Alternatives / Blackstone Valley Art Association Collaboration

Uxbridge Community Gallery
ABC Guidelines
5 South Main Street, Uxbridge MA

 

Mission:
The Alternatives / Blackstone Valley Art Association Collaboration, or ABC, exists to best utilize the 5 South Main Street, Uxbridge location during its non-Alternatives hours. We strive to benefit artists, the Alternatives clients, and the greater Uxbridge community as a whole.

 

ABC:
The ABC is made up of individuals from Alternatives staff, the BVAA, and Alternatives clients. The ABC brainstorms about ways to better fulfill the ABC’s mission.

 

Gallery Activities:
The gallery will strive to hold art shows, seminars, workshops, classes, and other activities which encourage creativity in a variety of ways. While some activities could be for a fee and others might be for BVAA members only, overall there should be free, open offerings which all can partake in. We should actively encourage all levels of ability, all backgrounds, all abilities, all genders, all races to join us.

 

Finances:
The ABC has a separate bank account to manage its finances. The ABC use of this gallery is rent-free.

Artwork: sales of art hanging for an official gallery show or a featured artist show has a 25% commission. This includes bin art. The artist keeps 75% while the 25% goes into the ABC funds.

Vendor: sales of small vendor-type items such as mugs, jewelry, books, and the like in the display cases has a 15% commission. The artist keeps 85% while 15% goes into the ABC funds.

Notecards: sales of notecards have a 10% commission. The artist keeps 90% while 10% goes into the ABC funds.

Gallery-promoting merchandise: sales of logo merchandise meant to promote Alternatives, the BVAA, or the gallery is sold without commission.

Courses / Workshops: payments for course or workshop fees have a 10% commission, which may be waived by the ABC if deemed appropriate. These fees could cover an instructor’s fees, the material fees, or both.

The goal of the gallery is for it to be self-sufficient. Money brought in from artwork sales commissions and activity fee commissions should then pay for the food, wine, and supplies used at gallery receptions.
The ABC will also strive to apply for sponsors and grants to assist our finances.

 

Gallery Management:
There are two keys to access the gallery. These can be lent out, with training, to qualified members of the BVAA community who need to teach or work in the gallery.

The gallery should always be reset into its proper configuration before it is left.

Any displays (bin art, etc.) in the front area need to be kept on the periphery of the area and be safe.
As much as possible, the conference room should be kept clear of extra items. Leftover paintings and artwork from shows should be reunited with their artists as quickly as possible so the conference room remains usable for the daily Alternatives team. The table should be kept clear.

The ABC team should hold regular meetings (perhaps quarterly) in order to plan future improvements.