Empowering Aspiring Artists: A Digital Platform for Selling Affordable Art Prints

Studio 31 is a startup venture founded by Brandon Goldberg, Ryan Johnston, Samuel Vogel, and Ekaterina Korneva. The company offers affordable art prints created by aspiring artists through an online platform. Our mission is to connect these artists with art lovers and provide them with the tools to build sustainable careers. Key activities of Studio 31 include curating a set of artworks, maintaining a print-on-demand system for sustainable production, and penetration of the target market through strong digital media positioning. The field of art is replete with talented artists who are just starting their professional careers and are not represented in the art market. The works of art of such artists are unknown and inaccessible to the target audience, which complicates the process of their professional development and limits the variety of artworks available on the market. Studio 31 infiltrates the art community and forms partnerships with talented artists to then provide the target market with access to exclusive artwork through an established sales and production process. The advantages of an established business process are no risk to the artist, cost-efficient production that correlates with demand, and a predictable cash flow from operations. The current state of the industry and trends affecting the target market confirm the viability of Studio 31's business model. The covid-19 crisis has affected the art market, shifting focus to online sales. Moreover, due to people spending more time at home, the demand for art products has increased. Our team is uniquely positioned to bring the Studio 31 business plan to life. With Katrin, Ryan, Brandon, and Samuel as the management team, the project is supported by expertise in entrepreneurship, management and policy, economics, marketing and design Implementation and marketing are the key activities of the company on the way to gaining traction in the target market. Studio 31 will develop multiple direct and indirect distribution channels to provide customers with diversified access to offerings. The website will serve as the main direct channel to connect with buyers, displaying the full list of offers available for order. In addition, the company will be present on numerous social media platforms in order to notify the target audience of current offers in a timely manner. Both the website and social media accounts will grow through paid advertising and influencer marketing. The project's initial funding consists of Barrett, the Honors College Thesis Funding. These resources covered the overhead costs required to get started, such as the website and initial product prototypes. The seed funding will also be used for market research and business process testing to improve the company's performance and subsequently maximize profits. The team will resort to a crowdfunding strategy if additional funding resources are needed to cover the initial costs. The project will be presented to the public to receive financial assistance for business development. The investment will be encouraged by incentives such as discounts on future sales.