Art Is a Startup (and Startups Are Art): The Real Work of Selling & Making (public event)

​Art is supposed to be pure. Startups are supposed to be rational.

​Neither is true.

​This is a curated series of intimate conversations between artists and technologists, founders and investors, curators and operators—exploring the overlaps we rarely name, and the misconceptions that keep both worlds stuck.

​We’ll get specific about the real work underneath creation:

• ​Personal branding: when your name is the product—what do you do if you’re not “built” for visibility?

• ​Structure & systems: the routines that protect creative output (and founder sanity)

• ​Inspiration vs grit: how momentum is actually made when the spark disappears

• ​Selling: pricing, confidence, negotiation, and the emotional hang-ups around money

• ​VCs & galleries: a candid parallel—taste-makers, gatekeepers, capital, validation… and what young founders/artists give away too cheaply when they’re hungry for a “yes”

​Not a panel. Not a pitch night. An evening of cross-pollination—where two worlds compare notes on what it takes to make something, and to bring it into the world.

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​Confirmed speakers TBC

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​Moderated by Kate Shifman

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​What to expect

• ​Short talks + intimate discussions

• ​presentation by our artist in residence Vanessa Teodoro

• ​Audience Q&A

• ​Networking, DJ, wine and treats

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​📆 25th of June, 2026

​📍 Lisbon (details coming soon)