Artists’ Business Initiative

Support for successful, sustainable arts-based business initiatives

Artists’ Business Initiative is a grant and a program dedicated to helping #SCartists develop the knowledge and skills to build satisfying, sustainable careers.

Responding to input from artists across the state about their key concerns, the ABI offers:

Financial support for arts-based businesses
- Use as start-up support to launch an arts-based business initiative (or significantly alter an existing initiative) that will operate in an ongoing manner.
- Or, use it to execute a temporary initiative (a one-time occurrence or single purchase) that will provide career satisfaction and sustainability.
- A one-time occurrence/single purchase may be awarded up to $3,500. An ongoing business venture may be awarded up to $5,000.
Business training
- ABI connects artists to affordable training options that support their development as entrepreneurs and profitable business people.

See how current and recent grantees are using ABI below.

FY25 Grantees

Bio

Dogon Krigga is a Columbia-based multi-disciplinary artist. Their interests in journalism and music production brought them into community with musicians for whom Dogon began creating commissioned works of digital collage. Dogon Krigga received early creative mentorship and influence from visual artist Tom Feelings and Walter Rutledge, a NY-based choreographer and multidisciplinary artist who was taught by Alvin Ailey and Romare Bearden.

Krigga evolved their practice from digital art to include hand-cut paper collage and assemblage with printed and cut vinyl on acrylic and metal, as well as installations. These artworks are an exploration and preservation of Queer, Black culture through a surrealist perspective. Krigga is also a graphic designer with experience in commercial print, signage design, and signage project management that includes wide-format printing, metal fabrication, and acrylic fabrication. Krigga has created murals, exterior and interior signage displays for the main branch of Richland Library, S.C. State University, the 1801 Extension of SCSU, and Urban Wok restaurants.

Dogon Krigga’s works have been shown in several solo and group exhibitions to include: Tapp’s Fine Art Center, The Sumter County Gallery of Art, Columbia Museum of Art, and The Goodall Gallery. Krigga’s work can be found in numerous public and private collections, including the IP Stanback Museum. In 2023, they were artist-in-residence for Richland Library in Columbia, producing and hosting community-based art programming and the exhibition Time & Time Again: Exploring the Antique Blacks–A Rootworker’s Tarot. Dogon was also the first artist-in-residence for the 2023 summer residency at Mike Brown Contemporary Gallery in Columbia. Dogon’s artistic ventures also include the Collaborative Cohort Residency with The Highlander Center in New Market, Tennessee (2020). Krigga is a recipient of grants from the SCAC and Alternate Roots.

Publication features of their work include “The African American Dream” by De Volkskrant (Amsterdam, March 2018), Volume 25.1: Yemassee Journal (University of South Carolina, 2018), and “Dogon Krigga and Afrofuturism” by Jasper magazine (2017). Krigga has been commissioned to design artwork for the covers of “Black Quantum Futurism” by Rasheedah Philips, and “BloodFresh” by Ebony Stewart. Recently, Dogon provided artwork for “Only Believe” by Jennifer Bartell. Dogon served as the lead designer for Ingrid LaFleur’s 2017 mayoral campaign for Detroit. Krigga has designed album artwork for King Britt, Kyle Bent, Hieroglyphic Being, Monty Luke, and Vibes Records. Dogon is currently the marketing director for South Carolina Pride, and lead brand designer for Zairoo Entertainment.

Artist statement

Being selected for the FY25 Artists’ Business Initiative Grant fuels my vision to build a sustainable arts-based business that not only fulfills my artistic aspirations but also contributes to the cultural and economic fabric of our community. This support empowers me to forge a path where creativity meets career sustainability, impacting both my artistic journey and the local arts ecosystem positively.

How will you use your ABI grant?

I intend to invest in equipment, training, and professional development that will serve both the growth of Makrigga Media LLC, as well as my independent artistic practice … upgrade my production hardware and software, purchase office furniture to outfit a production studio and useful installation equipment, pay for UI/UX certifications, and pay for developmental and advisory services for professional artists. My professional career as a graphic designer and my practice as a studio artist are intrinsically linked due to the medium, equipment, and production strategies used. By investing in both as one endeavor through this grant, I will be able to enhance the type and scale of work I desire to make; expanding my clientele base, and broadening my reach to a regional and national level, thus increasing my earning potential as a professional artist and designer and providing a more sustainable career.

Website

https://bio.site/artbykrigga

Social media
Representative works

Click images to enlarge.
Bio

Katy Mixon (b. 1984, Orangeburg) is a visual artist working in painting, quilting, and ceramics. She earned an MFA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s from Davidson College. She completed a post-baccalaureate at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Mixon is the recipient of a 2023 South Arts Grant, 2023 Griffith-Reyburn Award, 2023 SC Arts Commission Grant, and a Ruth and Harold Chenven Foundation Award. She was a finalist for the William and Dorothy Yeck Young Painters Award and a VCUarts Fountainhead Fellowship. Mixon worked as an artist-in-residence at the Gibbes Museum of Art; Wildacres Retreat, North Carolina; Virginia Center for the Creative Arts; Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, Nebraska; The Hambidge Center, Georgia; and Byrdcliffe Art Colony, New York.

Select exhibition venues include 701 CCA, Coker University, Gibbes Museum of Art and Spartanburg Art Museum in South Carolina; The North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh; Ackland Art Museum, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, GreenHill Gallery and Hodges Taylor Gallery in North Carolina; Target Gallery in Virginia; A.I.R. Gallery in Brooklyn; and The Painting Center in New York City, among others.

Photo credit: MCG Photography

Artist statement/How will you use your ABI grant?

Receiving a 2025 Artist Business Initiative Grant as an Emerging Artist grantee is truly an honor. The grant will help me invest in my creative business through the purchase of studio equipment. I am deeply grateful to the South Carolina Arts Commission for sponsoring my practice and especially thankful for their ongoing support in my professional development.

Website

https://www.MixonStudio.com/

Social media

Instagram @MixdPaint

Representative works

For artist works, please visit her website.
Bio

Kevin Staggers, a Columbia-based photographer with 20 years of experience in music production, videography, and content creation, founded Focus One Media in 2017. He produces The Hilltop Glove Podcast, runs the Kid Gloves content creation program with the Boys and Girls Club of the Midlands, and teaches a Podcasting 101 Workshop in partnership with Richland Library’s Business, Careers, and Research Center.

Artist statement/How will you use your ABI grant?

Being an [ABI] grantee provides me the opportunity to share my love for storytelling through digital media with others, empowering them to discover their own voices.

Website

https://www.FocusOneMedia.com/

Social media
Representative works

For artist works, please visit his website.