Find Your Breakthrough.
The annual conference where working artists in Dallas Fort Worth get the business skills to turn craft into a career. Two days, four breakthroughs, one community.
At a glance
Latino Cultural Center · Dallas, TX
Dates
September 11 + 12, 2026
Venue
Latino Cultural Center, Dallas
Format
Friday evening kickoff plus full Saturday
Tracks
Four pillars, three session levels
Who
Working artists, all disciplines
Not another talk.
Art Boost bridges the skills gap between business and the arts. Working artists across every discipline (visual, performing, literary, and more) come together for two days of business education built around how artists work.
2026 is our fourth year and our first as an independent 501(c)(3). The theme, Find Your Breakthrough, comes from what artists told us they need: specific skills, honest conversations about money, people who get it, and a plan to take home on Sunday morning.
Four breakthroughs every artist hits.
Across years of surveys, focus groups, and conversations with DFW artists, we heard the same four walls. We built the 2026 conference to help you break through each one.
Break Through the Money Wall
Pricing. Taxes. Grants. Reading a P&L. Building income that does not disappear in February. Financial fluency as a requirement for sustaining your art.
Break Through the Noise
Marketing that goes beyond posting more on Instagram. Direct outreach, strategic word of mouth, and the metrics that show you what is working so you can do less of what is not.
Break Through the Overwhelm
The admin, grant writing, scheduling, email backlog. Systems and self-leadership for the parts of an art career that are not the art. Including how artists are using AI to claw back time.
Break Through Together
Most artist income comes from referrals, yet most artists describe building those relationships as the hardest part. We make the room and the introductions, you bring the work.
Woven through every session: Breaking through the doubt. The financial fear, the imposter feelings, the question of whether it is worth it. We name it so you can move past it.
One and a half days
Friday Kickoff
Saturday Conference
Wherever you are in your art career.
Level 1
You are building the base.
You make work, you sell some of it, but the business side feels like a different language. You need the foundational skills (pricing, marketing basics, how taxes work for someone in your situation) and a community that does not make you feel behind.
Level 2
You are hitting a plateau.
You have been doing this a while.
Your work is good. Your income is not keeping up with your craft, or it is inconsistent, or the admin is eating your studio time. You need Level 2 content and conversations with people working at the same edge.
Level 3
You are ready to level up.
You have a working practice and steady income, and you are ready to push into new territory (new formats, new tools, longer-range planning).
You want advanced sessions and peers who are building at the leading edge alongside you.
Two Dallas voices you will want to hear.
They speak to both sides of a creative career: making the work, and building the business around it.
Jon Flaming
A Dallas painter working in a neo-regionalist style. His paintings are held in the permanent collections of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth and the Booth Western Art Museum in Georgia.
His work has reached wider audiences through collaborations with YETI, Crazy Water, and Tecovas and other well-known brands.
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Will Evans
Founder, CEO, and publisher of Deep Vellum, the Dallas independent press that brings international literature to English-language readers.
In 2022, he was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters. In 2024, in acknowledgment of his work in bringing French literature to English-reading audiences, he was made a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.
The 2026 session lineup.
Break Through the Money Wall
What Works, Money: Money Management and Budgeting for Individual Artists
Budgeting, tracking income and expenses, and planning for the uneven income most artists live with.
Grants, Growth and Getting Paid
A hands-on lab on finding and winning grants and building income around your creative work.
Retirement Zine: Why Creative Dreams Need Financial Plans
Map a dream retirement and the financial steps to reach it.
Break Through the Noise
The Squeakiest Wheel (Gets Oiled First)
Visibility and self-advocacy that amplify your work without compromising who you are.
Why Talented Creatives Stay Broke (And How to Change It)
Position your work, name your value, and create opportunities instead of waiting for them.
Say NO to the BOX: Building Creative Communities Beyond the Algorithm
A practical framework for finding your audience and building creative communities that do not depend on the algorithm.
Break Through the Overwhelm
The Whole Picture: Embodied Leadership, Systems Thinking, and Collective Care
Tools for managing complexity, supporting your nervous system, and building a creative practice you can sustain.
Ready Before You're Ready: Simple Systems for a Sustainable Art Practice
Low-cost systems for inventory, opportunity tracking, and the documents galleries and collectors ask for, so you meet a deadline without the scramble.
The Hero's Workflow: Beat Sheets for Engaging and Efficient Client Projects
Map client work onto a three-act structure to cut admin overhead and forecast income.
The venue
Latino Cultural Center
Latino Cultural Center
2600 Live Oak Street, Dallas, Texas 75204
Parking, accessibility, and travel details closer to the event.
Art Boost 2026
Sponsors & Partners
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Your breakthrough is waiting. Grab your seat.
Two days, four breakthroughs, one community. September 11 + 12 at the Latino Cultural Center. Tickets are on sale now.