Anyone can form and setup an Art Club - all you need is a number of people interested in the same subject!

A large number of art clubs, society’s and groups over the years have been created by just a handful of like minded people getting together on a regular basis.
A very good example of this is Downland Art Society based in Walberton West Sussex.

Founded in 1944, Downland Art Society was originally formed to raise money for an ambulance. Today, Downland Art Society has become one of the most popular Art Societies in West Sussex UK, and continues to move forward holding two exhibitions each year, monthly meetings with Professional Art Demonstrators and has a membership of some 120 people.

Forming an Art Club - the first steps

If you are already part of a group of artists that meet up on a regular basis, then you have the foundations for expanding and creating an Art Club. (the use of the words 'Art Club' is purely a generic term but also applies to societies and groups in this article).

If your are on your own and thinking about forming an art club, then you will need to find some other friends/people that have the same interest as you with regard to your art club. Once you have a few people 4 or 5 is a good start, then you can start thinking about a name for your ‘collective group’ of artists.

Choosing a name

If you want to seriously consider expanding and turning your current collective group or artists into a more organised 'Art Club, Art Group or Art Society', that you wish to invite new members to join, then choosing a name is obviously a good place to start so people recognise and know who your are. Most Art Club names are usually associated with the location in which they are founded, such as the city, town or village name. As an example, you may live in say, the village of Dibley (as in the Vicar of) so you may want to call your art club, Dibley Art Club.

You can of course call your 'Art Club' anything you like, but keeping it simple is a good idea. Deciding upon if it will be an 'Art Club', Art Group, or 'Art Society' is also something to think about.
Here are some definitions of these terms that we have found:

• Art Club -
  An Art Club is an association of people united by a common interest or goal
• Art Group -
  Similar to Club, Art Groups typically were formed by established artists pooling their limited resources toward the collective goal.
• Art Society -
  An Art Society could also have been established by artists but is said to be a more formal association of people with similar interests.

So what you decide to use is up to you. It is a good idea though to check out other established 'Art Clubs', Art Groups or Art Societies local to you, before committing yourself to a name so to avoid any misunderstanding in the future, especially if finances and paid membership are to be involved later.

Set regular meetings at a chosen venue

If you don't already do so, it’s a good idea for your 'Art Club in the making' to meet up on a regular basis. It’s important to get together, share ideas, and discuss the future if you want to expand and welcome 'new members'. Setting regular meetings whatever the reason is also good practice so you all know ahead of time and meet up on the same day!

The choice of venue for your meetings can also be an important one. Your current venue may be a residential house or studio, but if you want to expand, you will have to think about looking into the possibility of a community hall, or some other form of larger space to hold meetings for your members. These can be hired and generally not that expensive. Just check with your local authorities for such possible venues and costs.

Inviting new members

To expand your 'Art Club' you will need new people/members to join, which may involve advertising.
You may find that just through 'word of mouth' people hear about your 'Art Club' and wish to join, or you may advertise the fact that you are inviting new members in the form of newspaper adverts, or at an exhibition you might hold.
With this in mind, you will have to start thinking about how to fund your 'Art Club'.

Art Club Funding

The simple and most sensible answer to funding an 'Art Club', is to charge a membership fee to join.

For a membership fee, your members will of course want something in return. This may be in the form of 'art demonstrations by professional artists' or an organised exhibition held by your 'Art Club', so members have the opportunity to sell their work.

Deciding on how much to charge for membership will depend on the expenses you are likely to incur. Most Art Clubs are run on a non profit basis, but if over the course of time there is a surplus, then this can be used to buy equipment or pay for more art demonstrators for your meetings, or new equipment for your Art Club.

Forming a committee

A committee is a group of people that do all the organizing and are the people in charge to make for the smooth running of an Art Club.
The number of people on a committee depends on how much there is to do running the Art Club. As your Art Club grows in size (i.e you have more members), you will soon realise that you need a committee of people that can be allocated individual tasks.

A basic committee would consist of the following:

• Chairperson - head of the committee and tends to do the most work, delegating tasks to other committee members and organising the fundamental parts of running an Art Club
• Secretary - deals with the administration side of things, correspondence and other similar aspects
• Treasurer - looks after the money, from membership fees, and exhibition sales to entrance fees and all other income that the Art Club generates

You can of course have more committee members to oversee more specific areas such as membership, exhibition organising, booking teachers/tutors for talks and such for your meeting etc.

An Art Club that has 120 members for example could have at least 10 committee members to spread the workload. One thing to mention here… is that generally committee members don’t get paid for their work, so you have to enjoy doing the work!

Summary

Forming an Art Club can take a lot of time and hard work, but in time and with the right people, you could be the instigator of a really popular Art Club, with a healthy membership, which holds regular meetings and exhibitions.
For it to really succeed here are a few things that your Art Club will need to have in place:

• A friendly atmosphere
• Well organised
• Popular and successful exhibitions (prospective members will be queuing up to join your Art Club if you sell a lot of members’ work at your exhibitions)
• Good Art Demonstrators/teachers/tutors at your Club meetings that cover a wide variety of topics
• A good yearly program that consists of Demonstrtions/talks, criticisms and maybe workshops and days out

So whatever you decide to do whether forming a small Art Club, with just a handful of members to one with 300 members or more, above all it must be an enjoyable experience.