CANE Newsletter #1: The Journey Begins!

Feb 27

Summary

In this newsletter, you can expect to learn about:

our vision;
our objectives and core values;
the current CANE executive-board;
what the board has been up to lately;
how you can help us;
And “Our Coming Soon!” section.

Our Vision

Our mission is to build a welcoming community for artists of all backgrounds while maintaining an affordable budget for the average person. Many other art associations charge high yearly membership fees and create events that charge an extra fee; it is not realistic for the average person. We also want to reduce waiting times. Other art associations can have new members wait up to a year before applying or resubmitting a denied application. One of our goals is to eliminate some of these stresses. All applications will be reviewed and decided on by the end of each month, and all denied applicants can reapply within the next calendar month.

Our goal is to lean on donations to fund our organization: this will keep our membership prices low and affordable. All applicants for memberships will be able to pay by donation with the minimum being ten dollars. This fee will purchase them their entry ticket to submit a portfolio for review before being accepted or denied. Fee waivers are available to the following: students ages 16-18, low-income individuals, health care workers, librarians, educators, and senior citizens.

We hope by making an association for all of New England it may reopen the arts into areas that have been distanced from it. Giving artists chances to be part of community galleries, have critique spaces, and workshops will form a tighter group of artist relationships and future resources.

Many artists eventually give up due to a lack of motivation or resources. We want to show any artists that they still have a chance at being successful in the art world, especially for smaller mediums like writing, metals, films, music, and textiles. We hope to reach out to not just older more professional artists but also new upcoming artists. High School students deserve as much of a chance as adults and deserve to have just as many resources. We want to encourage young students to take workshops or come build portfolios to make their transition into college easier.

Art is for everyone, not just one or two people and we are fighting to build a better community that supports this mindset.

Ca the Crow with paint brush

By Ronan Dwyer

Objectives and Core Values

Objectives

Be dedicated to diversity and no one shall be discriminated against on the bases of sex, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, age, marital status, country of origin, citizenship status, education status, and disability status.
Build a community for artists of all backgrounds without fear of discrimination.
Foster an environment of creativity with little to no censorship.
Provide resources for members in need.
Offer resources and host panels, workshops, galleries, and more.
Advertise small artists and businesses in the area to boost community ties.
Fund scholarships and grants later down the line for artists in need.
Allow members to receive feedback on their work.
Hold events in all states of New England.
Encourage young artists to join.
Keep prices reasonable for everyone.
Provide an area for art news and other events outside our organization.

Core Values

Making Disabled people feel welcome into the collective. Find accessible buildings for meetings or offer Zoom sessions with a member of the board to mediate.
Everyone will be assessed based on their portfolio. Offer portfolio classes for people who are new to it. Portfolio reviews of new members at the end of every month.
All memberships will be affordable ($10), except 16-18 years old, who get a free membership. Membership fee waivers for people in need. New Members will receive certificates and/or cards for proof of membership.
Offer opportunities and a community to high school kids.
Refrain from any works that can be discriminatory or otherwise hateful/ignorant.
No tolerance for AI-made works (both visual arts and writing). I suggest that a suspected use of AI is grounds for immediate termination as a member unless they can sufficiently prove it is not made of AI.
Create a community dedicated to making the world a better place through the arts.

The Cane Executive-Board

As we begin to build our prospective non-profit, one of the first things we’ve started working on is building our Executive Board. For now, the group is as follows:

President: Ronan Dwyer, @franticfirestar on instagram

Vice President (temp.) and Secretary #1: Aarynn O’Brien, @urquhartillustrations on instagram

Treasurer: Erika Ventura, @akire_ventures on instagram

Positions to be filled: Vice President, Treasurer #2, Secretary #2, Human Resources, and Board Members #1-#4.

What We’ve Been Up To…

Here’s a list of everything we have accomplished since the start of this project:

Designed a logo, and branding.
Began building our Executive-Board.
Created our Mission statement, Vision, (seen above) and future membership perks.
Created Social Media accounts on: Threads, Instagram, Pinterest, Discord, Twitch, Bluesky, Cara, Tumblr, and YouTube.
Began posting small content on these social media sites to build a platform.
Created a membership interest form to track organization potential.
Began collecting information about the legal aspects of declaring a non-profit.
Began drafting a kickstarter to help fund the beginning of this organization.

How You Can Help Us:

Share our social media with anyone you think might benefit from this.
Encourage artists to fill out our membership interest form (link)
Engage with us on social media.
Tell us what you’d like from us and how we can improve.
When positions for board members and honorary board members are available, consider applying!

Coming Soon!

Mid to End of March: Public timeline with up to date information and dates
Last Thursday of March: Newsletter #2
End of March-Beginning of April: Twitch Trial Stream (Come meet the E-Board)
End of April: Twitch Q&A (Come draw with us.)
End of April-Beginning of May: Launch of Kickstarter Donations and Stretch Goals
Mid to End of May: Website Launch