Building a Sustainable Creative Life

About the event

Building a Sustainable Creative Life is a free, community-centered gathering in Durham, North Carolina, designed for artists and creatives to build sustainable, informed and connected lives. The event features practical finance workshops alongside access to a legal café, consultations and other resource providers offering guidance on the real-life challenges artists face.

This workshop is a space to connect—over food, finances, art and more. Whether you’re seeking tools, support or simply community, this event invites you to learn and grow within a network grounded in care and collective sustainability.

Concepts to be covered:

Finance for Artists and Creatives with David Thomson

Money doesn’t have to be a mystery. This workshop is designed specifically for artists, performers and creative professionals who want to build a more sustainable financial life without losing sight of their artistic values. Participants will learn practical strategies for managing the ebbs and flows of freelance and project-based income, setting goals that align with their values and cultivating confidence around money. We’ll demystify the basics of personal finance—banking, budgeting, saving and planning—while exploring how these tools can support your creative practice rather than limit it.

The Everyday Money Playbook with Dr. Gilbert Rogers

This practical session gives you a clear, simple plan for managing money day to day. We will map a monthly cash flow, set up spending guardrails that fit your life, and show quick wins that build momentum. You will learn how credit scores are calculated and the exact steps to raise and protect your score, how to start investing with small amounts, and how to live within your means without feeling like you are missing out.

You will leave with:

A one-page game plan for your next 12 months of money decisions A credit score tune-up checklist that targets utilization, payment history, and disputes A starter investing path, Roth vs. Traditional IRA, low-cost index funds, automation Simple spending rules, 50-30-20 or zero-based options, and strategies to cut the big three costs Ready-to-use tools, budget template, payoff calculators, and a habit tracker for the first 30 days

This session is ideal for anyone who wants straightforward, actionable steps to build stability and grow wealth

Contract Essentials for Artists with Peter Singh

Are you an artist negotiating contracts with labels, galleries, buyers, promoters, or other collaborators? Do you have questions about how to navigate these agreements to protect your rights and secure fair compensation, now and in the future? Peter will explore the essentials of contracts that every artist should have. We'll discuss the core components of contracts in the art world, share real-life insights on negotiating fair terms, and provide tips on how to avoid common legal pitfalls. This conversation will offer valuable advice on how artists can safeguard their work and establish mutually beneficial partnerships. This presentation is perfect for visual artists, musicians, writers, performers, and all creative professionals who want to gain practical insight into how contracts shape their careers. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned pro, this conversation will equip you with knowledge to handle the business side and legal side of your art with confidence.

Artist Assets:

David Thomson

David Thomson is an interdisciplinary artist who has worked extensively across the fields of dance, music, performance and theater for over 40 years, working and collaborating with a wide range of artists including Bebe Miller, Trisha Brown (1987-1993), Ralph Lemon, Sekou Sundiata, Marina Abramović, Yvonne Rainer, Maria Hassabi, and Matthew Barney, among many others. Thomson was honored with awards and fellowships from US Artists, Yaddo, MacDowell, Foundation for Contemporary Arts and the Alpert Award. He initiated the Artist Sustainability Project with Kate Watson-Wallace in 2017, as an ongoing platform that seeks to create and expand discourse surrounding ideas of financial, artistic, and personal empowerment in the arts community. At the heart of this work are larger questions and philosophies around care, community, and resources that feed and support each artist’s ecosystem of sustainability. David Thomson developed YoungArts’ Artist Resource Collective (ARC) program in collaboration with YoungArts and Emily Waters. He is currently studying to become an Accredited Financial Counselor.

Dr. Gilbert Rogers

Dr. Gilbert Rogers is Vice President for Financial Education and Wellness at Huntington National Bank and an Adjunct Assistant Finance Professor at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. He previously directed financial well-being at UNC and launched programs at Oregon and Tulsa. He has raised $1.4M , managed budgets from $40K to $90M, and built 60 partnerships. A national speaker, he pioneered peer education models used by dozens of institutions.

Peter Singh

Peter Singh is a corporate & entertainment attorney. He primarily helps startups, investors, creatives, and businesses at all stages of growth with mergers & acquisitions (M&A), financing, crowdfunding, intellectual property protection and licensing, commercial transactions, organization and governance, trademark law, and other corporate matters. He is currently working as counsel with Fourscore and LEXR, Neutral at Miles Mediation & Arbitration, executive director of Carolina Lawyers for the Arts & Entertainment (CLÆ), CEO of Glyph shoes, Minister of Music at Thriving Faith Church, and a side man with NiiTO Band. Before these roles, Peter worked as an attorney with the Start-Ups practice group at a large regional law firm in Raleigh, which followed an in-house stint with a private equity company in Durham as a corporate counsel and M&A attorney. He started his career with a boutique corporate and entertainment law firm in New York. In his years there, Peter assisted with a wide range of matters including copyright and trademark cases, dispute resolution, contract drafting and negotiation. Whatever the endeavor, Peter strives to deliver on his clients’ needs with his own stamp of polish and precision on every project.