CURRICULA
KNOW YOUR VALUE(s)
Life + Career Planning for Artists + Makers
Course Description
Leading with the heart into the gaps between craft and commerce, Know Your Value(s) offers students in creative fields the tools and training to achieve sustainable careers and plan intentionally for their lives. From generating project budgets and building personal brands to anticipating emergencies and ensuring active rest, FORGE NYC Co-Founders Chie Morita and Greg Schicker-Taubman provide the skills and know-how to assess, articulate, and assert the practical and monetary value of creative work while following the intrinsic values its makers uphold. The course will alternate lectures that introduce the whys and hows of life and career planning with practical workshops that provide curated exercises, hands-on experience, and real-time feedback from course leaders Chie + Greg. Know Your Value(s) will also feature guest lectures and salon-style panel discussions with working makers who will offer insights from their experience shaping and give students an opportunity to research and prepare questions for visiting experts.
Course Objectives
By the end of the course, students will have drafted mission, values, and vision statements, personal and project budgets, a brand style guide and pitch deck, and--most importantly--a three-year personal/professional growth plan. The course will culminate with a final exam to demonstrate proficiency, community pitches where students will present themselves to each other (and invited guests) as professional makers, and polished versions of key deliverables submitted to Chie + Greg for grading.
Syllabus
Week 1: Meeting Each Other + Ourselves
Week 2: Assess – Our Past
Week 3: Assess – Our Present
Week 4: Assess – Our Future
Week 5: Salon – Working With Integrity
Week 6: Articulate – Language
Week 7: Articulate – Personal + Career Planning: The Destination
Week 8: Articulate – Budgeting your Values
Week 9: Articulate – Branding Your Story
Week 10: Salon – Pitching From Your Power
Week 11: Assert – Personal + Career Planning: The Journey
Week 12: Assert – Budgeting in Solidarity
Week 13: Assert – Pitching + Self-Advocacy
Week 14: Assert – My Value(s) - Community Pitches
Week 15: Final Exam