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Duration
Aug. 10 - Sept. 07, 2026
Duration Apr. 09 - Mar. 18, 2027
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The most important tool for managing finances in exhibitions or arts projects is a well-planned budget. Whether working independently or within an institution, understanding how to manage financial resources is key to ensuring a project is executed professionally.
This course will provide you with the know-how and practical tools to draft, plan, and control budgets at every stage of a project. You will learn how to allocate resources effectively, anticipate challenges, and keep your project on track from concept to execution—so you can manage resources with clarity and confidence.
By the end of this five-week course, you will be able to:
Who is this Course for?
This course is for people working in—or aiming to work in—organizing exhibitions and running art organizations who want to manage resources effectively and keep their finances organized.
No prior knowledge is required, though familiarity with exhibitions or cultural projects is helpful. A basic understanding of spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers, or Google Sheets is also recommended.
How it works
Each week combines expert-led sessions with individual or group activities. Optional assignments and additional materials, including budget templates are provided for you to use in your professional work. Collaborative exercises will be conducted using Miro, an online whiteboard tool. No prior experience is needed, but we recommend exploring it briefly beforehand here.
Image credits: rc.xyz NFT gallery via Unsplash
Session 1. Introduction
This session introduces you to how finances work in arts projects and organizations.
● Introduction to budgeting, accounting, controlling, and funding
● Types of financial budgets (general, project, non-financial budgets)
Session 2. The Project Budget: Bringing Your Visions to Reality
This session introduces you to project budgets and how to build and draft them—whether you’re working on an art exhibition, a festival, or another creative event. This session includes free-to-use templates for exhibitions and events that you can adapt to your projects.
● Purpose, function, and structure of the Project Budget
● Building the Project Budget: defining costs and income positions
● Drafting a Project Budget
● The essentials of Exhibition Budgets: common categories, and best practices.
Session 3. Planning a Project Budget for Grant Applications
A Project Budget is not only necessary for producing a project but also for winning grant applications. This session equips you with the skills to adapt project budgets to apply for grants.
Session 4. The General Budget: Keeping Things Running
In this session, you will understand how project budgets contribute to a general budget and explore the key components of a general budget for arts ventures, from project spaces to independent curating. You will learn to review expenses, revenues, and contingencies, and understand the big picture for better decision-making. We will work with a real budget template that you can adapt for your freelance work or business planning.
Session 5. Planning and Controlling
Budgets are flexible documents that will change as your project progresses. In this session, you will learn how to create a long-term plan, adapt a budget over time, and develop indicators informing you about your budget’s health. As project budgets are usually short-term, we will continue working with the General Budget example from Week 4.
Language
Classes are held in English.
Format & Modality
The course is fully online and taught live via Zoom in small, interactive groups to support active learning. Live captioning is available during the sessions.
Schedule
Live sessions take place every Monday from 7-9 PM (Berlin time, CEST).
Attendance
Live attendance is encouraged to get the most out of the course, but recordings are available if you cannot attend a session.
Course Materials
All course materials—including recordings, readings, and presentations—are available on the Node platform for as long as you wish.
Assignments
Optional assignments are included, with personal feedback from the lecturers to help you apply what you learn. Please note that feedback is provided only during the course dates.
Certificate
A downloadable certificate is available upon course completion.
Technical Requirements
A stable internet connection, a computer with a camera and microphone, and access to Zoom are required.
Questions?
Check our FAQ or contact us via our online form.
Tom Koch
"Tom is a great instructor that shared lots of insider information from the trade. Revelations and life hacks were many. And a cool crowd, too. Thanks!!"
