Organizing AWE
Opus Bryant, Photograpy © Susan Elkin
I have been promising to talk about the grant that I have gotten to coordinate the AWE Project this current year. I have been sharing about all the things I am trying to organize to get more time to paint with traditional mediums again. A bit ago Butterfly wrote a very thoughtful response to my post. Part of what Butterfly wrote is “It seems to me that you spend a tremendous amount of time organizing your own and other people’s work that only indirectly have to do with the actual art of creation. It seems that you hardly ever have time to sit down for hours on end to craft your art, or am I getting completely the wrong impression now?”
The Artists of Franklin County (AFC) have been doing this AWE Project for a couple of years now. I have been coordinating this project since the beginning and it takes a LOT of time! In Massachusetts we have Local Cultural Councils (LCC) that give grants to artists to help support work we are doing. This year I have received a grant of $1,000 to help defray the time I have put into this.
I have also applied for a grant for the next year – but it is unclear if there is going to be any money at all for LCCs given the budget cuts that this state – like most states – are going through. But I feel committed to working to keep this project going. If you would like to read more about the presentation that I made about this year’s grant, the second half of this post will give you some highlights of what we have been doing and the progress we are making.
From here, a lot of my work changes. I have done the coordinating – a lot with Susan’s help. Several others have stepped up and are taking more responsibility. This is the direction things need to keep going to make this project successful in the long term. It needs to continue to be claimed as the project of the whole group – and that is happening more and more. I am pretty excited to be going in this direction.
This is one of my biggest organizing tasks this next year – supporting others to take leadership rather than take the leadership myself. In other words, work myself mostly out of a job. It takes time to transition like this, but in the long term, I will have more time for my own work. I have put my own work on a lower level as I have focused nurturing on growing this organization … but I am very excited to see it coming into its own more and more.
Doing this in several areas of my life (artist life) is a main focus at the moment – and that is a lot of what I mean by organizing. Thanks for coming by!
~ Diane Clancy
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It’s good to see you ease yourself out of so much responsibility, although I can see why you needed to be there in the first place. You practically kept the show on the road with you enthusiasm. I hope you really can let go a little bit, although you always will be watchful and step in when you feel you are needed. That’s okay, if you know that your actions pay off in the long run and that they are for a worthy and deserving cause.
But you are right, you need the time for your own work now and I hope you will find lots of inspiration and ability to make it come true. I’ll always be watching you and make sure I put my 2 cents worth in when I feel that is needed. I hope you don’t mind. I so very much want you to have time and energy for you own work. And please blog about that also.
Big hug,
xoxoxo
Hi Diane,
You are a great artist… much continued success in the fulfillment of your dreams and in the pursuit of your craft…
Hugs,
Ruthie