Wednesday, June 01, 2011

POLL: How many Art Societies are you a member of?

One of my readers suggested that one of my monthly Making A Mark Polls should be about how many art organisations people belong to - and how much money they spend on subscriptions.

The comment arose because of the scope for multiple memberships - national art societies, regional branches, art societies for the town where you live - not to mention any specific societies to do with media or subject matter or style of work

So the Making A Mark Poll for June and July tackles these two topics
  • June:  membership of different art organisations
  • July: level of expenditure on art organisations

    Art Society Annual Exhibition

    How many Art Societies are you a member of?

    First we're going to look at how many art societies / art institutes / art organisations people belong to.  Next month we'll look at how much it all costs.

    An "art society" is a group of artists who belong to one organisation in order to promote their art and/or the type of art they all do.  Such organisations can be called different things but if it could be called an art society instead then it probably is!

    The Poll asks "How many Art Societies are you a member of?".  It's open until 30th June and you can find it just below the list of recent top posts and just above the grid of followers faces in the right hand column.

    You have the option of ticking up to four of the following options:
    • one local art society
    • more than one local art society
    • one regional branch
    • more than one regional branch
    • one national art society
    • more than one national art society
    • total = 1
    • total = 2
    • total= 3
    • total = 4
    • total = 5
    • total = 5+

      Here's some extra questions:
      • Did you stop and reflect on your answers after you gave them.  
      • Do they all mean the same to you?
      • Which is your favourite art society - and why?
      Is your membership of art societies increasing or decreasing?

      Maybe we could tackle another aspect in a qualitative way.

      I'm also interested in whether membership of art societies is increasing or decreasing - and why.

      You can comment below and the comments included will in the analysis of the poll results.

      Note:  I'm not back from France until 4th July so the results of this poll and the next poll might not get done at the normal time.

      6 comments:

      1. Hi Katherine
        You do not seem have an option for "not a member of any art society" in your poll. Wouldn't this provide useful information too?
        Marie

        ReplyDelete
      2. Good point Marie. I'll add in an option to the next one which hopefully should highlight this

        ReplyDelete
      3. Yes, very interesting. I'm finding the longer I do this the less societies interest me. I'm a member of DACS but not sure that really counts? A professional organisation but not really a society. And of a women's art society that I'll be leaving as of this summer. So that'll bring me to zero. :) To be clear, societies were really important in building my career. But at this point I'm sure my lack of membership is partly to do with just not finding the right society - one that has a membership primarily of other professional working artists.

        ReplyDelete
      4. Im not a member of one but i've been invited and have been curious. The main reason i've not joined any is a) im yet to find one that really speaks to me and that would justify the b) subscription fee- which as a 'starving artist' i really have to think hard over. New paints or society fee? It's ovbious what i need to prioritise.

        Then again I do see the perks of socialising with other artists and groups but then doesnt the internet offer similar opportunities for free?

        ReplyDelete
      5. I think I've overdone it and will probably drop out of a few... but you never know which one will earn you a new friend... or a new opportunity. SIGH...

        ReplyDelete
      6. art society? Where? What? I am not that far in my career yet to be a member of the biggies of the FBA in London and the local/regional ones seem for hobbyists only.

        ReplyDelete

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