An artist manager guides the professional careers of artists in the entertainment industry. The responsibility of an artist's manager is to oversee the day-to-day business affairs of an artist; advise and counsel talent concerning professional matters, long-term plans and personal decisions which may affect their career.
Christopher Mark Steffler is an artist and an Artist Manager.
He has worked with such artists as Juno Nominee Tony Anthony, dancehall sensation Nadera, Sarah K, Culture Brown, Juno award winnners Devon aka Mr.Metro and Mikey Dangerous. As well as Baby-C, Groundbreakers, Daddy Roy The Messenger, Dwaine Messado, The Metro Squad, Muss Buss, Quote, The Paul Tavai-Latta Polynesian Dancers and Ras Nikilesh to name a few. He has also worked with music producers across North America and in Europe.
How the journey began...
Through his ingenuity as a muralist in Edmonton, Alberta, Christopher discovered that there was great demand for artists. He began working with small businesses and then onto large corporations. All of these companies were looking to commission artists for various projects, but didn't know where to find them. Christopher knew numerous educated and talented artists that were not making the same connections he was; many of them were working as waiters in restaraunts. As his artistic obligations grew, Christopher created an agency that brought more artists to the market.His agency grew fast in Edmonton, so two years after he took an opportunity to move to a larger market; Vancouver, BC. Using this same formula, Christopher created an agency called Crested-Crane and Lion Artworks. Just as in Edmonton, the agency soon had 10 artists working full-time on a number of corporate creatives from across the country. After the first year, Christopher stepped back as a hands-on artist and lead his team as an Artistic Director. He worked directly with advertising agencies and corporate consumers to guide the artistic process from concept to reality. Another arm of Crested-Crane and Lion Artworks emerged that saw Christopher representing artists for both commissioned and personal works.
In 2003, Christopher received grants from the Federal Government to be educated in Arts Administration programs where he learned the finer business details. From marketing to copyrighting to contract negotiations. Ultimately, the focus was on how to prepare artists to becoming self-supporting through their art. In 2005, after completing a program at the Vancouver Academy of Dramatic Arts, he received a federal grant to attend Vancouver Film School. Here too, Christopher was educated on how the performing artist must professionally prepare themselves for auditions, rehearsals, performances and ultimately how to make a career from their talents.In 2006, Christopher was instrumental in opening an award-winning art gallery in Port Moody and as curator he showed and sold the works of many local and international artists that he represented.
The music industry has always been part of Christopher’s journey. This intrigue continued to build alongside his formal education in artistic representation. In 2008, Christopher became more involved with the career development of recording artists. Here too he saw a void that was not being filled. He found too many talented musicians becoming disillusioned by the process of getting noticed and an industry full of people selling inferior services while playing with peoples' artistic dreams and money. The same questions kept being asked:
Who should I trust?
Where do I get professional services?
How do I market myself?
What is the next step?
To fill that void and to answer these questions, Christopher has created Mercury Management Canada.
Christopher is passionate about helping carry the message of music and art.
We're here to help artists and arts organizations reach their audiences and each other.
Non-profit run and created by the community, ArtsVictoria.ca integrates current event listings and multimedia arts portfolios, and creates an explorable, living archive of the arts in Victoria BC.
For physical events that happen at a specific time. For example a concert, or dance performance. If there are multiple shows, you can still duplicate your event to cover them all.