This paper reports the result of a project involved in investigating the perception of business and international business among artists. Eight interviews among a diverse group of artists from different countries were carried out during 2007. All of the artists are or were fellows at Academie Schloss Solitude in Germany. An exploratory research approach gave interesting findings regarding the artists’ way of perceiving their profession, their attitude towards business and business activities within their field. This also have consequences for how they defined themselves and what is needed in order to be established as a ‘real’ artist.
It is obvious that artists today are a group that can be considered running a small project based company. They need to finance their activities, distinguish the audience (customers), decide upon which project to carry out etc. Since today’s artists also are travelling in different countries to learn and explore their profession, it covers many interesting consequences connected to the field of international business. Among this small group differences could be established that might be linked to their cultural background. A special focus on their approach to fund their projects, and their (in some cases) inability to see the potential future (international) market of a product in a project is made.