A couple of years ago the person who was organizing our programs for the year came up with a wonderful concept: a world tour of calligraphy. Each month at the meeting we had a program dealing with the calligraphy or calligraphers of a particular country. We even had a "passport" which we got stamped at each meeting, and everyone who had a stamp for each of the countries we visited was entered in a drawing for a prize of some sort. We "visited" England, Australia, Egypt, and six other countries. It was fun, the people who gave each program put in a lot of time researching the country they were presenting, and we all learned a lot.
This year one of our members has graciously agreed to give a short (30 minute) mini class before each meeting. That seems to something our members are looking forward to.
We have, here in Texas, an organization called the Southwest Calligraphy Conference made up of all the calligraphy guilds in our state. We meet each year in January, and the president and workshop person from each guild attend. At this meeting each guild tells about the programs and workshops they have had over the past year. We share ideas, tell what has worked for us, and (just as important) what didn't work. We talk about the various calligraphy instructors, who was great and who wasn't. It's a very open, honest discussion.
serifm@fastlane.net
Intl Letter Arts Network offers serigraphs to guilds at a wholesale price. The guild can then raffle off these or as we did in Orange County [I am the past president], do a silent auction. This is fun because you put a starting bid on each item^*have your other members donate duplicate things they have or do an original piece for the auction. We now do this to reopen our meetings in September and raise anywhere from $200 to $500 to help launch the new year.
Another idea for programs is our CDs if you have a computer available or a CDi player [which plays like a vhs on the TV and is available where computer games are sold]. Your local computer club might be willing to loan you an "IN FOCUS" machine or at least tell you who and where the vender is that might come and demo its use that meeting using the calligraphy CD. By the way our CDs are: Bob Boyajian's Callendars/Leana Fay's Art/Sheila Waters: 50 yrs of Calligraphy/Dick Beasley:an overall view.
Also, try to get some local members to share [if they are reluctant see if they would team up]. Sometimes we have lots of talent in our backyards without realizing it.
Two things the Washington Calligraphers Guild does is to have a "Calligraflea" which is both a flea market for individuals and commercial companies who want to participate (Paper and Ink Books, Goco Printer outlet) and some who sell calligraphy related jewelry and such. We also rent tables to individuals to sell calligraphy items (extra books, nibs, paper, etc.).
We have a Saturday session where Brenda Broadbent from Paper and Ink Books spends the day demonstrating about 25 different paper samples which you purchase and are then encouraged to write on with various media including gouache, stick ink, whatever. She talks about the different papers, how they are made, how to determine what kind of paper it is, and so on.
We try to couple this with other events to demonstrate production line methods for addressing envelopes and repetitious things. Also Goco Printer demos.
We try to schedule meetings around workshops and have the instructor for Sat and Sun be the guest lecturer on Friday or Monday evening.
Something I have suggested, but has not happened is to have a lawyer come in to talk about copyright law and a printer come in and talk about how a calligrapher should deal with them.
Not a meeting as such, and with somewhat limited participation, but on Saint Nicholas' Day, some of us go to Washington National Cathedral and address cards provided by the cathedral for people who come by.
Bishop James BISHOP_JAMES@TECHMATICS.COM
One of the other members of the executive and I attended the Artivity consumer show at the Convention Centre in Toronto and also Spectrum '96, the trade show that followed. We met some fabulous people from Strathmore Paper/H K Holbein and they agreed to come out to one of our meetings. At any rate their Ontario market salesperson came out to our September meeting, showed a short video on papermaking followed by a demonstration of their products: papers, gouache, inks, brushes, Japanese stick ink, etc. They were very generous in handing out paper samples to our members and after the demonstration they encouraged everyone to come up and try out the products. It went over extremely well - it was great for us too as it was one of those meetings where we didn't have to do anything. If you are interested, I can provide you with the name of the person who came out. I believe she lives in Hamilton and the nice part is that she is also a practising artist herself so she uses the product as well as sells it.
Last year our membership dwindled down to about 20 so we decided we needed to go on a recruiting drive. We came up with the idea that we would have a beginners night - placed notices in all the newspapers that we were having a beginners' night and that they would receive a free beginners kit. The kits were inexpensive to make up and consisted of a gift bag, nib, holder, some ink, paper. We signed up 15 new members that night and picked up some more members at our first mini-conference. We pretty well decided to have the beginners night every second year in October. This year we are also concentrating on spreading the word on our guild and our mini-conference to our 550 member arts guild here in Guelph so I'll let you know the results as the flyers are being distributed at the end of the month. We also added a half-hour of calligraphy instruction (different letter styles) at the beginning of each meeting which went over very well!
Have your local calligraphy teachers put in a good word (advertise) for you club. Calligraphy students join the calligraphy clubs as a way of an on-going activity following their formal instruction. Also, if your guild gives workshops, as ours does, there is usually a discounted (reduced) fee offered to guild members. This can be an inducement.
Prepare a brochure of handout telling of your club and activities. State all of the interesting meetings topics, workshops, etc. Be sure to give the name and telephone number of a contact person in the club. Distribute these to your local teachers.
We have had some new ideas recently that have been great. The membership chairman decided to plan an 11-month course an the history of Western letterforms. Each month she asked one of our experienced members or someone from another nearby guild to present a program about one lettering style. She organized it chronologically, starting with an overview (Mark Van Stone, who lives in Austin now), Roman caps, rustics, uncials, Carolingian and humanist hands, versals, Gothics, Italic, copperplate, foundational, and ending with "contemporary techniques."
Another idea which I think will be successful is a "Best of the Newsletter" project. Three members went through all the old newsletter articles, tips, etc. and chose useful stuff to reprint on 8 1/2 x 11 paper. We plan to sell it unbound so that the buyer can spiral bind, put it in a 3-ring notebook, or hand-bind. Our motivation is as much to provide new members and beginners with a resource as to make money.
rvandyke@tenet.edu
We seem to get the best attendance at meetings that involve some hands on project or panel discussion. This month we are having the movie made by Twin Rocker. We have never tried this before so we'll know soon enough how that worked. Our Guild has a roster of approx. 110 and we get approx. 25 to 30 members at meetings. And not always the same group eventhough there is a core of 6 -10 who participate in almost everything. We have bi-monthly meetings which are on Sat. afternoons for 2 hours.
We have had good turnouts for a panel discussion on pricing; for embossing; holiday cards hints, tips, and show and tell; a do-it-yourself frame shop came in a talked about conservation framing and matting; a printer talked about preparing work for reproduction; tools and inks; clean up your italic; mock marbling; envelope decorating; alphabet reviews - one per meeting; and rubber stamping. These are just a few that come to mind quickly.
EBSimon@aol.com
Members write questions on pieces of paper that are then read out anonymously for anyone from the meeting to answer. That way 'newbies' can ask questions without feeling foolish. This gets a good responce and anyone can chip in their penny worth.
Silkscreening Christmas cards is a popular November activity. We had a formal silkscreen workshop some time ago and many members have silkscreens and some have squeegies. Collectivly we bought some inks and used waxed paper for stencils
Our regular meetings are once a month but after the Business Section and the Socializing there time only for Mini-workshops or demonstrations. To address this we have started a study group with the intention of providing a "hands-on" evening. Typically we build on a recent workshop or try for a group project.