More bad news… some of the most established studios in Nottingham look like closing. I was a member of Oldknows Studio Group for many years and I understand the group cannot renew their existing lease.
The landlord needs to upgrade the listed building. These improvements are expensive and significant rent increases are the pipeline. I also understand the units will be smaller. As an artist and studio provider (who also needs to balance the books) I can see the issues from both perspectives: the landlord needs to finance an upgrade which the artists can't afford to pay.
I will always be indebted to Oldknows which provided a model for HMS. In particular, I liked the open plan lay-out, the informal mentoring and the open studio events – good reasons for investing bucket loads of time into HMS.
I am gutted. Southwell Artspace is closing. 6 artists will be 'homeless' and Southwell will lose a jewel of a gallery. The usual story – not enough funding. I will miss the exciting exhibitions, the lovely people who run it and the artists too
Various people have asked me how I intend to develop HMS… as if I have ambitions to become a chain. This is a compliment I suppose, but BIG is soo last decade. My ambition is to remain sef-sufficient – only relying on funding for icing on the cake. The thought of setting up more spaces does not fill me with joy.
Those who encourage me to expand think my motivation for doing so might be financial gain. HA HA HA!
At 9:00pm I realised I hadn't uploaded todays piccie for the web advent calendar. Now I thought no one would notice – so I decided I would upload two tomorrow instead. Just in case, I checked the web stats to see if there was any change in viewing figures. I was staggered. We are averaging 80 visits a day. This may of course be due to HMS artists checking, but all of a sudden it feels a responsibility.
Sometimes running a business is horrid. I'm not just talking about the admin.
Jem wrote a Christmas/New Year newsletter in 2007 outlining the success of HMS and thanked everyone for their help etc. In addition to all the usual good tidings he also prepared the artists for a rent rise in a year's time.
Like all businesses and households we have seen the price of services, rates and loans rise at a rate of knots. We can't absorb these costs. The rents need to rise by 5% – the first increase since artists arrived in April 2007. We have just sent out the reminder which I find v difficult, especially in the current climate. We don't receive any funding from anyone so it is important that we balance the books to make sure we are a viable and not a vulnerable business.
HMS has been without a rudder for a few weeks. The Christmas show was cancelled but I have still gone ahead with the web advent calendar, showcasing an artist every day leading up to Christmas.
www.harringtonmillstudios.co.uk
