Making It in the Art World (Third Edition): Strategies for Exhibitions and Funding

by Brainard Carey

How today’s artists survive, exhibit, and earn money—without selling out! 

Career-minded artists, this is the book you have been waiting for! Making It in the Art World, Third Edition, explains how to be a professional artist and shares new methods to define and realize what success means. Whether you’re a beginner, a student, or a career artist looking to be in the best museum shows, this book provides ways of advancing your plans on any level. Author Brainard Carey, an artist himself with prestigious exhibitions like the Whitney Biennial under his belt, draws on more than twenty years of experience in the art world and from over 1,900 interviews with artists and curators for Yale University Radio. Included is a thirteen-part workbook to help you formulate and execute a winning career advancement strategy, a process that will prepare you for navigating the art world successfully. Friendly chapters walk you through it all with topics such
Evaluating your workSubmitting proposals to museums and galleriesCreating pop-up showsPresenting work to the publicDoing it your way (DIY exhibits) Organizing eventsWriting press releasesFinding collectors online and connectingUsing social media effectivelySelling onlineRaising funds for projectsGetting international recognition
Making It in the Art World, Third Edition, is an invaluable resource for artists at every stage, offering readers a countless strategies and helpful tips to plan and execute a successful artistic career.

Kindle Edition

Expected publication July 14, 2026

About the author

Brainard Carey lectures on art and art education. He is an artist that collaborates with his wife Delia Carey. Their collaborative, Praxis was included in the Whitney Biennial and they continue to make art, exhibit in biennials as well as conduct workshops and shows for their current project, The Museum of Non-Visible Art.

He is the host of -Lives of the Artists- a podcast on Yale University radio on the art and artists and has interviewed over 1,400 artists,


The interviews on this page are from his public affairs show on Yale radio, WYBC.

Brainard Carey was born in Manhattan, New York, and grew up in Yonkers. After attending undergraduate art school at SUNY Purchase, he moved to Rhode Island and opened a gallery and began publishing a literary magazine. Carey then moved back to New York City, where he met Delia Bajo, and cofounded Praxis, which was invited to be in the Whitney Biennial in 2002 and to be in a solo show there in 2007, as well as other venues around the world. Carey also has an educational business that helps artists to write grants, exhibit, and advance their careers.

He splits his time between New York City and a studio in New Haven, Connecticut.