Art encompasses every facet of our lives and artists are needed to drive the culture forward. Despite its importance, many artists struggle with creating viable businesses using their creativity. Dionna Collins understood this and created ComfiArt, a business incubator and mentorship program, that helps artists no matter where they are in their creative journey. The founder and CEO of ComfiArt sat down with rolling out to tell us more about the company and the work she’s doing in the community.
You’ve got a business incubator that solely focuses on Black women, Black people, indigenous people and people of color, correct? Talk about ComfiArt and why we needed this for Black people.
ComfiArt is a business incubator that provides Black people, [other] people of color and visual artists with business resources and networking opportunities through our four pillars. Our four pillars are e-commerce, community, events and partnerships. With these four pillars, this is where our visual artists can navigate and get the opportunities for them to thrive in their passion of art.
Tell us about your background in graphic design.
I was born in Boston and I grew up in south Atlanta. I went to Banneker High School and I graduated from the Art Institute of Atlanta for graphic design for my bachelor’s degree. I also graduated from Full Sail University for my master’s in internet marketing and then I got a certificate at Emory University for Six Sigma Greenbelt. With all of this education, I really wanted to help our artists focus on the business aspects of art and form that foundation to thrive as a business and as an artist.
What are some of the obstacles that are common outside of normal entrepreneurship?
We have a lot of struggles because artists don’t know where to go or don’t know where they can network or have a community that supports them. That’s where ComfiArt comes in [to help other artists]. I know as an artist myself, I’ve always loved art. I went to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts when I was younger to do classes. Going into the arts, my family was supportive, but when creating ComfiArt my mom [would] always be like, “You have all these degrees, you can go get a job.” Yes, I could get a job but my passion is art and I know that a lot of people don’t have the support that they need from their families. … Our work is very valuable in this ecosystem that we have even if you are a painter or graphic designer. Everybody needs creatives and needs art in some form or fashion. As artists, I don’t want us to be put to the side or first to be laid off because we all need some type of visual artist or a creative to help us grow.
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