Surviving as an artist in Sydney depends on a number of approaches. An artist needs a place to produce work and the materials to make it with. An artist has to exhibit the work and network amongst other artists. The exhibtion needs to be promnoted in the media as much as possible. Finally there is the prospect of grants to help fund the costs of an art career. Here i will make an introduction to these topics which an early career artist fresh out of art school might be faced with. 

Artist Studios
Assuming an artist isn’t working from home, an artist studio is a necessity. There are a number of artist studios complexes located around the inner city. These include the 1+2 art studios in Rozelle, the May street studios in St Peters, and the Lennox street studios in Newtown. The sizes of the studios, layouts and costs vary with each studio complex. There are also waiting lists for studio space whcih need to be accounted for.

Art Supply Stores
The main art supply shops include Parkers Art Supplies,in the Rocks Oxford Art Supplies,in Paddington,and Newtown Art Supplies,in Newtown. In general each art store tends to stock similar products at a similar price with occasional store specific sales. Parkers Art Supplies stands out a boutique brand store which has brands and products which are not normally available in Australia. As a rule of thumb the more expensive the art material the better the quality.

Art Galleries
Finding a suitable gallery and arranging an exhibition is far more complex. In general the easiest place to show is one which is an artist run space open to any artist so long as they are willing to pay for the exhibition costs including rent and opening night expenses. In a sense these artist run spaces are at the bottom of the gallery hierarchy with the large commercial galleries (who have a more exclusive selection of artists only) at the top. The Art almanac is a good guide to where galleries are located and the work being shown there. The type of gallery shown at will also influence the chance of having a write up in the media. The more important the gallery the more likely the show will be reviewed.

Art Grants
Finally the process of applying for grants and scholarships should be considered by even the most recently graduated art student. Usually having university level qualifications and possibly post degree level gives a higher chance of success in the Australia Council grants.However a good all round guide to grants and art related information can be found via NAVA. Generally the best way of deciding to enter is to take note of previous recipients. The type of work and quality of work is a good barometer of how to place your won work in the context of applying for particular grants.