AES Highlights

Artist Business Training registration opens

The Arts Extension Service at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and its partners at North Quabbin Woods, C3, Art for the Soul Gallery and Springfield Technical Community College announce that registration for three upcoming Artist Business trainings is now open.  This one-and a half day training will be held in three locations- one each in Franklin, Hampshire and Franklin Counties.  Attendance at each training is limited to 25 artists, and pre-registration is required.  Each session will consist of four key components: (1) A  1 ½  day artist business training led by Arts Extension Service (AES) instructors Maren Brown and Dee Boyle-Clapp, which includes Business Basics, Marketing, and finding income in the new economy;  (2) individual phone consultations with AES staff; (3) facilitated Networking meetings with Site Coordinators who will host monthly meetings to help build artist peer groups; and (4) handouts including a copy of the Arts Extension Service’s Artist in Business workbook, and access to a private Artist Business Resource area on the AES website.

Interested artists should register with the site coordinator at each location or contact the Arts Extension Service at aes@contined.umass.edu to be referred to a site or follow the links from the News page at www.umass.edu/aes.

• The Franklin County training will be held on April 21-22 at the Petersham Town Hall.  To register contact North Quabbin Woods’s site coordinator Sarah McMaster at office@northquabbinwoods.org or 978-544-3332. 

• The Hamden County training will be held on April 28-29 at Springfield Technical Community College.  Site coordinator Tracy Woods of Art for the Soul Gallery, is accepting registrations online at:  https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGpORUx4bjZLcGRORHp6Q0I4emdwLVE6MA and can be contacted at artforthesoul@verizon.net. 

• The Hampshire County training will be held on May 5-6 at the former Dynamite Records space, Thorne’s Marketplace, and is coordinated with Commonwealth Center for Change (C3) co-director Julia Handschuh.  Register by visiting Valley Art Share at http://www.valleyartshare.com/page/so-you-want-to-learn-the or contact C3 at info@commonwealthcenter.org.

This program is offered free of charge to resident artists with support from the Community Foundation of Western MA’s Buxton Charitable Foundation Fund, Bank of America, Trustee, and the Credit Data Services, Inc. Fund and the Springfield Cultural Council.
 
The Arts Extension Service (AES) is a national arts service organization located at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.  AES offers online arts management classes, two Arts Management Certificates, workshops and trainings to artists and arts managers across the country, and conducts research with a focus on cultural and creative economy work. 

According to Arts Extension Service Director, Maren Brown, “We are grateful to the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts for their support of the region’s artists.  The economic downturn has deeply impacted the arts in the United States and the region.  Across the country, artists are experiencing vastly disproportionate unemployment rates: 50% more than other professionals with equal education, according to a recently released National Endowment for the Arts report.  According to a recent report by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, our region has a 61% higher proportion of creative workers than the national average.  If our artists and their small businesses fail, our region’s economy is at risk.”  

Says AES Program Coordinator, Dee Boyle-Clapp, “Artists are the backbone of the Creative Economy, and their work has defined much of how we enjoy life in the Pioneer Valley.  While their contributions are appreciated by visitors and residents, the nature of the work can make many artists economically vulnerable in the best of times.  One of our goals is to provide artists with a network of similarly focused artists, so they can not only turn to their Site Coordinator and AES for business-related ideas and information, but to one another for support for the work, awareness of the issues, and mutual understanding that only another artist can provide.”

UMass Alumni Art Star, Joomi Chung, to speak on campus, March 2, 2010

The new UMass Alumni Art Stars Speaker Series presented in partnership by the UMass Arts Extension Service and Art Department, kicked off on Wednesday, February 24th (despite the snow!) with a lecture by Larry Bamburg, and continues Tuesday, March 2nd with a lecture by Joomi Chung at 4:30 p.m. at the Studio Arts Building, located at the campus entrance on North Pleasant Street.  The UMass Alumni Art Stars Speaker Series, made possible in part by a grant from the UMass Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, is free and open to the public. 

Read more: 2010-02-26

Community Foundation of Western MA awards UMass Arts Extension Service $8,000 Artist Business Training grant

The Arts Extension Service at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is pleased to announce that it is the recipient of an $8000 grant from the Community Foundation of Western MA to support AES’ Artist Business Training Project.  The Artist Business Trainings will be offered to 75 artists in three sites in Springfield, Northampton and Orange, MA with the goal to impart best business practices to artists, based on   nationwide research conducted by the Arts Extension Service.  The grant comes from two sources overseen by the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts: the Buxton Charitable Foundation Fund, Bank of America, Trustee, and the Credit Data Services, Inc. Fund.

