Guest - Alyson B. Stanfield

As promised, Alyson Alyson B. Stanfield, author of I’d Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion, has answered a question I had about cooperative gallery membership. Alyson is here as part of the blog tour to help promote the book and is also giving away a free copy.

I asked: What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of belonging to an art cooperative?

Alyson has this to say: Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages together and I’ll try to be as brief as possible.

Camaraderie. Brenda, you’ve been a subscriber of mine for a while now. You have certainly heard me say at one point how important I think it is to be engaged with other artists. Great things happen when artists get together and share ideas. A well-run artist co-op can provide that.

On the flip side, it can be disastrous if there is even a single person who is out of step with the group. And when I say “out of step,” I mean way out of step. The personalities have to work well together and each member must be aware of his or her responsibilities to the group. Artists are, by lot, individualists. You have to have some diplomatic skills to be part of a group. Members need to be aware that what is good for one artist is good for the group. The reverse is true as well.

Sharing expenses. This is a no-brainer advantage. The more artists, the lower the operation costs. It could turn into a disadvantage if certain members are late paying their bills.

Dividing up the work. Again, it has to be equal. Allowances can be made for members who don’t want to sit in the gallery. (They pay a higher membership fee or have a smaller space.) There can also be perks for the person in charge of everything. (She doesn’t pay a fee or gets a larger space or doesn’t have to sit in the gallery.)

Which reminds me. Someone needs to be in charge. When everything is ruled by group vote, things get messy. One person needs to be in charge of books--with another person verifying the books. One person needs to be in charge of curating the space. One person needs to be in charge of openings. And so forth. These tasks can and should be rotated from year to year or exhibit to exhibit, but someone has to be in charge.

Communication. When working in a group, clear communication channels are essential. There should be guidelines for how communication works. I suggest setting up a Yahoo or Google Group and, yes, putting one person in charge of making sure that all members’ names and email addresses are up to date. With these email groups, members only have to send to one address to ensure that everyone gets the message.

Rules. I think that people in groups “behave” better when there are rules and when they know what the rules are. There should be rules for finances and operations. There should also be guidelines for exhibits, openings, and letting in new members. The rules don’t have to fill up a 50-page manual, but they need to be some kind of order. Again, this goes against the grain of most artists. You’ll have to trust me on this. Also, trust that it’s easier to recruit new members when the rules are clearly outlined for them.

Expanded mailing list. It’s easy to see that each artist will bring his or her mailing list to the co-op. Rather than relying on your own mailing list for your opening reception, you’ll have access to those of other group members. Or at least you should.

The art. It’s all about the art, isn’t it? The more art there is, the more diverse an audience the space will attract. However, if the art isn’t up to your standards, this may not be a good thing. If your art doesn’t look good next to someone else’s in the cooperative, this could be a disadvantage.

. . .Thanks so much for your thought-provoking insights, Alyson! This gives me some good standards to evaluate different options to show my work.

If readers are interested in a free copy of I’d Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion, go to her book site, read the instructions, and enter. Your odds are good since she's giving away a free copy on most of the blog tour spots. You can increase your odds of winning by visiting the other tour spots and entering on those sites as well!