How We Began  | Motivation | Praise | Mission
Strategy | Growth | Funding | Community | Diversity
Organization | Budget | Future | Contact
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How did our project start?

In 1997, fine artist and teacher Li Gardiner began an email digest of local art events, called the ArtistList, to publicize her exhibits and those of acquaintances and other artists. They enthusiastically responded (the way a thirsty person grabs a glass of water) and forwarded the list to others. Li's 'subscribers' soon began asking when she would build a Web site. She built the Web site in direct response to the need for a forum for the Bay Area art community, to exchange ideas and information.

As the site grew into an online community, Li recruited volunteers to research content, support the posting services, strengthen art community connections, respond to members, and develop technical solutions. The gamble of time and effort has paid off. We receive many letters from excited visitors and volunteers, who feel that the site is a vital part of their community.

Why is our project needed?       

From self-expression to design, from commentary to entertainment, artists document the history of their community and forecast its future. It should go without saying that artists give a voice and vision to their community -- expressing cultural, as well as individual ideas, dreams, hopes and fears. The arts are supported when the community has something to say and pays attention to its own members. Sometimes the community needs a reminder of the importance of creative enterprise in creating a quality of life, beyond the low standards of utility and conformity demanded by industry. We hope to also send that message.

Artist Resource educates the general public by offering advice and a forum to exchange ideas about communication, the creative process, and censorship, while informing them of inexpensive classes and lectures where they can participate in creative activity.

Artist Resource helps artists and writers at all stages in their careers by providing a 24-hr. online local community, a connection to the worldwide art community, free publicity, portfolio services, job listings, tools and techniques, research, advice and other services. Much of our content targets visual artists and writers (rather than performing artists) because they generally work alone, without as much public or government support.

Artist Resource provides a much-needed alternative support network for creative people who are intimidated or under-served by the mainstream galleries, museums and funding organizations.

We reached this conclusion from personal experience, from participation in arts organizations, and conversation with peers. The proof is in the results. Artists, students, teachers, activists, patrons and a wide variety of art lovers have visited our site and written their thanks for the service we provide. Below is a small sample of the letters we've received from the Bay Area art community.

Letters of Praise      

"The information has been extremely useful to me and especially for my graduating students who are looking for galleries, studios, and all-around support. . . As a fine artist it’s a difficult world to exist in and we need all the support we can get. . ." — Ed

"First, I would really like to thank you for this site. Words are not enough to express how much pleasure I have gotten from looking in on Artist Resource from time to time as I search for inspiration and some sort of road map in becoming a full-time designer-maker. I'm not an Artist, but the problems, concerns, and delights are very similar...just a different end result. . . . If you don't need our . . . help with the website, we would also be interested in becoming financial supporters once the non-profit status is achieved. Whatever, let us know how we can help! — Kathleen Lands, Andy Hubbard

"Your web site is my absolute favorite, surpassing all others by light years...thanks for the constant inspiration. Your 10-step plan was the first thing to draw me in months ago. Having graduated 2 years ago with my MFA and FA and still trying to figure out how to make art and support myself (and pay these moldy student loans), your site is helping me feel supported and giving me new ideas!" —Jessica

"Subscribing to your list has enabled me to be aware of many opportunities in, with and for the local art scene. I attend City College Art Classes at the Fort Mason Campus and print out your events, classes, [and] workshop lists for my class. The class eagerly awaits the next printout. I have enclosed a check to help. . . keep up the needed work." — Merrill Mack

I've been browsing around your site. . .all night, and just got to the "staffing" section. I'd be interested in helping out. . .because I think what you're trying to do is important. . . — Dave Robb

"Your service is of great value and is read weekly. . .ArtSpan is very pleased to receive your updates on upcoming arts events in the Bay Area. . .I am writing to inquire if you know of other lists or web sites that feature local and national art events or opportunities. . .Thank you. Keep up the good work!"— Nila Rogosin, Program Manager, ArtSpan

What is our mission?      

