Tamara Bates

Founder

I want to bring financial health to the artistic visionaries who are changing our world. Artists may not pay enough attention to creating a solid foundation for themselves and as a result, the change they seek to create—vital to our society—is undermined.

Using my knowledge of fundraising for the arts and my training and practice as a financial advisor for the largest investment firms in the world, I seek to align creative visionaries with a financial foundation at every stage of their careers.

I understand the flow of money and how capital works from all these different perspectives. The thing that lights me up the most is helping others find support for their vision-- that has been the central theme of my different career paths.

I have worked as a financial advisor for UBS and Raymond James. I obtained a Chartered Retirement Plans Specialist Certification along with extensive training in financial planning through the UBS Wealth Advisor program. In addition to finance, I spent much of my career in nonprofit fundraising and philanthropy, as Executive Director of Searchlight New Mexico, VP of Strategy and Programs for Innovate+Educate, the Development Director of the Santa Fe Waldorf School, and as a Program Officer at the Schott Foundation for Public Education. I hold an MA in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning and Child Development from Tufts University. I was an Arts Commissioner for the City of Santa Fe and a former board member of Creative Capital.

Connect with me or schedule a meeting on my calendar here.

Testimonials

Tamara, thank you! This is one of the few times I've seen the students connect with a guest speaker. It's a topic we need to delve further into here at IAIA.

Daisy Quezada Ureña | Associate Academic Dean, Institute of American Indian Arts

Tamara's presentation was the clearest financial information I had seen delivered in a workshop geared to creatives. I invited Tamara to be a lead coach in our inaugural APEC fellowship to share this critical knowledge for an artist's career growth.

Rika Iino | Founder & CEO, SOZO

Tamara is an artist's true ally. She understands the complexity of our professional landscape and the resources needed in approaching practical and financial needs. She's committed and consistent and so down to earth.

Laleh Khorramian

Working with Tamara has opened my eyes on how to manage my finances and art work. I feel more confident about getting paid and not being afraid of asking for the money that I think my work is worth. Also I have been able to create a much healthier financial dialogue at home with my partner.

Carolina Aranibar Fernandez