What is DIPA? I think it is pronounced dip-ah lol, unlike how my fiance keeps trying to pronounce it dipe-ah like diaper which is horrible and wrong. DIPA or The Drawing, Illustrating, and Painting Association is a company I came up with back in January. This all started when I noticed that every discipline of art in my college went to a yearly conference. We, the drawing and painting students, had no conference to go to. According to my professors, these conferences just didn’t exist. I happen to LOVE planning events so I thought I could be the one to “create” this conference.
After doing hours of research I learned most painting conferences were for commercial painters, like people that paint houses or buildings. There were also conferences for Plein Air painting or portrait painting and drawing but none of these were what I was hoping for. I don’t do much Plein air or portrait art and neither do most of my classmates.
Now, feeling confident there was a market for what I had to offer I went to work planning this business and conference. I wanted to create a conference that catered more generally to drawers, painters, and illustrators, a conference that could teach us more than what we got in school. To me, this meant this conference needed to teach business classes, or classes beneficial to an artist wanting to market themselves and find buyers for their art. This conference also needed to be an environment where drawers, painters, and illustrators could network and make friends no matter their skill levels.
All this being said I guess I present “The 2024 DIPA Drawing, Illustrating, and Painting Conference.” This year’s theme is Becoming a Professional. Since this is our first year, I have reached out to many artists and asked them to present. Some of the topics they will be speaking about are: applying for galleries, working a 9-5 and finding time for art, how to find buyers, and how to pick a good grad school. We are working on getting some workshops for this conference as well that will go over topics such as: building a website, making your own canvas and frames, or a sip and paint.
My goal is that this can be as exciting for us drawing and painting students as the other conferences have been for the other disciplines at my school. I have such high hopes for this conference and business. I want to use this space to help other artists sell their art, find affordable studio space, or even find reasonably priced art material.
This all would be nothing without the help of many of my drawing and painting classmates and my wonderful fiance. They were the ones who let me talk their ears off about what this business could be. They helped me decide if an LLC or a nonprofit was a better fit. I would not be here if I didn’t have them around to listen to me go on and on about this conference and business.
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