Expert editing services for visual and performing artists.
Let Your Artistic Vision Take Center Stage
You know how to express yourself through your art—let us help you express it in words.
At Flatpage, we specialize in editing and writing support for visual and performing artists working in any medium. Whether you’re a painter, sculptor, filmmaker, dancer, photographer, or multidisciplinary artist, we understand the unique challenges of writing about creative work.
Many artists find it difficult to articulate their ideas clearly on the page. Describing your practice, articulating your intentions, and presenting your work to institutions and audiences is a skill set all its own—and that’s where we come in. Flatpage provides expert editorial guidance to help artists communicate with clarity and confidence.
We work on a wide range of documents that are essential to a professional creative practice, from artist’s statements and grant proposals to book manuscripts, catalogue essays, and website content. Whether you’re applying for a residency, updating your portfolio, preparing an exhibition, or publishing your work, we’ll help you polish your message while staying true to your artistic voice.
With years of experience in arts writing and publishing, the editors at Flatpage offer tailored support to help you connect with curators, funders, institutions, and collectors. Our collaborative process is designed to bring out the best in your writing—so your work can speak for itself.
The services below are tailored to meet the needs of visual and performing artists. For additional editorial offerings, please refer to our overview page.
Your Flatpage Advantage
Sharpen Your Statement
Refine your artist’s statement to clearly reflect your vision, process, and purpose, tailoring your writing to your intended audience and format.
Strengthen Proposals
Develop exhibition, grant, or residency proposals that communicate your ideas effectively and increase your chances of acceptance.
Polish Written Work
Edit essays, blog posts, and catalogue texts so they’re publication-ready and aligned with your voice.
Clarify Creative Intent
Make complex ideas more accessible without diluting your message—whether for curators, jurors, or the public.
Build a Cohesive Portfolio
Ensure your bios, project descriptions, and supporting texts work together to present a strong, unified narrative.
Edit for Visibility
Improve web content, captions, and social media writing so your online presence reflects the quality of your art.
Editors Who Get Artists
Partner with editors who understand how artists think, work, and communicate—and who know how to make your writing reflect that.
Artist’s Statements
Grant & Residency Applications
Exhibition Proposals
Essays & Blog Posts
Books & Catalogues
Website Content
Press Releases
Wikipedia Pages
Coaching
Coaching offers personalized editorial support for artists who want to improve their writing skills or get direct feedback on their materials. Whether you’re preparing for an MFA application, revising your artist statement, or assembling a grant portfolio, our editors can help you assess and improve your written materials. This service may also include portfolio review, where we assess your content holistically—from project descriptions to bios—and offer guidance on how to strengthen the overall presentation of your work.
Developmental Editing
Developmental editing will help you shape the content of your document so that your artwork takes center stage. Our editors have experience writing for and about artists, publishing their own creative work, and securing grants and residencies. We can help you craft compelling artist statements, shape the narrative arc of an artist book, or clarify your intent in an exhibition proposal or grant application.
Line editing is used to address the style of your writing so that it has maximal impact. Our line editors are experts at the craft of writing and have published widely themselves. We can help you refine your tone, improve word choice, trim repetition, and ensure clarity in fluid US or UK English—whether you’re working on a catalogue essay, website copy, or a blog post about your creative process.
Copyediting focuses on the mechanics of your manuscript, with attention to grammar, punctuation, and formatting (i.e., conforming it to house style or manual like the Chicago Manual of Style). Whether you’re assembling a self-published monograph or submitting content to a gallery or institution, this service will ensure that your document is clean, consistent, and professional.
Proofreading is the final stage in the publication process and is reserved for minor typos and consistency between manuscript sections on page proofs. By the time you are ready for a proofread, your manuscript should have already gone through a content (developmental) edit and a copyedit. This service will help make sure your artist book, proposal, or exhibition text is publication-ready.
Indexing is the process of creating a back-of-book index for artist books, exhibition catalogues, or other long-form publications. A thoughtfully constructed index improves the accessibility and usability of your content for curators, scholars, and readers. Our editors work with you to understand the structure and focus of your project and to create a clear, organized index that reflects the themes and key concepts in your work.
Note that the rates for line editing do not include front/back matter or citations/bibliographies.
Line Edit
Up to 50k words
$0.06 per word
50k words and up
$0.05 per word
Graduate Student Line Edit For dissertations and theses (only one editorial pass included). Proof of enrollment required.
$0.04 per word
Copyediting
Our project manager can help you determine the level of copyediting your text needs.
Light Copyedit Correct grammar and punctuation, apply style guide to text and citations
$0.04 per word
Medium Copyedit Correct grammar and punctuation, improve word choice or sentence flow, apply style guide to text and correct citations
$0.05 per word
Heavy Copyedit Correct language, grammar, and punctuation; reformat text; apply style guide to text; overhaul citations
$0.06 per word
Grad Student Copyedit For dissertations and theses (only one editorial pass included). Proof of enrollment required.
$0.03 per word
Proofreading
Basic Proofread
$0.03 per word
Indexing
Indexing is priced per indexable page (PDF page proofs only; count includes body text, foot- or endnotes, illustrations, and appendices but does not include front/back matter or bibliography).