Arts Extension Service staff will present the 1 ½ day artist business trainings in the winter/spring of 2010.  At each location, a site coordinator will host a Peer Group to help artists to self-organize peer groups.  Trainings and site coordinators include: Springfield Technical Community College in Springfield (Rosemary Woods of Art for the Soul Gallery), Commonwealth Center for Change (C3) in Northampton (Julia Handschuh), and the artist collective North Quabbin Woods (Annette Ermini).  

According to Arts Extension Service Director, Maren Brown, “We are grateful to the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts for their support of the region’s artists.  The economic downturn has deeply impacted the arts in the United States and the region.  Across the country, artists are experiencing vastly disproportionate unemployment rates: 50% more than other professionals with equal education, according to a recently released National Endowment for the Arts report.  According to a recent report by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, our region has a 61% higher proportion of creative workers than the national average.  If our artists and their small businesses fail, our region’s economy is at risk.   We’ve even been contacted by a number of well known local artists asking for ideas about how they can adjust their business models, keep their homes, and in essence, survive this downturn.”  

Each session will consist of four key components: (1) A  1 ½  day artist business training led by Arts Extension Service (AES) instructors Maren Brown and Dee Boyle-Clapp, which includes Business Basics, Marketing, and grant writing with an emphasis on building new business opportunities;  (2) individual phone consultations with AES staff; (3) facilitated Networking meetings with Site Coordinators who will host monthly meetings to help build artist peer groups; and (4) handouts including a copy of the Arts Extension Service’s Artist in Business workbook, and access to a private Artist Business Resource area on the AES website.

Artists will be invited to participate via email and personal invitation by the Site Coordinators and the Arts Extension Service.  To be added to the mailing list, please email the Arts Extension Service at aes@outreach.umass.edu or contact the site coordinators directly: Julia Handschuh can be reached at C3  in Northampton at:  info@commonwealthcenter.org, Annette Ermini can be reached at North Quabbin Woods: aermini@northquabbinwoods.org, and Rosemary Woods can be reached at: Art for the Soul Gallery, artforthesoul@verizon.net. 

The UMass Arts Extension Service announces a new course "Greening Your Nonprofit Arts Organization"

Launching in the spring session (Feb. 3) this new online course addresses the unique needs of arts institutions.  Instructor Dee Boyle-Clapp, a sculptor and lecturer on 'green' topics explains, “The arts have always been on the forefront of change, and never has change been more required than today. Whether your organization needs to cut its facility costs, be first in line for donation dollars, wants to go green to fulfill its mission, serve as a community example, or do all of the above, this class is for you.”

Boyle-Clapp continued “We will begin with the big picture issues, including why you want to go green and mission fit, then we tackle energy consumption and HVAC systems; building internal support with green teams and getting the board involved; and will address program specifics, including the comfort and safety of staff and visitors by addressing products and processes used in creating art or cleaning the facility.  Many arts organizations and teaching facilities have a blend of operating needs, and students will define and then focus on their own issues: for example a museum with a museum school may hold an opening reception while simultaneously a printmaking studio in the may be using toxic materials.  We will discuss how that reception could utilize locally grown foods to support their community and reduce carbon footprint and how to transform the studio by utilizing less or non-toxic processes.  In addition we will consider transportation like how the visitor arrives – by car, bus, bicycle or virtually,  purchasing concerns that will reduce waste that will make the organization as green as possible.”

According to Sarah Brophy, author of the Green Museum, a text for this course, ""green is a critical part of the relevancy of non-profits today. No one goes all-green at once, but each green step is progress for the organization."

In this course students will determine which changes are easy to institute, provide the greatest cost savings, reduce the carbon footprint, and involve and build credibility with audiences. Students will learn how to create a Green Team, evaluate the products used in the office and in the programs, create energy use surveys, and conduct a cost-benefit analysis in a hands-on environment.  Each student will walk away with a three-year “Green Plan” tailored to the unique needs of their institution.  

Click here for course description and registration information. and to view syllabus.