Artist’s Strategy was started by Joshua Morgan in 2014 while running a theatre company he had founded in Washington, DC.
Trained as an actor, producing fell into his lap somewhat accidentally. On the path to building a successful theatre company by marketing, networking, fundraising and smart producing, he had the thought “why aren’t we applying these same principles to building acting careers?”
That idea turned into a codified system, specific to freelance artists. The system was created using basic business principles based on his experience running for profit and not for profit companies.
Since its inception, Artist’s Strategy has worked with actors all over the world helping them develop structure in what is a structureless industry. It began as only one on one consulting and continued to develop into a one-stop shop of diverse resources for artists all over the world empowering them to work and learn in any capacity that best suits them.
Artist's Strategy founder, JOSHUA MORGAN, when he founded and ran No Rules Theater, the nation's first dual-city theater company. Joshua and his team grew the theater to a nearly million dollar operating budget in a few short years.
At Artist's Strategy, we believe the separation between "artist" and "entrepreneur" is a modern myth.
Throughout history, the greatest artists—from Leonardo da Vinci to Shakespeare to Mozart—were business people who understood that creative excellence and strategic thinking work in harmony, not opposition. The "pure artist" model that emerged in the mid-20th century was a brief historical anomaly enabled by unprecedented institutional support that is now rapidly disappearing. We help artists reclaim their complete identity by developing the business acumen that amplifies rather than compromises their artistic integrity.
Our methodology centers on five core principles that form the foundation of sustainable creative careers.
Radical Ownership moves artists from passive recipients waiting for discovery to active creators of their own opportunities.
Systems-Thinking & Long-Term Planning provides the strategic frameworks necessary for building careers that withstand industry volatility.
Death of Specialization & Multi-Disciplinary Mastery recognizes that the future belongs to artists who can leverage multiple skills and revenue streams.
Reality-Based Expectations & Financial Literacy grounds artistic ambition in practical understanding of current market conditions.
Finally, Audience-First Business Development espouses that building an owned audience is the new gatekeeping system - more important than traditional industry connections
These principles support five fundamental paradigm shifts that transform how artists approach their careers.
We guide artists from Artistic Purity → Business Integration - understanding that business is the vessel for self-actualization and artistic impact rather than something that diminishes integrity.
We facilitate the evolution from Passive Recipient → Active Creator - replacing "if I'm talented enough, I'll be discovered" with "I create my own opportunities and build my own platform."
We help artists transition from Specialist → Generalist - moving from "I am an actor, writer, painter, filmmaker" or whatever their discipline, to "I am a unique artist who uses multiple skills to build my career."
We shift focus from Industry Validation → Audience Validation - replacing dependence on industry gatekeepers, whether agents, casting, gallery owners, record labels, music producers, film festival curators or the like, with direct relationships built with people who value their work.
Finally, we transform Linear Career Path → Iterative Business Building - abandoning the outdated "climbing an industry ladder" progression for continuous experimentation, adaptation, and value creation.
Our comprehensive curriculum integrates these concepts through our Seven Tenets framework: Professional Growth, Community Cultivation, Financial Management, Craft Improvement, Self-Producing, Marketing, and Method. Rather than treating these as separate disciplines, we demonstrate how they work synergistically to create sustainable artistic careers. The result is a generation of artists equipped not just to survive in the modern creative economy, but to thrive as complete artists who control their creative destinies.,