About Glass Elevator Arts Consulting

Glass Elevator Arts Consulting is a creative management firm that serves artists by supporting them through the creative process. Every artist is in a different phase of their career and needs varying degrees of support. The creative process is an intricate journey and each artist is at a different stage within the process. Glass Elevator uncovers where an artist is on their journey and creates a customized plan for achieving their goals.

A different kind of support

Glass Elevator Arts is a social enterprise: We do not seek fortune; instead our goal is to see artists succeed and make a living from their career. To do this, we charge reasonable rates and work within any artist’s budget. If you share this passion for supporting artists or female entrepreneurs, consider making a donation through our patreon account here.

But what do you DO?

Glass Elevator meets with artists and creates custom plans to meet their needs. Like each artist, every plan is different. Some artists only need assistance with creating the plan and can carry it out themselves. Other artists' capacity is limited and they need help managing their plan. Glass Elevator both consults and offers day-to-day management of tasks. In addition to consultation services, Glass Elevator hosts events and participates in community events. Events may focus on one artist or include all clients. For more information on upcoming events, check out our calendar.

Alleson

About the founder

Alleson Buchanan grew up in the Pacific Northwest, soaking herself in the arts: She sang in a cappella small groups, performed musical theatre, and loves to tap dance. She always loved visual art and spent hours staring at her favorite paintings at her favorite museums across the country. Surrounded by all this beautiful art, she felt living artists were under represented. Her journey to understand the visual art world led her back to the source: The artists. She realized artists are the ones who need an advocate and found her calling. Alleson managed a classical realist painter full time for three years to learn the ins and outs of artist needs. In 2016, Alleson founded Glass Elevator Arts Consulting to support and reward individuals for taking the risk of becoming a professional artist.

Alleson holds a B.S. in Communication from Cascade College in Portland Oregon and an M.F.A. in Arts Leadership from Seattle University. Alleson has a decade of experience with commercial and nonprofit organizations, and individual artists. She promotes the arts in Seattle and has had the pleasure of partnering with many Seattle arts organizations including: Pratt Fine Arts Center, Cornish College of the Arts Playhouse Theatre, The Brooke Westlund Studio + Gallery, Puget Sound Group Northwest Artists, Seattle University Art Collection, Edmonds Center for the Arts, and Cultural Access Washington.

So good it could have been made by a man

What I see in artists

To me, artists are an intricate web of potential. I see what they can be, where they can go, and who they might impact - the second I meet them. I see someone who is aching to share their story and I yearn to help tell it.

Telling an artist’s story is a complicated process. There are a million things that happen before that final piece of art is ready to hang on a wall - which is only part of an artist’s story. The creative process requires organization, vision, support, materials, thick skin, resiliency, and grit. Do you think you could manage that process alone? Why should artists then?

I see and feel their struggle.

When we ask for free art, we are inadvertently telling our artists that their profession and product is not valuable. Jennifer Anderson said it perfectly in her article about mental health and the arts: “It is difficult for people to maintain a healthy sense of self when they are consistently told their labour and skills are worth, quite literally, nothing.” I want to change this. I believe artists deserve support through the creative process and constant reminders that both they and their work is valuable.

Without artists there is no art. Artists take the risks most of us are afraid to try. Creating Glass Elevator Arts is my attempt to reward artists for taking the risk of becoming a professional artist.