Our mission is to educate, connect, nurture and promote Bay Area visual artists and writers through the Artist Resource website, by exchanging information, offering advice, creating an active, supportive community of peers, and educating the public about the creative experience and the power of ideas.

What is our strategy for achieving this mission?      

The number of artists online is growing exponentially, and news about Artist Resource has spread throughout the art community by word-of-mouth. We now attract a diverse range of visitors, including students, emerging and established artists, teachers, researchers, writers, gallery owners, non-artists, art appreciators and patrons. But we need to do more. Here are some of our plans:

•Increase the interactive, 'community' nature of the site, by creating more online forums for exchanging ideas and information. (Four successful forums have been created. More are under construction)
• Gather a stable, committed staff of volunteers
• Retain at least two part-time, experienced staff members by funding their salaries.
• Establish strong connections with other art organizations, galleries, services, schools
• Promote the website in the media and online
• Build a larger member or subscriber base
• Expand the amount and quality of information offered, through research and collaboration.
• Add or develop services, including online portfolios
• Create a search engine so visitors can easily find artists, galleries, suppliers, classes (Under construction)
• Expand the range of area covered (to Northern California)

Successful Growth      

We've implemented some of the above strategies, and have seen an increase in audience numbers and participation. When we started, about 100 people visited us each month. As of June 2000, 30,000 people visit us each month, mostly from the Bay Area, but a significant number come from all over the world.

How will we raise funds to support the project?       

We already have a small amount of funding from donations, but it doesn't cover our annual expenses for maintenance, let alone improvements. We hope that donating to Artist Resource will be more appealing if we are sponsored by a reputable organization.

We will seek to finance our expenses through a number of channels:

EARNED REVENUE

Offer fee-based services, including

-creating online portfolios for artists

-selling advertising space to art-related retail businesses

-offering listing and other web-based promotion to art-related retail businesses and organizations

-soliciting corporate or organization sponsorship for special programs in exchange for visibility

introduce affordable membership or listing fees

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

Seek grants from organizations that support the arts

Seek donations or other support from corporations that support the arts, perhaps in exchange for promotion or other benefits

Solicit donations from subscribers online -- electronic commerce

Establish strong connections with other art organizations, galleries, retailers, schools and barter for services and support

Fund-raising benefit and exhibit in late spring

Implement a donation campaign, targeting our 900 subscribers (anticipated return: 2%)

How is our project connected to our community?      

The San Francisco Bay Area community includes more than 10,000 art professionals, art students, and employees in art-related industries, such as graphic design, schools, galleries, multimedia companies, film and animation. Our project is connected to that sector of the community through its content, which is focused on Bay Area events, and the interests and concerns of community members. Our project is accessible to the entire community through the Internet, which offers 24-hours access to our services and information. Our website allows visitors to instantly post a new event, or topic for discussion.

How is diversity prioritized in our work?      

We serve all people who want to use their imaginations, make things, and express themselves creatively. We especially focus on artists, a large but under-served group in the Bay Area. We naturally draw upon the diversity of the Bay Area for our members and staff. As you can see from our current Staff list, we have attracted people from a wide variety of ethnic and national backgrounds, including Europe, Asia, the Philippines, Native-American and African-American. By its nature, our group is neither gender-specific nor ethnocentric, but will tend to include a broad range of people and personalities.

What is our leadership and organizational structure?      

We currently have a project director and 12 volunteers at varying levels of commitment. (See our Staff List)

Who will be on our advisory board?

We need guidance and support for developing Artist Resource. I’ve been a member of many non-profit art organizations and I’ve seen how volunteers, especially those who put in the most time and effort, can get burned out. We welcome the input and energy of other people who can offer expertise in running a rapidly growing arts organization.

