Many who have read this blog for awhile know some of my history but let me sum it up for you all. I have been sewing for about 2 years now. I have my goods in a few stores within Wisconsin, have an Etsy store, and this blog.
I am now hoping to open up a Co-Op Studio/Gallery in my hometown of Stoughton, WI. I had found one other artist that was hoping to do this as well and we were going forward, unfortunately as of today she has left me high and dry to do this with a friend of hers and they do not want to include another artist in the mix. Also they were not crafter friendly and I am hardly fine art, so that was a sad note for me to land on today. Instead of wallowing I have picked my head up and I am marching on to start working on creating my own dream of a funky, indie-artist friendly studio space with a co-op gallery.
Here is the ultimate dream:
-Have a studio that is available at any time for the artists involved.
-Have open studio time to work around the artists' time.
-To sell our wares so that we can help pay the rent.
-Split cost (rent & utilities) equally among all of the artists.
-Have workshops and craft shows as we see fit and as there is a demand for.
-Someday to possibly take in commission work.
**I should note, I am not doing this Co-Op for the money in any way I am just hoping to create an affordable art studio for other “struggling” artists. Any profit made in my mind is just a bonus. ( I have a full time job to pay my bills as of right now) So those that are looking for this to be a full time open boutique this is not the direction that I want for the Co-Op.**
Now here is where I need you, my readers, to help me out I am in the infancy of getting this off the ground but the biggest road block I am having is finding artists (go figure). Please pass this opportunity out to any artists you think would be interested in this venture. With all of your help I may have an easier time getting this dream off the ground and finding some great like minded artists to join me. Please feel free to email me at artsymomma@gmail.com with any questions or ideas you may have.
(For those not in Wisconsin an idea where Stoughton is, it is 20 minutes south of Madison.)
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5 Comments:
I wish you oodles and oodles of luck in this venture. Good for you for stepping out into the unknown on this one - I hope great things come of it, and only wish I knew some people near you to help out with it all.
i would help steffy but im broke like have to sell my kid for food broke lol jk you know i love my monkey! any ways that sounds like an awesome thing if i can help in anyway that doesn't have to do with money let me know love ya!
good luck with your new venture. now if only I lived closer!!!
That is such a great idea! There's a shop in Denver that I just discovered that sounds similar to what you want to do. Maybe you could get some ideas from them? Fancy Tiger dot com. If I lived there I would be all over this venture with you. Good luck!!!!!
Maybe you should try sewing mamas forum, they have a lot of co-ops going and there are openings all the time. Here is a link http://www.sewingmamas.com/ I have so many good sewing buddies there and I think they are a big part of my customers. They have a forum there just for sales too. They will run a banner for one month for only $10! That is cheap advertisement! Another thing: I just put an add in Sew Beautiful magazine and I have had great luck. Maybe you could get an add in country living or another magazine where the audience is more into the handmade stuff. I sell patterns so of course my market is diffrent, but I feel like you could do well in magazines! Whatever you decide I am sure you will do great!
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