About | Be Smart About Art

Taking action to build your art business is your responsibility; Be Smart About Art is about informing and inspiring you to take action. Over the years, this has included:

Membership: Access to a monthly meetup with Susan, Founder of BSAA, and fellow art professionals to share insights and accountability, live and recorded events and resources, and networking and partnership opportunities.
Courses: An Art Biz Bootcamp with a curriculum based on more than twenty years experience, it supports you to develop the thinking, strategy and foundation on which to build long-term art business success.
Publications: Including ‘Art is your life, make it your living’, an editable artist / gallery contract template, and ‘What’s your excuse for not succeeding as an artist?’.

Seeing BSAA members and bootcampers take action from our membership program that positively impacts their careers and livelihoods has been a real joy:

Susan Clare

“Susan’s BSAA programme and ArtBiz Bootcamp have been invaluable in more ways than I can count, providing a stable basis of understanding from which to make decisions and create direction in my career.”

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Sue McQueen

“I found BSAA a perfect resource to discuss and learn how to deal with almost any level of art business issues.”

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Felicity Swan

"Membership of Be Smart About Art has been very useful to me for several years. In particular, it has helped bring me up to speed with current best practices and offered a pointer for my own professional development as an exhibiting practitioner in a challenging market."

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Jackie Groundsell

"Thanks so much for this much-needed solution - I’m 1 hr into the invaluable video and can hardly wait to get started with the contract!"

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Emma Broughton

"Susan is extremely enthusiastic and knowledgeable about presenting. She makes everyone feel they can do this and be successful in the art business!"

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When we return in 2025, that could be you too!

Where would you like your art career and life to be in October 2025?

What’s happening now?

In 2019, Susan co-founded ArtAML, providing an essential anti-money laundering compliance solution to the art market. This uniquely positions Susan with up-to-date experience running a fast-moving enterprise and being actively involved in the industry, working with one-person start-ups to ‘mega’ galleries and auction houses.

With this as her primary focus for now, as of October 2023, BSAA is not taking on any new subscribers to the Art Biz Bootcamp or BSAA memberships until October 2025.

However, if you have previously been a member, or have taken a course with BSAA, there are still opportunities to book 1 to 1 sessions with Susan before then:

Express your interest

What’s coming next?

In October 2025, Be Smart About Art will be back. With her experience with AML pushing her to the next level as an entrepreneur, Susan will be back with more to give than ever relating to both the art world and business.

Sign up to stay in touch

About Susan and the BSAA team

In early 2012, Founder, Susan J Mumford, decided to try an experiment: Would individuals running their own art businesses invest in their own careers beyond 1:1 support, i.e., with workshops, courses and networking events? It was clear that the internet was changing the industry fast, and players in the sector were desperate for insight, bored with the lack of transparency.

The resounding answer was a resounding YES. The first event was held in a gallery in London on the 27th February 2012, followed by the first ‘hybrid’ professional development workshop in October 2013, running a busy offline & online program until 2019, and going entirely online in 2020 – 2023

The idea had been sparked by Susan running her own gallery in London’s West End between 2006-2011, followed by founding the Association of Women Art Dealers (AWAD) in 2009.

Thank you to the team that has been part of the story so far.

And thanks too to all those members who have been part of the journey, and welcome aboard to those wishing to join us in 2025!