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!

Comments

[liza]

I've been a member of a coop since 1999. It's been a challenge, journey, adventure, ordeal and ultimately an amazingly success. We started the Brandon artists Guild http//www.brandonartistsguild.org with a group of 8 artists sitting in a circle of a dusty dilapidated old (small)grocery that the bank owned and offered to rent to us for $100 a month utilities included!
Nine years later we have completely renovated the building so that it looks FABULOUS. We now OWN the building. There are 45+ members and it's hard to jury in. Plus we helped turn the tide of decay in our little town which was called a "hidden jewel of New England" by Yankee Magazine, much because of the efforts of the guild.
We are a poster child for the Creative Economy!
It was fiber glass pigs that turned the tide- we did a fundraiser with 40 fiberglass pigs that was amazingly successful- both financially, and in changing our town's self image as a sadly decaying place which the young people couldn't wait to leave- into a wonderfully united and creative village.
And the whole thing started because we wanted a venue in which to sell what we created, and to create a net work of artists in our region.
Enough reminiscing.
I have to get back to work.

[Shayla]

Our local artist's coop offers prestige, but few of the other benefits that are mentioned above. It's helpful to see what should be considered a professional standard as I'm sure some groups just don't know.

[Carolyn Summers]

Very informative and helpful for all groups. Thanks for sharing with us, Brenda.

[Julie K in Taiwan]

Very insightful and interesting things to ponder. Thank you for sharing.

[Tammy Vitale]

One of the things that I've learned over the past 5 years is that I'm just not a cooperative type person. But I've never had the luxury of the opportunity to be a member of a co-op that met any of Allyson's list of requirements. The idea sounds great and the potential benefit is shown by the first commenter here...I'm a believer in giving things a try, and also in benefiting from my own experiences: 3 co-ops, none worked well and I'm out of all of them now by choice.

[cynthia]

Stopping by via ArtBizBlog -

I just became a member of the Colorado Potter's Guild and there are 40 members. It's a lifetime membership, unless one moves away, becomes ill or dies.

While I'm still getting used to the group dynamic, I can already see the advantages and disadvantages. Diplomacy is key to a successful group dynamic and have already realized the people around whom I need to tread lightly.

That being said, we put on 2 group sales a year and this weekend are finishing the Spring show and sale. I've sold a lot thanks to their extensive mailing list - including my own. In addition to the sales aspect, being a part of a communal studio with shared equipment and a wealth of technical knowledge is fantastic!

[Patricia]

Tammy makes a good point. Some of us just aren't "groupies". For each co-op there are plusses and minuses, and each artist must decide for themselves what they can put up with.
On the plus side, those who are emerging, or who don't have gallery representation will find it easier to jump start their presence in the art world by joining a co-op. Their work might gain prestige if it hangs next to another artist's work who has had success. However, the flip side is also a concern.
Sometimes those who take their turns opening the gallery have only their own interests at heart and don't take time to sell anyone's work but their own, or are just too shy to sell at all. Then again, there are kind supportive people who will help all of the artists represented by the gallery.
It comes down to personalities involved, yours and theirs. Go into it with your eyes open.

[Linda F. Hawkins]

I have belonged to several different co-ops and each has provided a different experience. The easiest to work within included just a few other artists and we were great friends and eager to help each other succeed. We could freely and easily discuss our business and could always come to a solution that was win-win for each of us.

On the other hand, I have belonged to larger groups that were not well managed because there were too many managers and no one could agree on anything so consequently, nothing really got off the ground.

The group I am with now works pretty well and is still in the development stages. We have been around for a couple of years, one for me, and are still struggling with funds, gaining recognition and are in desperate need of a permanent space. We have had to move several times out of various donated space and just lost a large display area this past month. Now all of us are stuffed into the smaller area we still have, but that could be sold out from under us at any given moment.

The best part though is being with other artists, having a bunch of like minded folks striving for the same goal.

[Joe]

I've been with a really good co-op for over 2 years, it's been a great experience for me and I've written about it here in my blog:

http://joekaz.blogspot.com/2006/12/on-being-in-co-op.html

and you can see from one of the comments that not every co-op works out so well.

[Susie Monday]

I belonged to a coop gallery/shop that had some wonderful benefits AND some real challenges, even with a group of like-minded folks. I have decided that partnerships in business are really just as difficult as partnerships in life, and the more people the more difficult. I think we artists often go into business with very poor and unrealistic business plans, and then realize we are investing very real dollars and very real time into something that really doesn't pay off without significant upfront investment-- and most artists don't have that kind of money to invest. TO sell art in a bricks-and-mortar business takes passion for that work, and, my experience was that no matter how well intentioned regarding the business of it all, the artists' passion is for making art. We all need to master business aspects of our life as artists, but we don't have to become gallerists or shopkeepers ! I think commissions are hard to pay, but my experience with the coop was that the time and energy that I had to spend on that experience have been much better spent invested in marketing my own work and my classes on my own and/or through galleries, exhibitions, web presense, etc.

[Carol Barber]

I am a member of a great co-op in Melrose, Florida: http://www.mbagallery.smugmug.com/
We have one person in charge of each job like Alyson suggested but we have found we also need a general manager. There needs to be one person in charge that knows what everyone is doing and we can all go to ask questions. This is a big burden for any one person so we have talked about making it a rotating position.
I really enjoy working my shift once a month, even if it is slow. Surrounded by all of the art I almost meditate on what I love about each piece and it gets me recharged to get back to art making.

[Alyson B. Stanfield]

Wow! Some really great comments. It's so nice to read about others' experiences. I agree with Carol that having one person in charge is ideal--even if that person rotates every year. You need to know where the buck stops.