You're an Artist with a Day Job and a Side Hustle - Should You Have Multiple Websites?
You’re a performance artist and a voice actor. You also lead workshops. Plus you’re starting to get into creative technology in your art practice. Oh, and you have a day job as a part-time arts administrator that's kind of related to your art practice.
Where does it all go on your website? Should it all go on your website?
The Multidisciplinary Artist's Dilemma
Traditional artist website advice assumes you make one type of work or maybe you work in two types of media at most. But most working artists wear multiple hats - partly by choice, partly by economic necessity.
The result? Websites that feel scattered, apologetic, or confusing. You either try to squeeze everything together and lose focus, or you build separate sites for each thing and exhaust yourself maintaining them.
There's a third option.
Why Multiple Websites Don't Work
I see artists attempt this regularly:
myartstudio.com for gallery work
myprofessionalwebsite.com for my day job
artistnamecommissions.com for specific client work
The problems are immediate:
Triple the maintenance work
Higher costs for domains and hosting
Divided SEO authority (this means you’re competing with yourself when people are trying to find you on Google)
Confused visitors who can't find everything you do
Most importantly: You're not three different people. You're one artist with multiple revenue streams and creative passions.
The Integration Strategy
The most successful multidisciplinary artists I work with use a hub-and-spoke approach:
One main website that clearly establishes who you are as an artist, then organizes your different activities as extensions of that core identity.
Example structure:
Homepage: Overview of you as an artist with a focus on one or two activities that change with time
Work: Your main artistic practice
Workshops: Teaching that grows from your art practice
Commissions: Client work that relates to your aesthetic
Services: Day job work that you do, this can be a landing page that appears separate from your artist website even if it is technically part of your artist website
About: How all these pieces fit together
Making It All Make Sense
The key is narrative coherence. Your visitor should understand how your performance practice informs your workshops, or how your arts administrator services relates to your voice acting.
Bad framing: "I'm an artist but I also do workshops to pay the bills."
Good framing: "My performances explore identity and belonging in a fractured society, and I teach belonging and inclusion through hands-on workshops for arts organizations and nonprofits."
When to Separate (Rarely)
The only time I recommend separate websites or channels:
Your non-art work has nothing to do with your art practice
You're building a distinct brand that would be confused by association with your art or that involves other people
You have the resources to maintain multiple sites properly (i.e. paying a website manager)
For 95% of multidisciplinary artists, one strategic website serves you better than a scattered web presence.
The Real Question
It's not "Should I have multiple websites?" It's "How do I present myself as a coherent creative professional?"
Once you answer that, the website structure becomes clearer.
Need help organizing your multidisciplinary practice into one powerful website? Schedule a 1-on-1 coaching call with me where I lay out your website pages and make personalized content recommendations after learning about you, your practice, and your priorities - all in a 1-hour Zoom meeting.