Thank you so much for the great attendance Friday night the 20th at the Third Friday at the Clements Noyes Gallery. We had a great LAG presence. Kirk and Doreen, Mark, Dennis, Kathy, Edgar, Don, Pam, Donna, Alex, Mindy, Bonnie, Lorena and Donna. I apologize if I missed anyone. We had a strong showing from our group, I was very pleased.
This is the first step in possibly hosting the 2027 ANAC Conference. We are investing in creating a cohesive group of artists that will work together toward a common goal. I know that there will be some interesting conversations prior to getting this idea off the ground, so here are a few things that will be expected from us.
First of all, there will be minimal cost to the Guild, the ANAC provides money (which we will have to keep within a budget) for the convention. Participants pay for their lodging, workshop fees, meals, etc. which in turn goes to ANAC and then back to us for what we spent.
- We need a site for the hanging of the show! Preliminary talks suggested downtown, as the Haymarket is a draw and housing will offer walking distances to sites. Where to host workshops (that can be messy) may be a detriment to having a hotel provide workshop space but could hold the show and provide banquet facilities. Do we travel to Southeast Community College, (thus traveling across Lincoln) or do we host the entire convention on the east side of Lincoln at the college. Hmmmm!
- Right now, clubs that are involved are: LAG, El Rio Art club, Noyes Art Gallery and St. Paul Art Club.
- What kind of workshops do we provide – payment for those presenters comes out of the budget, and that cost is divided among the participants. Any ideas as to who to invite? Keep this in mind as you meet artists in the next year or so.
- Wishful ideas that were thrown out included; getting the University involved, specifically Sheldon Art Gallery.
- The city of Lincoln and its tourism department, reached out to us, and thus, they are going to help with a lot, specifically advertising, scouting out people to talk to, venues, etc. Packets, fliers, coupons, etc. Our specific requirements to them would be availability of personnel to physically help the week of, doing supervision, check-ins, etc.
- Sponsorship – can we get some big names within the city to help sponsor, to help with the cost of, decorations, awards, lunches, how about a bus to take recipients across the city? Who knows what a sponsor may be interested in doing. Purchase awards?
- Theme? What can we use to spin off our ideas.
These are just a few things we originally came up with during our short meeting on Wednesday the 17th. More information to come. Carmen Stineman