about

career

My name is Marco de Queiroz Gama (birth name Thom). I am an artpreneur-maker! Helping you grow your art business.

If you feel the need to develop the skills required to create and run a successful art business, if you want to financially sustain a living from your art or need some assist in managing risk when making decisions about your art business, while staying true to your individual morals, values and beliefs, my approach is a perfect fit for you! Have a look at my services!

I work as professional artpreneur consultant, researcher and lecturer in arts entrepreneurship and business administration. I am currently located in Berlin (Germany) with an international approach to providing services, currently mainly with projects in Europe and Asia.

In addition, I advise art institutions, for example, universities, colleges or art foundations in developing and implementing educational programmes for their artists.

Before that all started, prior to being an artpreneur consultant, I also was an entrepreneur in the field of developing corporate finance tools. Additionally, I also was an international investment banking analysts, certified with the internationally recognised "CEFA" diploma, responsible for improving investment portfolios of private equity and investment companies. I had to monitor finances, and analyse account statements and cash flow of ventures, start-ups and mid-sized organisations. During that time I have developed a deep understanding of designing promising business models, even for artists.

I am permanently triggered by the question of how to hack the standard, of how to change the asymmetrical and significant inefficiencies of the contemporary art market that lead to the social phenomenon of poor artists worldwide. Due to a scarce body of literature and empircal evidence on systematically developing artists of professional and commercial success with their own career management skills, I decided to set my academic and practical focus on this field since long ago. I received my PhD in Management with focus on Arts Entrepreneurship Education from the London South Bank University (UK) by developing, inter alia, the international ackowledged and already widely implemented model of the crucial '5+2' entrepreneurial skills for professional artists that efficiently supports them to make a profitable and sustainable living in the arts.

In addition, I received an MBA in Management with focus on Business Incubation and Knowledge Transfer the from the Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge (UK). The idea was and still is to design an efficient process of knowledge transfer and skills development in an environment of coaching and mentoring. An unique approach applied to developing successful artpreneurs.

Further, I am also successfully working on a research project in the field of art thinking processes, trying to develop new methods for business managers working on innovative solutions and business modelling, particularly in the context of their digital transformation.

publications

(2011) Business incubation-How to manage the know-how transfer, M Thom, GRIN Verlag

(2014) The suffering of arts entrepreneurs: Will fine art students be educated on how to become successfully self-employed?, M Thom, Journal of Education and Training Studies 3 (1), 64-77  

(2014) Incubating the fine arts: An option for fine artists to become prepared for success?, M Thom, IDC; University Pécs, Hungary

(2015) The entrepreneurial value of arts incubators: Why fine artists should make use of professional arts incubators, M Thom, Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts 4 (2), 51-75

(2016) Crucial skills for the entrepreneurial success of fine artists, M Thom, Artivate: A Journal of Entrepreneurship in the Arts 5 (1), 3-24

(2016) Fine artists' entrepreneurial business environment, M Thom, Working Paper, Institut für Mittelstandsberatung (IfM), Bonn

(2017) The rough journey into arts entrepreneurship: Why arts entrepreneurship education is still in its infancy in the UK and Germany, M Thom, Education+ Training 59 (7/8), 720-739 

(2017) Arts entrepreneurship education in the UK and Germany: An empirical survey among lecturers in fine art, M Thom, Education+ Training 59 (4), 406-426 

(2017) Arts entrepreneur or what type of fine artists am I? A Working typology of fine artists by professional self-understandings and commercial motivations, M Thom, Working Paper, researchgate.net 

(2017) The difficulty of practising fine artists in making a living: Why arts entrepreneurship education is important, M Thom, London South Bank University

  

awards

FGF Cultural Entrepreneurship Award 2014 (Donator: Szyperski Foundation)
Category “Best Scientific Paper“: Marco Thom (London South Bank University), Titel: “The Suffering of Arts Entrepreneurs: Will Fine Art Students be Educated on How to Become Successfully Self-Employed?”

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