NEWS AND NEWSLETTER
Brilliant! I’ve just had a message from Matt Roberts about arranging a time for me to go and visit him. Part of my NAN Futurific proposal was to visit a couple of other artists’ networks to see how they operate and Matt Roberts Arts was one of the organisations I proposed. Really looking forward to the meeting and hope that we can eventually achieve just a fraction of what Matt Roberts Arts has achieved!
Just composing my first Blue Monkey members’ newsletter. I’m hoping to get out two a month with news of exhibition opportunities, events and professional development and training opportunities, but will have to see how time consuming that turns out to be – maybe one a month will be more realistic.
Still a trickle of membership applications coming in. I’m hoping for an influx at the launch! Only 2 weeks to go. I’m a little nervous. Looking forward to a bit of moral support from the other ‘Monkeys.
THE END, THE BEGINNING AND THE BIT IN BETWEEN
The End of current projects with deadlines
The Beginning of a new focus on developing projects, including the Blue Monkey Network (before the deadlines for these projects begin to creep up on me)
The Bit In Between (*small sigh of satisfaction*) – the bit where I sit in my sunny shed/studio and think that life is lovely : )
The busy-ness of the last few weeks has finally come to an end and today is The Bit In Between. So, I’m taking stock, wading through the backlogged pile of paperwork (which includes quite a few applications for membership of the new Network), making my To Do lists for the next few days, and formulating a plan for the next few weeks.
My To Do list looks like this:
1. Finish devising my record-keeping and administrative system for the Blue Monkey Network
2. Reply to all those people who have made enquiries about the launch
3. Get my membership cards printed and send them out to those people who have joined
4. Look for local sponsorship for the Network
5. Start doing some serious promotion and planning for the launch
and, of course, start work on the video pieces which I’m making for the exhibition at The Freud Museum in September and plan my work for the ongoing collaborative project with Clare Whistler which we’ll be picking up again next week.
Nice.
SKILLS SWAP
Today I tested out an idea for the first time. An idea which I hope to establish as a an integral part of the Blue Monkey Network: the idea of Skills Swaps.
This week I’m installing some work in a temporary space. Normally I can rely on the help of the other ‘Monkeys, but this time, for various reasons, they’re all unavailable and I realised this morning that there are certain things I’m just not going to be able to do with only one pair of hands.
I decided to try a mail-out to the Blue Monkey mailing list: “Hello Everyone,
If anyone has got a couple of hours to spare in the next few days, I could seriously do with some capable hands to help me set up my installation at the Big Blue Building in Seaside. I would of course be more than happy to reciprocate by offering time/skills in kind in the future. Give me a call if you can help. Thanks! Judith”
So far I’ve had 5 replies – 3 positive and 2 apologetic, and I have helpers tomorrow and Wednesday which should be enough to do all the tricky bits. Fantastic! How lovely to be part of a community of artists who are prepared to share their skills. How much more we can achieve by working together.
LAUNCH PLANS
Gradually things are falling in to place. We’ve mapped out our ideas for events for the first six months. We need to make sure that there will be plenty of scope for the programme to adapt to what the membership wants so the early months will focus on members talking – talking about themselves, their work, the things that drive their practices, the things they know, the things they want to know…
The launch date has been confirmed – Friday 10th June. The cafe and adjoining room at Towner are booked and the Elizabeth Magill exhibition showing in Gallery 2 will be open for the evening so that artists can have their own exclusive viewing of the work.
We’d like to find someone to sponsor our refreshments so that’s an important job for the coming week or so – I must draft a sponsorship letter and decide who to target. And now it’s time to start inviting people to the launch, and posting details of the event on online listings far and wide. Great – I can’t wait to start getting news of the launch out to artists!
