GREENSBORO, N.C. – The third annual Southern Entrepreneurship in the Arts Conference will be held at UNCG on Saturday, Feb. 11, to help artists learn how to make a living from their passion.

Organized by UNCG's North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center, the conference in Elliott University Center will provide opportunities for emerging and mid-career artists to learn from successful professionals about how to create self-sustaining and job-creating enterprises. Registration begins at 8 a.m. and the closing reception ends at 6 p.m.

The opening keynote speaker for the 2012 conference will be acclaimed painter Beverly McIver . A native of Greensboro and a resident of Durham, she has charted a new direction in contemporary American art as an African American woman artist. In February, she will be featured in the HBO documentary "Raising Renee."

Other speakers include Michael Parker , author of the novel "The Watery Part of the World"; Carol Strohecker, director of the Center for Design Innovation; George Scheer, founder and co-director of Elsewhere; Jim Dodson, editor of the O.Henry Magazine; Jimmy Hunt, founder of Music on the Mountaintop; Margaret Collins, executive director of the Center for the Creative Economy; and many more.

Breakout sessions will cover topics such as business basics for emerging artists, collaboration and networking strategies, marketing using social media, how to get published, jump starting your career while still in school and how to protect your work.

Key sponsors of the event include Opportunity Greensboro, Self Employment in the Arts, the North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center and the Entrepreneurship Cross Disciplinary Program at UNCG. Among the contributing sponsors are PostcardMania, UNCG's Center for Creative Writing in the Arts, Cheap Joe's Art Stuff, the Greensboro Review and O'Henry Magazine.

The sponsorship by Opportunity Greensboro , a consortium of business and higher education leaders working to transform the city's educational assets into commercial success, expands the reach of the conference to include participation by the seven colleges and universities in Greensboro. The Southern Entrepreneurship in the Arts Conference was chosen as an ideal first project for the consortium because all seven institutions offer arts and entrepreneurship programs.

Advance registration costs $53 for the public, $38 for students. Registration at the door costs $63 for the public, $48 for students. Registration covers all conference sessions, lunch and a reception on Feb. 11.

There are additional conference-related events Feb. 10: An iron pour 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10, at the studio of sculptor Jim Gallucci, 499 Industrial Ave., Greensboro, costs $15; a reception at the studio, 6-9 p.m. Friday, costs $10 and will feature a pig picking and entertainment by fire dancers The Ember*Ellas .

For more information and to register, visit the conference website at seac.uncg.edu .

About the North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center The North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center (NCEC) at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro provides co-curricular and outreach programs to help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses, and to serve as a catalyst for the creation of sustainable and globally competitive enterprises in the Piedmont Triad, North Carolina and beyond. For more information, visit the NCEC's website at http://entrepreneur.uncg.edu or call 336-256-8649.