MEETING MINUTES
JULY 2025 AAC Steering Committee Meeting Minutes
📅 Monday, July 22 at 4 PM
🏠 Annette’s House; 1615 Sunset Lane
1. Administrative / Finance
- May meeting minutes approved
- Review financial report
2. Upcoming Events & Programming
- Arden Fair: Jill will have postcards & lawn signs signs printed and available, Jill will send an email soliciting for Face Painting help through the listserve
- Buzz Showcase (preview for 125th exhibits): planning & promo, Betty and Sadie will work on this. Need to find out the dates.
- Fall Artisan Social: update from Shay. She put in for the date and put call out to Toby. Waiting to hear back
- 2D Show at The Grand: update from Megan/Sadie
Legacy, Sadie has 10 Private loans 2-D for Baby Grand plus 16+ Archival images
She will update and work with Megan on layout
From Megan 7/22/25:
2D Show at the Grand— update from Megan/Sadie
Update for contemporary2D art submissions for the baby grand show: 14 artists, 31 pieces Ask megan.
Next couple of steps are 1) printing and distributing promotion postcards and 2) figuring out the layout with Sadie to include the legacy pieces
- 3D Show at Blue Ball Barn: update from Micah
Legacy—Sadie has 5 Private loans 3-D plus Display of Archival photos and text for Blue Ball Barn
I have dedicated space at Blue Ball to display 3-D hIstoric pieces.
Micah only has one submission for the 3D show.
Marketing: Through email exchange it was determined that Jill will order 1000 large scale postcards and 4 large lawn signs.
She will also make graphics to use on Facebook/Instagram
- Talleyville Frame Small Art Show: Jill will contact Wendy from Talleyville to got dates.
3. 2026 and beyond
Jill expressed frustration. She cannot continue to do what she is doing for the collective. As there is no heir apparent to hand off responsibilities, the time has come to reimagine the collective so that it is more sustainable. We need to come up with a path forward.
The AAC started with a mission to nurture artists, support community, and boost visibility.
Mission statement: The Arden Artisans Collective nurtures artists/artisans at all levels (professional/hobby/student) through educational activities and events; uses the arts to enhance community-building within the Ardens; and magnifies the visibility of Arden artisans outside of the Ardens community.
When we started, this was about artist marketing and visibility. But we’ve learned that for many of us, this isn’t primarily about sales. This group isn’t just about selling art—it’s about honoring and extending Arden’s creative legacy. If we want that tradition to keep evolving, we have to build a structure that invites more people in, while also protecting the energy of the people doing the work.
To move forward, we need to decide how we want to shape this group:
1. Do we scale back and just focus on the exhibits for now?
2. Do we redistribute roles and create small teams with clearer duties?
3. Or do we seek an umbrella organization to help carry the structure?
The committee decided to have a whole group meeting to discuss this and membership program for the future. Jill will put in to rent the Buzz on Tuesday, January 13 at 7 PM for the meeting.
Paid Membership Program (Starting 2026)
Jill presented what a paid membership might look like. We aren’t voting on whether to do this. We will wait until the meeting to decide.
Draft Budget (open for input – what’s missing?):
• Website: $275
• Buzz rental: $250
• Arden Fair: $100
• Printing: $400
• Misc. supplies: $225
• Paid labor (web, marketing, design): $500
• Total: $1,750
Goal: 50 members at $35 each = $1,750
Proposed Membership Benefits:
• Newsletter
• Access to members-only section of website
• Free listing on AAC website
• No application fees for AAC member shows
• No AAC commission on sales (venue commissions may still apply)
• Discount on paid workshops and programs
What we need to launch to offer this membership:
• Set up PayPal or Stripe account
• Create membership webpage
• Spreadsheet/database to track members
Meeting adjourned 5:30 PM. Next meeting is Sept 9th 4 PM-5:30 at Annette’s House; 1615 Sunset Lane