It's been a busy few weeks for the Glue Group. It's important to get you up to speed with our developments, of which there have been many, so this could turn out to be quite a long entry…
Most of our energies have gone into refurbishing the space. We have all shared a hand in the mammoth tasks of plastering walls, fixing lights, filling in holes, sanding bumps, smoothing cracks and endless layers of white paint! After some industrious late night sessions we are nearly there. We have a couple of "problem areas" but I'd say these things add character!
We've had our initial diagnostic session with Esther Salamon, organised by a-n to help us identify our mentoring and research needs. The session and resulting report was extremely useful in helping us to focus our aims and objectives and identifying the group's strengths and possible threats to our future plans. These are all issues that must be considered when writing a business plan which we are currently tackling. (Oh the joy!)
It's not all about the painstaking tasks though. We have put aside a few days in May for a group research trip to Glasgow. We hope to make contacts with other artist's groups and galleries and get advice and inspiration that we can take back to Gallery Glue. A road trip is a great opportunity to strengthen the group's dynamic and to get ideas flowing!
The group is gradually becoming more structured, with each of us taking responsibility for different roles. It has been decided that these roles are to be flexible – much of this project is a massive learning experience and it's important to enable each group member to be involved in a range of tasks and responsibilities.
The Glue Group's website is under construction. Be sure that we'll inform you when it's ready, and mark this occasion with a launch party, hey why not!? (On a similar note, there's talk of another fundraising meal at Belle and Herb's Café. Watch this space for more info.)
One final note – and I think I might keep harping on about this – but since we embarked on our Gallery Glue journey the support from other artists and organisations has been amazing. It's an aim for the Glue Group to fully integrate ourselves in the existing art community and establish rewarding relationships with other artists, networks and spaces. We have already received expressions of interest from other parties for collaborative projects and we are looking forward to exploring these further…
Promise to keep you posted, Glue Group (Hannah).
