Entrepreneurship and the Artist

Labor of Love and Black History

I decided to listen to the “Labor of Love and Black History” podcast provided by ASIFA South. The main guest of the program focused around Animator and entrepreneur Davonne Duport. Duport is hails from San Francisco California and has aspired to be an artist since a very young life. She attended California College of Arts for her undergrad and pursued animation. Following her bachelors, she went on to attend SCAD for graduate school and completed 3 internships while attending. Throughout Duport’s decorative career she has worked on “Adult Swim” as well as on a show called “The Awesomes” which derived from the same creators of the hit show “Bob’s Burgers.” Today she works as a freelance Animator contractor creating content from her own studio.

In this podcast Duport dropped many gems along with sharing her life experience as a professional animator. What makes makes her an entrepreneur is not only mere fact that she has her own independent business, but also with the way she goes about handling business and her clientele. When handling clients establishes a strong line of communication making them feel like they are truly heard. In an effort to negate any problems with the client official contracts are drawn that address all specifications. I found that information extremely important because having something “on paper” is very crucial when handling business. Before hearing this I thought having an e-mail thread was enough but according to Duport “emails are more like promises and not as binding as contracts.” Having a contract in place also provides an ultimate reference if there is any confusion about the terms and conditions.

With this podcast I learned new things that will actually be quite useful for my future career. I learned when responding to anything regarding business to make sure it is from a verified company email first. This will help you avoid working hard on something you wouldn't get paid for. Speaking of payment, artists should make sure whoever is negotiating your wages is in a position to do so. If it is not the right person you run the risk of not getting the proper pay from your work. Duport followed with a statement that resonated with me, “if you take that job that underpays you, you will not be available for the job you are really worth.” I interpreted this two different ways. One way was by accepting a job that underpays you, you will not have the means to accept another job because you will be struggling financially. The second way was focused on self worth. Accepting a job that you know is beneath your value speaking volumes about your standards. To me it implies you do not think your work, time, and effort is enough to get properly compensated. By operating off that mentality it will be difficult to take your own self seriously let alone a potential client.

Davonne Duport and myself have 2 things in common, Our love for Animation and our skin tone. Being of African decent we not only have are art high risk for experiencing discrimination in the real work but also within the industry. As much as we would like to just be solely known for our artwork who we are, Black people, will always proceed us. Instead of seeing it as a disadvantage, she encouraged to embrace it and stay true to our uniqueness. In closing Duport states “know there is a place for you, you just have to find it.”