$6 per indexable page
Artist’s Statement Evaluation
Document edits + report
Are you having trouble coming up with an artist’s statement that clearly, yet accurately reflects your practice? Are you applying for something important like a new job, a grant, or a residency program, and you need a statement that will secure it for you? Or do you have an old statement—maybe even one you’ve been using since school—that you’d like to revamp? Let us help you get there with an artist’s statement evaluation.
Our trained editors are specialists in the craft of the artist’s statement. We can help you produce a text to describe your work, practice, or a specific project that you can use for applications, exhibitions, self-promotion, and more.
This service includes the following:
An evaluation of your statement (max 1,000 words) that addresses structure, tone, clarity, and language/mechanics by an artist’s statement expert
Comments on your draft and a basic written assessment (one pass only)
Note: This package is for artist statements up to 1,000 words only and does not apply to other application materials, such as proposal, bio, etc. This service does not include line editing (rewriting) or copyediting your draft. You are responsible for making any suggested content changes, unless you make a separate agreement for those services.
Proposal Evaluation for Exhibitions / Fellowship / Grant / Residency
Document edits + report
Are you applying for an exhibition, grant, fellowship, residency, or commission and you need a solid proposal that clearly, yet accurately reflects your intended project, goals, and timeline? Do you need a proposal that will help secure an offer for you? Let us help you get there with an artist proposal evaluation.
Our editors have decades of experience reading, reviewing, and editing artist’s proposals. We can help you produce a solid text that you can use for all of your applications.
This service includes the following:
An evaluation of your proposal that addresses structure, tone, clarity, and language/mechanics by an expert
Comments on your draft and a basic written assessment (one pass only)
Up to 1,000 words
$100
1,001–1,500 words
$150
1,501–2,000 words
$200
2,001–2,500 words
$250
2,501–3,000 words
$300
Average turnaround for up to 2,000 words is typically 3–5 days. This service includes one pass.
Do you struggle with writing about your art? Or are you a multilingual speaker in need of a quality statement in English to apply for opportunities? Let our writers do the work for you with artist’s statement ghostwriting.
We are specialists in writing artist’s statements for both general purposes and specific audiences and opportunities. Whether you need a new 300-word statement for your website or a 150-word statement about a particular aspect of your practice for an application, your new statement will describe what your work is, explain how it’s made, and outline your message using an appropriate tone, effective organization, and correct grammar.
As part of this service, you will meet with our writer for a Zoom call, during which you will present your work and respond to any questions they might have about your practice. Then, they will get to work crafting an engaging statement that you can present with confidence.
We offer three options:
Full statement
A standard 300-word statement about your work, practice, process, and motivation. These are usually used for marketing purposes, including for artist’s websites, exhibitions, and collectors.
$270
Short statement
A shorter, more condensed 150-word statement that can be used to apply for opportunities, including grants, fellowships, commissions, residencies, and other types of calls.
$135
Combo package
Includes both a full and a short statement. As part of this package, we can write additional short statements with a different focus for $55 each. Additional statements must be purchased within 7 days of the Combo package.
$375
All ghostwriting projects include one written draft and one pass of revisions based on your feedback. Unless otherwise agreed, the turnaround time for this service is approx. 48 hours. Before filling out the form below, consider readingthis Column post about questions to ask yourself before writing your statement.
Wikipedia pages are an art in themselves. Our writers will craft an academically legitimate, properly sourced, and unbiased post about your work and career. The writers at Flatpage have successfully created content for Wikipedia and are familiar with the site’s style guide and formatting requirements.
Wikipedia ghostwriting
$1 per word
Wikipedia editing
$75 per hour
Process
Using the artist’s CV, biography, press list, and/or statement of purpose, the writer will formulate an article of predetermined length (generally 350–750 words for early or mid-career and 1,000–1,500 words for established professionals). We will provide additional research as needed to ensure that viable secondary sources are available to backup the content in the text.
This service includes:
An initial proposal based on our writer’s assessment of your CV, biographical narrative, and other source materials you supply. The proposal will include an approximate length and preliminary organization
A brief call with the writer if more details are needed
A draft of a biographical article that will be submitted for publication on Wikipedia following your approval
Disclaimer: Wikipedia is a nonprofit organization supported by volunteers. Its platform is open for anyone with an internet connection to view and edit. It is therefore likely that the published article will experience some changes over time. These changes will likely be minor stylistic edits or suggestions. Therefore, we cannot guarantee that the article will retain its current form. It is up to the discretion of the writer and the Wikipedia community at large to follow and adhere to style, format, and content guidelines. This will ensure that the article is factually sound and written in a neutral tone. Our experience writing and editing academic texts makes us experts at providing a strictly empirical perspective, advising on the quality of the content, and determining whether it has merit for publication. Our well-written, well-sourced, and unbiased entries are less likely to be scrutinized by the Wikipedia community. Newly drafted articles can take up to 90 days to be found by search engines.
The team at Flatpage provided copyediting services on the exhibition catalogue and guide for the 2024 Venice Biennale, Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere.
Exhibition Catalogue and Press Materials Copyediting
A dynamic regional contemporary art center needed ongoing support for their exhibitions and marketing efforts. Flatpage stepped in to provide copyediting services so that they can always put their best foot forward.
