In 1975 10cc sang, 'Art for arts sake, money for God's sake' - we thought that it would be interesting to learn more about the challenges and rewards offered by mixing the two.

Gillian Blaney-Shorte has been running Artzone for over 12 years. She originally started the project with a group of friends that she met in the National College of Art and Design (NCAD).

While her passion for teaching art got her so far, she eventually realised that she was struggling with the business side of the operation.

This is where Paul joined in, and added the weight of his business background to the venture. Unfortunately this coincided with Ireland's economic collapse, Gillian tells us how they came through this testing period:

"As soon as Paul joined Artzone the whole economy crashed. For us that was huge. Both of us were working in the same business - we had a mortgage - we have three children, and the worry of that."

She continues, "We also had people working full-time. So we really needed to look at the business, and to keep the business afloat during some very hard times."

Artzone managed to tighten its belt to ride out the recession: "We were very lucky, we've never had to lay anyone off. We kept our heads down, we worked really really hard - we really worked on the standard of the work, and improving what people were getting for their money."

The company has a team of fully-qualified art teachers - with a background in insurance, banking and IT - Paul highlights the importance of communicating when dealing with 'creative types.' He says that "just pushing figures gets you nowhere" - instead he focused on harnessing their passion for the project to explain how business decisions would improve the product offered in the school's classes.

But all the business planning in the world is no good, if you don't have a good service to offer. Gillian discusses the importance of repeat business:

"On the creative-end - I think that people are getting something that they love, they are enjoying it - and they come back to us all the time."

Paul echoes this sentiment: "The most valuable person you have is the person who comes in and joins your class and stays with you" that relationship could last for five, 10 or 15 years."

Artzone offers art classes for all ages and all abilities, as well as summer camps and party packages - you can find more info on their website.