AN OPEN LETTER TO EAST SUSSEX ARTISTS
Yesterday I sent out a message to the 200+ artists on our mailing list telling them about our new plans. Already people are responding, telling me how excited they are about the new network and how they want to be part of it.
Dear Artists
After a bit of a lull in activities during the past year or so, I’m very pleased to say that Blue Monkey has exciting plans for 2011.
We are planning to establish a new, extended Blue Monkey Network, run by artists for artists. Through the new network we aim to create opportunities for conversation and the exchange of ideas, information, skills and knowledge among Eastbourne and East Sussex artists.
I am very pleased to say that we are being supported in this venture by Towner, who are keen to build relationships with local artists and have invited Blue Monkey to use Towner as a base for the network. We will be working in partnership with Matthew Rowe, Director of Towner, and with Towner’s Curators and Outreach and Education team, to organise talks and events for members of the new network, utilising the unique resources of Towner’s exhibitions and collection, and using Towner as our regular meeting place.
At previous Blue Monkey networking events we gathered feedback from artists about what sort of things you would like us to organise and about how much artists felt able to contribute towards the running costs of these events and activities. The information you gave us showed that many artists are prepared to subscribe to membership of an organisation which will, as far as possible, be self-funding. The advantage of this is that we will be independent and self-sustaining at a time when public funding is scarce and funding bodies are at the mercy of government cuts. We will of course make every effort to keep subscriptions as low as possible by seeking local sponsorship and wider public funding should it become available.
I hope that you might be interested in being part of this new venture when it is launched later this spring and I would like to keep you updated with news of how to become a member and what the Network will offer. I will continue to share news and information through the Blue Monkey mailing list, however, if you wish to be removed from the list, please do let me know.
One of the keys to success of the new Blue Monkey Network will be a strong membership, so please do pass this message on to anyone who you think might like to be involved.
Best wishes,
Judith
Judith Alder
Blue Monkey Network
e-mail: [email protected]
tel: 01323 643677
mob: 07713 287365
