Joining forces with other art clubs in your area can bring practical and financial benefits

No man is an island, and being cut off from the rest of the world doesn’t do much for art clubs either. Whatever the size of your group, and however happily you’re all muddling along at the moment, it’s worth thinking about making contact with other groups in your area, and possibly collaborating on future projects.

This is a good idea from a financial point of view, particularly if you are a small group with limited funds, because however much you try to cut corners, it’s expensive to stage an exhibition or book top quality demonstrators for your group. Although there are grants and awards available to everyone in the art world, if your group is small and run along informal lines you may not think it worthwhile to apply for them, so your group may survive on the limited weekly subs paid by members. In this situation, it’s hard to amass sufficient funds to organise proper events or invest in new equipment.

Hold joint exhibitions

Putting on an exhibition involves a lot of hard work, planning and organisation, particularly if your group has never done anything like this before. By joining forces with another group, you immediately reduce the amount of time and effort you will have to put into it – while there may be twice as many pictures to hang, there will be twice as many willing hands to do the physical hard work, and – more importantly – more people to share the organisational side – finding a venue, putting together publicity material, liasing with artists, and manning the doors while the exhibition is open to the public.

Pool resources and equipment

This isn’t as strange an idea as it may sound. Many groups invest in art materials and equipment which only gets used one a week, and you might be able to lend that equipment to another group – possibly getting something else in return. You could also find a local group that has similar needs to your own and therefore reduce your future investment costs, for instance, buying new easels that can be used by both groups on different days. The same theory applies to premises. One particular village hall may be most convenient for you, but if there’s another nearby that has good storage facilities, it might make sense for more than one art group to hold sessions there, in order to be able to share equipment.

Share the cost of demonstrators

Art club members love the opportunity to glean pearls of wisdom from visiting experts, but smaller groups may not be able to afford to book more than a couple of demonstrators a year. By clubbing together with another group you can increase the number of demonstrations you hold, and also ensure that the visiting artists have a larger audience, which is always more satisfying for them.

Brainstorm with others

If you’ve been running your group for years, it can be hard to come up with new ideas – whether you’re after themes for workshops, trips to galleries, venues for outdoor painting. By getting together with another RSC or art group co-ordinator, you can learn about the sorts of activities that another group has enjoyed, and also find out – before you throw yourself into organising something new - what has worked well and what hasn’t. Your members may not have been very inspired by the idea of painting a composite picture at a workshop, or putting together their own calendar. But hearing that something like this worked well for another group may change their minds and encourage everyone to get more proactive.

If you have put any of these suggestions into practise and forged successful links with other clubs, we’d love to hear from you. Email sarah@saa.co.uk or write to us at Head Office.