APAC Insider Magazine Article

The Artists Business Lounge is an online coaching business established to help visual artists grow personally and professionally. This coaching centre offers a vast array of services and materials to assist artists in learning how to pursue a career in the arts and understand all aspects of the business side of being an artist, including website development, pricing, sales, marketing, and exhibition. Following the success of the company in the Australian Enterprise Awards 2024, we speak to Founder Amanda van Gils to find out more.

Founded in 2020, The Artists Business Lounge helps artists to achieve more in their art careers. The artist and coach behind this business, Amanda van Gils, has worked with clients across Australia and in many international locations such as the UK, the US, and Canada.

With a diverse background spanning over 20 years, Amanda herself is a seasoned artist and an accomplished business coach. Her extensive experience includes showcasing her artwork in over 120 exhibitions globally, alongside her roles as a mentor, curator, and leader of artist forums.

Holding formal qualifications in fine arts, coupled with her entrepreneurial acumen, and coaching credentials, Amanda offers a unique blend of artistic expertise and business proficiency.

Recognising the scarcity of art business coaches within the Australian time zone, she provides localised support that is tailored to individual artists, aiding them in realising their career aspirations and refining their business strategies. With easy-to-implement systems and personalised guidance, Amanda empowers artists to go beyond their limitations and unlock their full potential, fostering both artistic growth and commercial success.

The Artists Business Lounge has many clients, including early-career artists and artists who have been exhibiting for many years. To help them, this company provides practical resources, individual coaching, and a signature group programme known as the Success System Program. It helps artists recognise and resolve any obstacles hindering their full potential, thereby enabling them to thrive creatively and professionally using a skillset, mindset, and toolset approach.

With her core values of curiosity, flexibility, optimism, openness, creativity, and passion for learning, combined with expertise in the field and awareness of how coaching can help artists, Amanda designs and delivers high-quality products and programmes for those who are seeking guidance and support.

Additionally, her commitments lie in delivering exceptional support to clients, ensuring their success, and nurturing her own practice. Amanda is deeply dedicated to fostering artists’ prosperous and sustainable careers, solving their concerns, and enhancing their self-confidence through understanding human psychology. She believes that this transformative approach transcends mere grant application skills.

Furthermore, Amanda has always been an early adopter of all things tech, and she utilises technology such as artificial intelligence and social media to assist artists who may be technophobes, showing them how they can take advantage of it within their own art businesses. She aims to find ways of using automation and standard business practices to help artists navigate the online and offline spaces and take their careers to the next level.

Considering Amanda’s dedication, passion, and intelligence, it is easy to see how The Artists Business Lounge has come to be recognised as the Visual Artist Career Coaching Service of the Year 2024. We have no doubt that this company will continue to help artists build business skills, strategize solutions, and initiate collaborative and independent exhibitions for many years to come.