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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must have for any Creative Business!, 9 Dec 2005
By A Customer
It’s an old cliché that artists don’t like business. There’s a sense that somehow getting stuck into the administration side of your arts business will stop you being an artist, turn you into a ‘suit’.It can be true but it doesn’t need to be, as the author of T-Shirts and Suits, David Parrish, goes to great lengths to make clear. Parrish is a rare thing. He’s a hugely qualified business consultant; there are more letters after his name than in it. He’s also worked extensively in the creative industries. If there is a divide between creativity and business then Parrish has been successful on both sides of it. The man knows what he’s talking about At only 105 pages T-Shirts and Suits is short, but it’s designed for people who probably don’t enjoy reading business manuals. In eleven short and readable chapters Parrish takes you through the steps necessary to establish and grow a successful arts project. The chapters are deliberately laid out to be easy to read and access; the longest is ten pages, perfect for dipping into when the need arises. Parrish’s ideas are presented simply and without jargon. He has a friendly, clear writing style and the book is a joy to read, each chapter presenting as many concepts in a page or two as other books take whole chapters to squeeze out. The book is a generic guide to business skills in the creative industries; it isn’t directly aimed at theatre companies. In fact it seems a little over-focussed on web design, especially in its case studies, and while there are links on the website, a little more advice in the book itself on where to go next might have been useful. T-Shirts and Suits doesn’t pretend to be a catch-all manual of business skills, it’s far too short. What it is is a brief introduction to what you will need to know to run an arts business or group, and, in many cases, just enough information to stop your fledgling project floundering before it’s properly started. Parrish has been there and done that, and hasn’t so much bought the t-shirt as silk-screened and successfully marketed it. Whether you’re established or start-up, this is a book you can dip into for advice and inspiration. T-Shirts and Suits is lucid, easy to read, jargon free and guaranteed to save you sweat, money, time and tears. Buy this book!
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by John Howkins
by Richard Stutely
by John Hartley