For our Advisory Board we are seeking artists and designers, writers and teachers, and experts in marketing, fundraising, legal and financial, technical and human resources fields. Up to this point, we’ve had valuable input from volunteer staff and members that has changed the focus and structure of the site. In future, we anticipate more long-range planning for the future of the site and the community it anchors.

We've made inquiries and have found some of our advisory board members among our current members, including legal and business advisors. Also, we will seek board members by asking the advice of other art-related non-profits, like California Lawyers for the Arts, ArtSpan, and ProArts, all of whom have expressed support for Artist Resource, and have exchanged information with us.

Our annual budget      

The following budget contains two sections:

1.) Upgrade and Expansion Expenses, one-time (total = $5,490)
The upgrade and expansion of existing software, equipment and information will greatly improve our efficiency and delivery of services.

2.) Operational Expenses, annual (total = $21,363)
The Operational Expenses budget is based on acquiring the improvements below. Otherwise, staff costs will climb as we try to maintain our current delivery of services to an ever-widening audience. The consultants to develop scripts are vital to our continued operation and future improvement, but a couple of wishful-thinking items were included, such as a slide scanner, and paid freelancers for research.

Almost all of our initial start-up expenses have been paid out-of-pocket.

____________________________________________________

Upgrade and Expansion Expenses (one-time expenses)

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE and DEVELOPMENT (needed now) (startup/expansion expenses)

Submission Scripts, one-time project = $300

Consultant to develop scripts for interactive Forums for exchanging ideas and Calendars for posting information (in progress)

Subscription Forms and ListServ = $300

Consultant to develop automated subscription forms, BBS or ListServ (an automated mailing list) for handling a subscriber base that is growing too quickly to manage

Search Engine and Database, one-time project = $500

Consultant to develop a database,

and then a site-based search engine. Much work will be handled by volunteers

E-commerce Software and Connection, one-time project = $500

Consultant to research, develop and set up a secure way to donate money online

_________________________subtotal = $1600

RESEARCH and Publicity (needed now) (startup/expansion one-time expenses)

Job Pages Manager, one-time project = $200

Free-lancer to publicize our service and contact recruiters, and art-related companies and organizations to get the job list off the ground. This is the most active area of the site and receives many requests for more information. This is the area most likely to support fee-based services.

Studio Space Page Manager, one-time project = $200

Free-lancer to publicize and make initial contact with realtors, management companies, art co-ops, group sites and live/work spaces. This is the next area that is likely to support fee-based services.

_______________________subtotal = $400

SOFTWARE (startup/expansion one-time expenses)

FileMaker 4.0 (needed now) = $140

web-ready database for search engine and tracking of subscriber/member/donor, accounts, etc.

PageMill or DreamWeaver (needed now) = $300

Website editor, to develop sophisticated pages and forms and update the site more quickly

Debabelizer (needed soon) = $100

To convert submitted artwork to correct web palette quickly

_________________________subtotal = $540

HARDWARE (startup/expansion one-time expenses)

Modem Upgrade --56.6 or higher (needed now) Purchase and installation = $150

To update the site more quickly. We've reached our limit at 28.8

Slide Scanner (future) = $800

To scan artists' work for online portfolios and slide registry

________________________subtotal = $950

__________Total Upgrade and Expansion Expenses = $5490

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OPERATIONAL EXPENSES (ongoing, annual expenses)

Because of the 'low-overhead' nature of the Internet, our budget is very modest. Most of our expenses are staff, rather than facilities or utilities. There are always some equipment and maintenance expenses, but our budget will be largely focussed on hiring and retaining reliable staff members, because their skills are the service we offer.

STAFF (annual expenses)

Director / Volunteer Manager / part-time = $1000 a month
Site Manager / Membership and Service / part-time = $300 a month
Site Manager / Technical Support / part-time = $300 a month

These low figures are realistic only if Upgrade and Expansion budget is covered (see above) Then many tasks will be automated.

