed points, contradictions, missing terms, and questions for counsel. Draft a limited consulting scope without filling in undecided commercial terms.

4. Artist brand and audience connection

Write a one-page brand brief and a two-week calendar using three content pillars. Define one primary measure and one follow-up action for each pillar.

5. Team leadership and industry relationships

Build a responsibility map, an artwork brief, and a final-asset approval process. Write one short, relevant outreach message and log its next follow-up action.

6. Rights metadata and release readiness

Complete the metadata and rights checklist. Identify the unresolved items, responsible contacts, evidence needed, and conditions that must be met before delivery.

7. Release campaigns and responsible promotion

Build a 90-day campaign with preparation, launch, and follow-through milestones. Write a legitimate promotional brief and explain how you will evaluate the vendor offer.

8. Booking and live event operations

Complete a booking inquiry, draft an advance checklist, and prepare a change memo separating essential requirements, approved alternatives, and terms needing written agreement.

9. Resources reporting and sustainable operations

Prepare a project forecast and a monthly update that separates commitments from receipts, identifies missing costs, and ends with three evidence-based priorities.

10. The artist management capstone

Submit the ten-document management portfolio, a concise decision presentation, and a revision memo responding to the disruption. Use the capstone rubric to assess your own work before submission.