How To Start And Run Your Own Art Group.

By John Dyhouse

Why should you want to and how to make it successful.

Page 1

How To Start And Run, Your Own Art Group.

Written by John Dyhouse

(Sunset behind trees) The learning points from my experiences as an amateur artist in helping to run a small local art group are recorded here. !t is hoped that they may help you to start and successfully run your own art group.

Page "

Table O !ontents

How To Start And Run, Your Own Art Group. Why Should You !onsider Startin" Your Own Art Group# De$idin" To Start Your Own Art Group The Ai%s O Your Art Group A &enue 'or your (ew Art Group 'inan$in" The Art Group Ad%inistration Buildin" The )e%bership Do You 'eel Able To Start Your Own Group#

Page #

Why Should You !onsider Startin" Your Own Art Group#

$re you fed up painting on your own% &eed to push yourself into starting a new painting or maybe you need a little friendly inspiration% Then 'oin an art group or local club. Sounds easy ! know but it can be a problem for a number of reasons. (aybe there isn)t one in your area or it is not taking on new members* or maybe you 'ust feel that they don)t do what you want them to do. $fter all it is no good paying (and they will all want some sort of fee) for something that you don)t want. Why not start your own "roup# *t $ould be easier than you %i"ht thin+.

Page +

! had to face this issue in the early ,-)s and ! ha.e been helping to run an art group since then. ! think ! ha.e learned a little bit about the 'ob o.er the past twenty/odd years. This book is a resume of how what and why* if you feel that you would like to run your own art group. ! shall be mainly concerned with the group as a not/for/profit .enture but if you are a practising artist there may well be something for you here.

($bstract Windows 0 ") All images (art and photography) in this publication, are the work of the author unless otherwise stated. The paintings are all in soft pastel, the titles are at the bottom of each piece.

Page 1

De$idin" To Start Your Own Art Group

)y Own Story

(Spanish Sunset) $ few years ago around 1,,1 ! found myself in a situation like this. ! had finished a third year of adult education classes and things were changing. The classes were up until then almost a social e.ening but the then go.ernment decided to introduce some formality into the classes and re2uire whisper it softly formal educational ideas and end of term 34$(!&$T!5&S6

Page 7

$ number of the students including myself were horrified. ! ha.e no problems with exams as such after all ! ha.e two higher degrees howe.er this was not something ! was doing for more 2ualifications. !t was a hobby something to relax with and en'oy. $nyway the crux of the matter was that many local classes were cut and some of us went off looking for clubs or groups to 'oin. There were a few groups in the area mostly during the day for retirees and ob.iously not workable for those of us with 'obs to go to. $ few did meet in the e.enings but 8 9Sorry we ha.e a full complement we are not taking new members 'ust at the moment:. They only met infre2uently or 'ust for demonstrations whereas ! wanted a place to paint. They were of a professional standard and re2uired assessment of work.

These were 'ust some of the issues we faced when we en2uired about membership. So what to do% The answer was ob.ious6 We should start our own group. ;owe.er none of us had e.er been in.ol.ed in this sort of .enture so we were a little sceptical of making a success of it and approached it .ery gingerly. <et a number of us agreed to try it. We found a local hall to use and agreed on a meeting Page =

schedule and how to fund it. $nd then went about finding more members to make it .iable. !t did not take long to become what is a now a successful small group which allows us to paint regularly and hold occasional workshops and demonstrations and to support each other through those periods when we wonder if it is all worth it. We also hold regular exhibitions and e.en sell some of our work. ! belie.e that ! ha.e learned enough to pass on some tips to anyone who may feel a need to start their own group. ! would mention at this point that there is nothing like seeing your work on display in a well/ organised exhibition. (ost of us howe.er need help from a group to be able to organise this sort of function. !t is a .ery important part of a group>s annual calendar and should be approached as such.

Page ?

The Ai%s O Your Art Group

What Sort o Group Do You Ai% 'or#

The first step is to find other people who may be able to help with the task this will ob.iously make things .ery much easier for the founder(s). <ou may be able to share the work load and making of any decisions. ! was lucky really in that there were se.eral of us wanting to start a group so this step was unnecessary. This could be from your social circle or a local art class you may need to spread the word using flyers or ad.erts.

