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The Waltham Forest Arts Club was set up in 2003 to provide an arts network and meeting point for creative practitioners across the borough. Members include painters, writers, filmmakers, photographers, musicians and craftspeople and monthly meetings are held in the Red Room at Ye Olde Rose and Crown in Hoe Street, Walthamstow.
The meetings address topics relevant to arts practice and development in the borough and provide an opportunity for artists to present and discuss new projects. Meetings also host lectures, discussions and short film screenings by both club members and invited guest speakers and there are regular open sessions at which artists are free to show and talk about their work.
The website, launched in 2006, serves as a notice board and networking resource as well as a web presence for artists. Members are encouraged to generate content so that the site can be regularly updated with news, exhibition and commission opportunities and requests for partners on collaborative projects. There are also links to other creative events and organisations in the borough. For more information or to submit news please email: admin@artsclub.org.uk
URGENT ARTS CLUB NEWS
Due to people moving and / or too much other work, the Arts Club is losing all of its key organisers. This means it can no longer continue in its current form unless other people are willing to take on the administrative and organisational responsibilities. At a recent meeting the following observations were made:
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Exhibitions
It was suggested that there are four themed exhibitions a year organised and funded by participating members. ANY member of the Arts Club can organise an exhibition. They simply need a theme, a venue and access to the arts club 300 member mailing list. Via this they can then either arrange a meeting with members interested in participating or call a meeting to discuss ideas.
Meetings
Meetings have been a core part of Arts Club activity for 8 years and have been very valuable on a number of levels. They are informative and important as both networking and social activities. However these cannot continue without new organisers.
As with the exhibitions ANY member of the Arts Club can organise a meeting. All that is required is a speaker and/or a theme and a date and venue. Alternatively 'Show and Tell' meetings open for any member to bring and talk about their work (any kind of creative work) are easy to arrange and have always been popular. The Red Room at the Rose and Crown has become the venue for meetings because it is easily available and we get it at a special rate of £20 for the evening.
These two areas can easily be amalgamated, If, for example a member wanted to organise an exhibition on the theme of 'Light' then a related meeting could easily be arranged in which arts club members (photographers, painters, poets etc.) talk about how they work with light or how they explore it as a subject. This could also work the other way where meetings address themes and potential exhibitions grow out of ideas discussed at the meetings.
Funding
Exhibitions are self funding if all artists pay a participation fee. However, there is an Arts Club bank account and small grants are available. The Arts Club is known and has secured several small grants in the past so this is always an option for any member willing to commit the time to apply for funding.
Website
The Arts Club website has two mail addresses (exhibitions and admin) and provides information on collaborative projects, exhibition opportunities, meetings, events and funding oppportunities. The website is reliant on updates and news being submitted by members and then uploaded onto the site with a simple upload tool. We need a website and email administrator in order for the site to function properly and for information to be posted and forwarded. This doesn't generally take more than an hour a week.
The Arts Club has evolved over the past 8 years based on members' inititiaves and their willingness to take them forward. If you have ideas about how the Arts Club could move into its next phase and have the time and commitment to see them through this could be a very rewarding opportunity.
If you would like to contribute please email admin@artsclub.org.uk and we can take it from there
Many thanks
Waltham Forest Arts Club
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