At this unique SeminArt, a distinguished panel of artists representing several disciplines will discuss the different creative–and legal–ways that they bring in income aside from traditional sales of artwork. The panel will outline how their side jobs bring new opportunities and perspectives to their art practice and give them a sense of goodwill, community and civic engagement. The panel will also share tips on time management and how to balance numerous projects. The artists participating in this panel are entrepreneurial and inventive. Their renaissance-man (and woman) spirits will inspire you to think outside the box about Creative Ways to Make Living.

Panelists will answer your specific questions at the end of the program. Stick around to meet other artists and community leaders—LegalArt SeminArts are great networking opportunities!

About the panelists

P. Scott Cunningham is a poet and the founder of University of Wynwood, a non-profit organization that curates events and projects related to contemporary literature. He’s also the founder of O, Miami, a city-wide poetry festival created in collaboration with the John S. and James L. Foundation. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in The Harvard Review, Court Green, Abe’s Penny, Pool, Pure Francis, PANK, Northville Review, Roanoke Review, and elsewhere. A satirical piece of his appears in The McSweeney’s Joke Book of Book Jokes (Vintage, 2009). A 2009 United States Artist Grant nominee, he co-created the zine factory Workshop Workshop at Design Miami 2009 with artists Jim Drain, Graham Hudson, and Keith McCullogh and is the founding publisher of Jai-Alai Magazine, a printed archive of Miami prose, poetry and drawing.

Christy Gast is a sculptor, video and performance artist whose work explores often-overlooked places where history and identity politics intersect as metaphors on the body or the landscape. Her solo exhibition Batty Cave was shown at Gallery Diet in early 2010. Her work was recently featured in exhibitions such as Hace Tanto Que No Te Veo at Centro Cultural Matucana 100 in Santiago, Chile, and Night Shift at the Bass Musuem of Art in Miami, FL, USA. Her upcoming video installationt Herbert Hoover Dyke will open at the De La Cruz Collection in Miami in December, 2010. For the past five years, Christy has been writing grants for arts, music and education organizations, as well as individual artists, winning funding for her clients from the NEA, state and county organizations, and private foundations.

Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova was born in Havana, Cuba. He immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1980 during the Mariel boat lift. He attended the Ringling School of Art and Design and New World School of the Arts in Miami where he lives and works. Leyden has exhibited in major cities nationally and internationally and is in the permanent collection of CIFO, Debra and Dennis Scholl and the Frost Museum. He has received several awards including the South Florida Cultural Consortium and the prestigious Cintas Fellowship for Visual Arts. He is also one of the founders of Fulano Inc. a design studio in Miami practicing graphic design and web development as well as Dimensions Variable, an exhibition space in the Miami Design District.

Summer Hill Seven is an iconoclastic and innovative performer, hip-hop theatrical artist, theatre and film director, and educator who has interpreted the works of Shakespeare, Shaw, Hughes, Douglas, Holder, Wilson, Parks, Fuller and more. As a Poemedian, he has performed at New York’s Lincoln Center, Miami’s Literary Café, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Byron Carlyle Theatre, Utah Shakespearean Festival, Asolo, National Black Theatre, Nuyorican Poetry Café, Bowery Poetry Club and the Afrikan Poetry Theatre. He is a distinguished alumni of Sister Clara Muhammad School, Richard Stockton College, Princeton University, New York University School of Law and the University of Delaware’s Professional Theater Training Program.  Prior to becoming a Poemedian, he was the National Director of Community Service for the National Black Law Students Association and a Legal Aid Attorney for the Essex-Newark Legal Services of New Jersey. As a director, in June 2010 his theatrical debut, Platanos & Collard Greens (Audelco Award), began its eighth consecutive year off Broadway in NYC. Currently, he is developing and directing several projects for both stage and film.

Frances Trombly was born in Miami, Florida, where she lives and works. She received a BFA from the Maryland Institute of Art. She has exhibited in major cities nationally including New York, Miami, and Los Angeles and internationally in London, Vienna, as well as Latin America. Her work has been featured in various publications including Sculpture Magazine, Modern Painters and Art & Auction. Trombly is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, Florida, as well as private collections throughout the United States. She is also one of the founders of Fulano Inc. a design studio in Miami practicing graphic design and web development as well as Dimensions Variable, an exhibition space in the Miami Design District.