Page ,

@irst priorityA target your ob'ecti.es The next step is to decide what the aims and modus operandi of the group will be. (any art groups are run as classes but this is not the only way. 5ur aim was to pro.ide a regular time and .enue for simply painting we only wanted to place a little discipline into our busy personal li.es so that we would be painting regularly. This was our main aim but others were de.eloped as the group grew and prospered. Some ob'ecti.esBaims might beA 1. $ .enue for painting as a group ". $ .enue for indi.idual painting (subtle difference will become clear below) #. To de.elop the skills of the members +. To support B fund demonstrations B workshops from professional tutors 1. 7. =. ?. To arrange self/supported workshops To fund group exhibitions (of art work) To arrange painting days as a group To arrange group trips to art galleries and exhibitions (art supplies) ,. To arrange discounts for members at local or national suppliers of art materials 1-. $ social group 11. To ha.e fun 1". $ self/help art group to help with the exchange of skills

Page 1-

5f course as stated abo.e the group may want to list any combination of these in its aims. This is probably not an exhausti.e list and other aims may depend on personal wants and preferences. The founder members will probably need to discuss what aims should be included in a prospectus for the group and what resources will be needed before opening the group to public membership. This will not be written in stone and may re2uire to be addressed at regular inter.als such as an annual general meeting ($C() at which all members should be able to discuss the functioning of the group and .ote on outcomes of the discussions. Deing too rigid o.er the functioning of the group may lead to loss of members and therefore group income. Eon.ersely being flexible will also make for a much more loyal membership and a happier group en.ironment.

Page 11

($ flight of herons)

Page 1"

A &enue 'or your (ew Art Group

How To De$ide

<ou will need a prediction or FguesstimateF of the maximum siGe of the group in the medium term at least. This number should then be used to assess potential .enues. Harge .enues will of course probably cost more* be practical. 5ur first .enue was in the local Women>s !nstitute ;all it was local (of course) and large enough for more than our initial estimates of the siGe of the group. Dut after a while we found that the lighting was not really satisfactory* and the furniture tables Page 1#

and chairs were old and hea.y to assemble prior to our meeting. $s many of the group were female and getting on in years this became a real issue. !n the end the decision to mo.e was taken out of our hands as the hall was to be demolished as part of a modernisation. We now had a much better idea of what we needed. &umbers had grown up to +- members in total although not all attended e.ery week. We were more aware of the need for good lighting and furniture that was easy to put out. We were lucky to ha.e se.eral alternati.es a.ailable without ha.ing to pay .ery much/increased rental. The experience we had gained with the first .enue enabled us to select a new home for the group which we are still using some "- years later. Eonsiderations for the .enue would includeA/ 1. The siGe of the .enue ". Whether it is a.ailable at the time re2uired. #. @or an art group lighting is important +. @urniture sufficient and of the right type 1. Storage space for the group 7. Toilets =. Iitchen facilities ?. Parking

Page 1+

,. Sufficient power sockets 1-. ;eating <ou might find that church halls community centres .illage halls school premises (e.ening) could all be appropriate .enues. There will be ways of finding local .enues which you can explore depending upon where you li.e. Hibraries can be useful in this respect.

Page 11

'inan$in" The Art Group

Sour$es O *n$o%e

There are a number of ways of collecting income for the group of which the main ones are likely to be A/ (embership fees 1. $ttendance fees ". (embership fees #. @ees for those special occasions demonstrations trips etc +. ;anging fees for exhibitions etc . We felt that a complementary mix of income streams would be most appropriate. !n our case we charge a basic annual membership fee and an attendance fee collected at the weekly meeting of the group. The siGe of these fees should be carefully considered they will need to co.er the basic expenses of the group but not be too high to put off potential members.

Page 17

We had two large expenses namely our annual exhibition and the rental for the hall. The annual membership rate was chosen to pro.ide a sufficient fund which would pay for this exhibition. The weekly attendance fee (we called it a subscription) was set to pay the rental assuming an a.erage weekly attendance. !n fact the weekly subscription generated enough income to pay for other acti.ities. $t the moment we hire professional artists about + or 1 times during our year to pro.ide demonstrations and workshops. &umbers do go up and down so we need to re/assess these fees at our $C( each year. $ bank account should be set up for the group re2uiring at least two different signatures to keep the accounts properly (eitherBor signature to be re2uired rather than both for managing the account). 5ur group now has an a.erage of "1/"# members o.er the year but a bank account is useful to keep cash and clear records of transactions e.en though we may not make an a.erage of more that one transaction per month. Two signatories make it easier to manage the account as members mo.e away or lea.e the group. We learnt this when one of our treasurers passed away if there is more than one signatory adding a replacement is much easier. $s we tend

Page 1=

to make only one or two transactions as a monthly a.erage o.er the year we found that accounting skills were not necessary but someone should be able to keep the accounts for regular inspection by the group. !n the first instance a .enue and cash to run the group is all that is needed but as the group de.elops and grows the administration will need to be formalised. There will be a number of roles to be filled. $dministration is the next topic to be considered.

