Have you seen what we’ve been working on? Finalizing a Fiscal Agent, creating a data base of artists that are interested in renting studio space and helping ARTFUL, and a new look and feel to our website.
What is a Fiscal Agent you ask? Well, that is when an established non-profit “lends” its 501(c)3 status to the new entity while it either files its own paperwork with the government or simply raises funds. In our case, we are excited to announce that FutureHeights has agreed to serve as our Fiscal Agent while we wait for approval of our paperwork with the federal government. This will allow us to keep our project moving forward, while giving our supporters the opportunity to make tax-deductible donations to our cause. Meanwhile, we have a group of our board members and volunteers working on our comprehensive Fundraising plan which we hope to release some time in February. For more information, please visit the “Donate” page on our new website.
Speaking of new website… have you checked it out yet? We still have a few tweaks to make, but all-in-all our new site is fully up and running! Here you will find our latest blog posts, updates about our project, contact forms and more. This new site will more easily grow along with our project. We hope you find it informative, and of course, visually appealing.
And if you missed our post over the weekend, we are asking that any interested artists fill out our special form. From the response rate, we’d be surprised if you didn’t see our post, but if you didn’t please fill out, or share the form with any artists you think may be interested in renting studio space, teaching classes, participating in shows and special events, etc. The more understanding and documentation we have of the artists who want to support ARTFUL, the more we show to foundations and corporations how viable and worthy our cause is.
For those of you who are not artists, but would like to be involved in ARTFUL, or just remain updated on our progress, please fill out our General Contact form. ARTFUL’s mission to support artists and our community will require the help and ingenuity of people from different backgrounds and experience.
Now that we have our Fiscal Agent, we will be able to move forward on many of the key building blocks for ARTFUL and anticipate 2016 to be a critical year for our project. The more help and support we receive from all of you, the stronger our foundation will be! Our Facebook group continues to grow, nearing 1,000 members now, as does our Twitter following and our Instagram following. One of the best, and easiest ways you can help us right now is to keep spreading the word about ARTFUL to your friends and family. Word-of-mouth is a powerful tool. Please share our Facebook posts, our blog posts, twitter and Instagram posts with your followers as that has a wonderful impact on getting the word out. Email people you know with links to our website that may be of interest with them. And of course, when engaged in conversations about Cleveland, the Heights, or the Arts – please mention ARTFUL and tell people to visit our webpage for more info. If you have any leads for us, please feel free to email us with info, as well.
We are looking to host an event celebrating our 1 year anniversary and launch a new program in conjunction with that. Since our anniversary is in February, we are hoping to have the event around the end of that month, but as soon as we have ironed out more of the details, we will be announcing that on our Events page.
Thanks to all who continue to offer their help and support, and thank you VERY MUCH to all the artists who have already filled out our Interested Artists form. We will keep you posted of our progress, so be sure to check our Facebook page regularly, or our blog page for the latest information.