Meeting 7th March 2023. Outcomes
2. Meetings.
The following proposals for meeting times were approved:-
Venue. The venue of this meeting, Sharrow Community Forum.(when available)
Days. Midweek. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
Time. Evening, but starting a little later. 6.30. Meetings to be usually 1 ½ hour duration.
Number of meetings and which month of year. The constitution states we should have 4 meetings per year, including the AGM. Generally members felt this was too many. At least one was agreed upon, in the Autumn. We do have to have this meeting as we have engaged for Rosemary Watson to give a talk and presentation this year. Jean B will book two hours at this time for Rosemary’s talk and then, afterwards, any business that needs addressing.
Purpose for meeting. It was recognised that meetings for business and talks/presentations/ demonstrations should occur.
Jean B. suggested other purposes for meetings such as pricing of goods, packaging of prints and framing. These areas with our more inexperienced printmakers in mind and also because we have two major exhibitions coming up. She suggested (and will offer) informal meetings in small groups for interested people.
The general dissemination of information about how SP works to new members was discussed and the possibility of a pamphlet was mooted. The members area of the website could also be used in this regard.
Please get in touch with Jean B. if you have any ideas in this area.
During the discussion the payment of printmakers offering talks and presentations etc was brought up. A proposal was made to the effect that although we will have to pay external speakers SP members are to give their services free. This proposal was passed unanimously.
Comment from co chair. The parameters for meetings are not set in stone and may be disregarded for an important issue.
3.A.G.M
Jean B. gave the following information in preparation for the A.G.M.
She is happy to continue as chair and will do this solo.
Jo Pye is happy to resume the role as secretary.
Peter York has accepted a new role tentatively called ‘Artistic Adviser’ for exhibitions.
Sarah Burgess will continue to be Exhibitions Officer until the A.G.M in 2024. She will resign at this point. The role of Exhibitions Officer is huge and specialised. We need to address this issue as a matter of urgency so that a replacement might work alongside Sarah this year.
There will be the following vacancies for 2023.
Publicity Officer. Publicity is also a large area that needs coordinating if we wish SP to be ‘known’ to a wider public and we want to sell prints.
Membership Officer.
Jean B. also said that if member(s) wanted to take over as lead person to apply for (and run) a promotional stall at Sheffield Print Fair they would be welcome.
She also would like to see a new lead person(s) for the 20:20 print exchange.
Note from Jean B. All these roles can be filled in various ways and further discussion will take place at the A.G.M. I would wish for as many members as possible to be involved in the organisation of SP.
4. In the Autumn of 2022 Jean B. sent out a protocol for the run up to exhibitions. ( It also works for other events). The protocol given was accepted with the following provisos.
It will be reviewed at the end of the year.
Members will be asked to pay the fees for an exhibition (and event) at the time they commit to taking part.
Certain words and phrases were improved upon. The resultant document:
- An early date should be set (especially if this is a new exhibition/ event) to ask all members to declare an interest in participating. This is so that a rough guide to numbers can be ascertained and therefore whether the event is viable.
- A deadline is to be set for members to express, their definite participation.
The deadline date and any relevant information should be sent to all members again.
- Members should send their application by the deadline, in writing, to the person organising the event. Also members should pay the fee to take part at this time.(details to be given by event organiser)
- The deadline date will be placed on the website in the calendar. One reminder by email is to be sent a few days before the deadline.
- All members who wish to do so should be included in an exhibition if they meet the above deadline. They should be encouraged to meet the necessary criteria well before the deadline. New members will possibly need extra help in preparing work for an exhibition and should be given this through the website and/or extra, smaller meetings.
- Curators should have a flexible and inclusive approach to meet point e.
- Instructions for exhibitions/events should be brief and clear.
5.Social Media.
Social Media was acknowledged to be essential as part of publicity with regular (weekly?) posting on all our platforms necessary, with extra activity on the run up to events. Our platforms are:-
Twitter. Sue U. has volunteered to do this for a further year. Thankyou.
Instagram. Val V. volunteered to set up our own instagram.
Facebook Print talk. Angela H. volunteered to post promotional material on this site.
Facebook. This platform still has to be sorted. (see below)
Since this meeting Jean B. has asked Val to hang fire on setting up a new Instagram account. Our social media has been in a bit of a mess in 2022 and not functioning efficiently. This is because of a history of past members setting up accounts using their own details to log in.
(telephone, email etc. Jean is in the process of ways of setting up accounts that are SP specific.
This has to be discussed at theSteering Group and she will update the membership at the A.G.M.
6. Website.
We can now put the titles onto member’s images in their gallery. Jean B will contact members in batches to do this.
The password for the members only area is sh3ffPr1nt. There is not much in this area at the moment and a discussion needs to take place on what we wish to have in there. Suggestions are welcome.
7.Peter Y could not be present and passed on a short message to the effect that:-
- The advert has gone into Open up and the fee has been paid.
- I have had expressions of interest from 20 members.
- Later this week I will be emailing them to give further details.
- I will include pictures from last year for people who have never taken part.
Note from Jean B. I will be running an SP promotional stall at this event if anyone would like to join me for all or part of the weekend. Angela H has expressed an interest in this.
8. Sarah B. gave us a talk about Dronfield in 2023, the Sock gallery exhibition and the exhibition at Buxton. This is in a further attachment on the email.