Is your art society running its AGM on Zoom. If not why not?
Does your Art Society deliver any online demonstrations / webinars /
critiques online?
One of the aspects of art societies which has always struck me as being rather
unsatisfactory is the way that those societies which cover large land areas
(i.e. NOT the local painting group) have had a habit in the past of holding
their Annual General Meetings at a date, time and place which suits those
running the society - but is often not one which suits most of its members -
particularly those who have to travel long distances to attend.
I remember well attending AGMs at 3.30pm on a Sunday afternoon, when I'd
driven halfway across the country to attend - and had to drive back and go to
work the next day! I was not impressed with the amount of thought and
consideration given to the membership at large.
As a result, an AGM can often generate the following results
- poor attendance (as a percentage of its total membership)
-
an unexciting agenda i.e. no thinking or discussion about what the society
should be doing / how it might change / what it could do in the future
- elects the same people again to do the same jobs.
Should we be surprised?
Probably not. It's exactly the same way as many companies and organisations
have conducted their AGMs for decades - if not centuries!
However one of the benefits of the pandemic is that it's provided a new way of
doing things.
I looked online - and found a number of examples of art societies who moved
online for regular meetings and/or their AGM. Mostly these were societies who
had taken to using Zoom for other aspects of their continuing activities
during the pandemic eg talks to members and/or critiques.
Once again Coronavirus, this time in the form of the new Omicron
variant, meant that the AGM has had to be held via Zoom. There were
relatively few members able to attend in this way but members will
receive this in their Newsletter via email.
A decade or more ago, the issue would be about whether you could use email
for routine communication with members.
Now email is routine and the next
challenge is getting members to sign up to Zoom!
How Zoom can move organisational change up a gear.
The advantages of thinking about using Zoom as one option for AGMs is that
use of Zoom can:
-
promote increased interactive involvement and attendance by a wider
membership
- when travel is an issue. That means more people have scope to be engaged
with and contribute to the ongoing wellbeing and development of the art
society
- eliminate boring and longwinded speeches
-
make organisers think more about agendas and who will speak
-
develop time management skills amongst organisers and those
attending
- given the 'free option' comes with limits on who can attend and how long
meetings can be (i.e. for 3 to 100 participants, Zoom meetings are limited
to 40 minutes)
-
make art societies think about the paid option - thus allowing them
to have meetings of unlimited length for a variety of purposes all year
round. The cost of a paid licence at Basic level (£119.90 per year in the
UK) can be cheaper than the hire of a hall for an AGM!
-
reduce greatly the travel expenses paid to core members who must be at
the meeting
- and who get their travel expenses paid.
Of course, Zoom won't suit everybody - especially those who refuse to engage
with technology. If 'core participants' feel excluded because of the use of
Zoom it might serve to remind them what it feels like for all those who live
e.g. a long way from London (or where ever the annual exhibition/event is
being held which the AGM has been tacked onto).
However for anybody with a smartphone it's perfectly possible to participate
using Zoom - you don't actually need a computer!
The other major benefit of Zoom is that for the paid version events can be
recorded and stored online and then accessed via a link by anybody unable to
access and participate at the exact time and date. Not something you can do with a live event unless you video it yourselves.
Art Society activities on Zoom
I took a quick look round to see what I could find by way of art society
activities on Zoom
Local Art Societies
Check out
Newsletter 389 of the Berkhamsted Art Society which highlights:
-
Zoom Coffee Mornings - described as 'very popular' and a
place where people can converse about art, tips and techniques, art
appreciation and consider their themed "homework"
-
Zoom Life Drawing Sessions - based on organising a proper life
model to work from
-
Zoom Demos - using remote tutors to provide demonstrations of how
to tackle particular topics - in much the same way as regular talks.
Except everybody has the benefit of exactly the same view
As it was our first online demo, we were pleased to find that our view
of the artist and his work was better than often achieved in the Civic
Centre!
-
Critique Evenings - which can work in the same way as normal such
sessions - but just online.
What I found interesting is that looking forward there was a good amount of
Zoom sessions for different activities in their forward planner.
To me this indicates that a lot of people valued the way they could
- continue to be part of a community of like-minded individuals
-
participate from home - and reduce travel time/costs and feel safe
- continue to learn about an important interest and activity
Other Art Societies organising activities via Zoom. For example
What was disappointing was that I didn't find more art societies which
had taken the initiative to explore a new way of engaging with their
members.
[UPDATE] These are comments left on the Facebook post associated with this blog post.
Dorking Group of Artists - throughout the pandemic, Dorking Group of Artists supported and involved our 185 members with regular weekly topics/programmes via zoom, social media, and our website, and very quickly introduced practical demonstrations from a wide variety of artists as well as life drawing. We held our AGM online in 2021, and set up an online selling gallery for our members at the beginning of lockdown. For those members without the technology, we kept in touch with them by landline or mobile. For many of our members we were a lifeline, maintaining their interest in art, drawing and painting, helping them to keep occupied and diverted from the generalised Covid anxiety that everyone suffered from. During summer 2021 we resumed weekly plein air drawing and painting sessions in different parts of our local area. In October 2021 we at last met again at our usual weekly venue, although we still have Zoom demos and lectures.
The South African Society of Artists, of which I am a member, held our monthly meetings, demonstrations, and lectures on zoom throughout the lockdown period of the pandemic. It was a learning curve all round. We've recently resumed our normal in person monthly meetings
National Art Societies with an International membership
I've now attended three Annual General Meetings and Annual Conferences of
the American Society of Botanical Artists
This is something many more national art societies with international
memberships should be doing.
-
HOWEVER I would caution that delivery needs to be thought through
carefully when delivering across an international dateline.
-
Speaking personally I would not seek to replicate face to face
Conferences - but rather space sessions and events out over a longer
period so that you don't challenge people too much with the timezone
differences.
What happens when Art Societies don't Zoom?