Page 1?

(Joad through the .alley)

($ ray of sunlight)

Page 1,

Ad%inistration
Who Does What#

(imageA public domain)

Too %any $oo+s #

!n order to share the work of running the group e2uitably and to make sure that 'obs do get done on time indi.idual members will need to be gi.en responsibilities e.en if se.eral members are in.ol.ed in doing the work. The actual make/up of a managing group or committee will depend on siGe the of the art group and e.ents that need to be arranged. ;owe.er the roles most likely to be needed are as follows A/

Page "-

1. Ehairperson to manage the committee and run meetings (e.g. the $C(). $lso to act as a focus for any external links. ". Secretary unless the group is .ery large may be the same person as the chairperson but will be responsible for administration. #. Treasurer to manage group funds collect fees and pay expenses. $nd to prepare a statement of cash flows at the $C(. +. 3xhibition Secretary responsible for all aspects of the exhibition. 1. (embership secretary to manage membership records and membership re2uests. 7. Social Secretary to manage any trips and possibly demonstrations etc. =. Publicity secretary ?. Programme secretary ,. Kepending on the siGe of the group a small number of non/executi.e members may be re2uired helping out with specific tasks.

Page "1

$lthough this seems .ery formal it does mean that tasks are done on time and done properly. 5ur own small group is managed by a committee of four which works .ery well. Tasks are assigned after the committee is .oted in at our $C( which roughly e2uate toA/ 1. ". #. +. $ (nominal) chairman $ treasurer $ membership secretary $ demonstrations organiser

$ll tasks are shared out between these four roles. $t the first meeting in each month we decide if anything needs to be discussed and if so we hold a short management meeting. These meeting are actually 2uite rare as each member of the committee is responsible for their own tasks. Decause of the high le.el of skills re2uired to arrange a succesful exhibition we do ha.e a specific manager for this task. This is because it can be .ery in.ol.ed and is time consuming for a short part of the year only. 5ur current 3xhibition Secretary has a lot of experience in that role but due to personal issues at home does not want to be part of the group)s main committee. We are .ery flexible within our formal structure so this is an approach that works .ery well for us. <ou will ob.iously make your own decisions possibly based on the people in the group.

Page ""

(@orest Path)

Page "#

Buildin" The )e%bership

Who, How, Why#
5ne of the best ways of attracting new members is holding popular and successful exhibitions. 5ur exhibitions generate lots of interest from potential new members. The con.ersion rate from potential to actual member howe.er depends .ery largely on what the indi.idual person wants from a group and where and when the group meets. The group should decide on a policy regarding new members issues to consider may include A/ 1. Will all mediums be allowed% ". Will all competences be allowed% #. ;ow much say will new members ha.e in running the group (or maybe there is a trial period)% +. !s there a limit to the number of members will a waiting list be necessary 5ther ways of attracting new members will includeA/ 1. $d.erts in local free newspapers ". Paid ad.erts in local newspapers #. $d.erts in other local publications

Page "+

+. @lyers posted in local libraries B art shops B community locations B etc 1. Hocal council lists of community acti.ities 7. &ewsletters B business cards =. Word of mouth (not to be dismissed lightly) ?. and of course a web page see our group web site at http,--www. reewebs.$o%-+nowleart"roup We are always pleased to see potential new members and in.ite them to attend two or three of our weekly meetings free of charge to see whether they think we can offer what they want. We think that most people will be looking for a group which defines success as A/ 1. ;a.ing a friendly atmosphere ". !s well organised #. ;olding a popular exhibition (at least annually) +. ;as a yearly program which could include demonstrations criticism workshops and outdoor painting and sketching days. The crunch with our group for many people is that we do not ha.e a professional tutor. The freedom to do what we want is held dear by

Page "1

existing members but does put a number of potential members off. Kespite this the original members know what we expect to get out of the group. !t is not for e.erybody but does suit us. When members ha.e been with us for a .ery short time they are allowed a say in all decisions so this could change but those who 'oin usually do so agreeing with our ob'ecti.es. So the intake is self/selecting and has kept the original aims of the group intact for almost "1 years.

Page "7

Do You 'eel Able To Start Your Own Group#

! hope that this short book has helped you to decide whether to start your own group and that it has also helped you to start your successful art group.

(e.ening sky through trees)

Page "=