________Monthly subtotal = $1600 / Annual = $19,200

OFFICE (annual expenses)

Misc. expenses
(Stationery, Postage, Supplies, maintenance) _____subtotal = $500

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES (annual expenses)

Accounting and tax advice quarterly or at least annual review of budget, fees, expenses, taxes = $150

______________________subtotal = $150

BUSINESS FEES (annual expenses)

---- San Francisco Business Tax = $25

---- Bank account = $84

---- Domain Name Annual Registration = $35

---- ISP maintenance/hosting fees = $360

---- Telephone - 2nd line = $360

---- Domain Name Registration = $50

_______________________subtotal = $554

PUBLICITY (annual expenses)

"People Behind the News" - book and database of Bay Area media = $59

Postcard listing our services etc. 4,000 (printing costs) = $400

Mailing (cards, press releases, etc.) = $200

___________________________subtotal = $659

MARKETING/FundRaising (annual, and needed immediately)

Annual Fundraising Event / Members Networking = $400

___________________________subtotal = $400

_____________Total Annual Expenses = $21,463

Near and Far FUTURE GOALS      

Artist Resource has grown too large to manage with the volunteers we currently have. If we don't get help, or automate some tasks, we will stop growing, and may actually fall apart. Because of this bottleneck, there are areas in which we are not serving our target audience as well as we should. We are currently conducting a survey to target those areas that need improvement.

The short-term solution is to do three things -- attract more volunteers, reduce the volunteer overhead of hours spent on site maintenance by automating as many functions as possible, and solicit financial support to pay for software improvements and paid staffing.

Here are some services we'd like to offer, improvements we want to make, tools we need to accomplish these task, and funding requirements.

Upgrade and Automate Current Services

AUTOMATIC POSTING (needed now)
of art events, classes, studio space, etc. It's grown too big to do manually.

AUTOMATIC SUBSCRIPTION (needed now)
The current digests are Art Events, and Classes, both very popular. We want to add new email digests. These digests reach members who can't spend much time online or have slow modems. The following information is already available on the site, but not sent out because of a lack of personpower.

--Jobs For Artists, Designers and Writers
--Calls For Art
--Calls for Writing
--Writers Events and Readings

Create THREADED FORUMS (currently under construction with volunteer help)
Ongoing, interactive discussions of topics like censorship, pricing, legal issues, gallery contracts.

Revitalize/Research JOBS PAGE (in progress)
It's the most-requested page! Untill recently it was stagnating from lack of attention.

Revitalize/Research STUDIO SPACE PAGE (in progress)

PORTFOLIO CREATION and HOSTING for member artists
We offer the service, but don't have time to promote it!

Addition of New Services and Expansion of Audience

SEARCH ENGINE (needed now)
Site-based search engine to find:
--Artists by medium, subject, etc.
--Art-related organizations by service, location, resources, etc.
This involves the creation of a database.

ART REGISTRY (future)
Online art registry, copyright, and watermarking to prevent theft and/or establish intellectual property rights -- this is a burning issue in a medium where any image can be 'sampled'

CHAT AREA (future)
'Live' online question and answer sessions with guest artists, writers, art reps, agents

EXPAND INFORMATION COVERED
and INCREASE OUR AUDIENCE
We'd like to increase the territory we cover to all of Northern California. Many members live beyond the Bay Area. There is an audience for our services in an area ranging from Santa Cruz (south) to Sacramento (west) to Ukiah (north). With a small, paid staff, we could will be able to support an increase in coverage, in addition to making the other improvements above.

We intend to set up similar sites in other major cities in the U.S. We get requests frequently on this subject, but do not have the resources to pursue it at this time.

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CONTACT       

not for publication -- press contact only:
Webmistress: Li Gardiner  ArtistEye@artistresource.org
URL: http://www.artistresource.org

How We Began  | Motivation | Praise | Mission
Strategy | Growth | Funding | Community | Diversity
Organization | Budget | Future | Contact