CANE Membership Terms and Agreements

1.Membership Requirements 

1.A. Any persons may apply to be a member of CANE if they fit the below criteria: 

  • Consider themselves an artist,

  • Have a portfolio, 

  • Live or have lived in a New England state (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut), 

  • Are over the age of 16 years old*, *Please note: applicants between the ages of 16-18 years old need a parent or guardian's permission to join*

  • And can pay the membership fee OR can receive a fee waiver. 

1.B. Fee Waivers are available to anyone who meets the requirements below: 

  • students (age 16-18), 

  • senior citizens (age 65+),

  • low-income individuals,

  • health care workers,

  • librarians,

  • Or educators.

To receive a fee waiver, applicants may fill out this form. 

1.C. Membership fees are due at the time of application. If approved for membership, members have one calendar year before fees must be paid again. Yearly membership fee is currently $X. If membership is denied, membership fee is… [figure out if refunded or not].

2. Membership Application and Portfolio 

2.A. Application. Applicants agree to fill out the application in entirety. Incomplete applications will be disqualified from consideration. 

2.B. Portfolio. Applicants agree to submit a portfolio that meets the requirements laid out in the application. Portfolios that are incomplete, do not meet requirements, or use generative A.I. image, videos, or writing, will be disqualified from consideration. If you do not have a portfolio that meets requirements, applicants may schedule a 1v1 crit with a board member. Requirements for portfolios may be found here.

3. Membership Rights and Privileges 

3.A. CANE believes its members can offer a unique, diverse, and valuable voice to CANE’s activities. Members are encouraged to contribute their skills, voices, knowledge, and professional insight by participating in CANE workshops, artist talks, surveys, and other activities. 

3.B. Members have the right to access information about CANE events, activities, financial information, and governing policies through official CANE channels like our website, newsletters, and social media. CANE believes transparency allows members to make informed decisions about their membership involvement. CANE will always ensure members have access to accurate information and will be told through email about any changes within CANE. 

3.C. Membership privileges may include, but are not limited to: 

  • Access to critique spaces, 

  • Access to portfolio reviews,

  • Early access to exhibitions, 

  • Reduced fees for workshops and classes, 

  • Early access to zines,  

  • And a place to find professional building opportunities. 

Membership privileges are designed to promote community, growth and inspiration. Members are encouraged to participate in CANE activities. 

4. Membership Renewal 

4.A. Members will need to renew their membership annually. They can do this within 30 days of their expiration, by membership renewal application with an updated portfolio and paying the renewal fee, which is $X.  

4.B. Any member who does NOT want to renew their membership, needs only to not fill out a renewal application. 30 days after the expiration of your membership, it will be terminated. 

5. Termination of Membership

5.A. Voluntary Termination. Members can voluntarily terminate their membership at any time by emailing Vice President, Aarynn O’Brien, at aarynn@creativeartistsofnewengland.org. Membership fees are non-refundable. 

5.B. Involuntary Termination. Members can be terminated for breaking the Code of Conduct, use of Generative A.I., or breaking the law. 

5.C. Three Strike Policy. CANE adopts a three strike policy. First strike is a warning issued to members by the HR officer through email. Second strike is a zoom/in-person meeting discussing the issue. Failure to attend these meetings is a third strike. After a second strike, if repeated, members will receive a third strike, which is termination of membership. Whether a member can reapply at a later date is discussed on a case-to-case basis. 

5.D. Permanent Termination & Revocation of Reapplication. If found to have made actions serious enough for permanent termination, examples include but are not limited to illegal behavior or discriminatory/hateful behavior, members may not reapply. Members agree not to reapply with their own name, a fake or borrowed name, or the name of a third party. Members who have been permanently terminated lose any and all rights and privileges of membership and may not access activities, programs, or other events hosted by CANE. 

6. Your Data 

CANE will protect the information of members and will be kept strictly confidential. Members can update their information at any time for changes like name, address, email, phone number, etc, by contacting our secretary (currently, Aarynn O’Brien, aarynn@creativeartistsofnewengland.org). 

7. Code of Conduct  

7.A. Respect. CANE believes everyone is worthy of respect, even if you disagree with them. CANE expects its members to be kind, courteous, and respectful of others. 

7.B. Non-Discrimination and Anti-Hate. CANE is firmly against discrimination and hate of any kind. You may NEVER: 

  • Use hateful or discriminatory language of any kind; 

  • Use any language (ex. “jokes”) that can be interpreted as hateful or discriminatory;

  • Share hateful or discriminatory images or symbols;

  • Share images or symbols (ex. memes) that can be interpreted as hateful or discriminatory; 

  • Do any behavior that can be seen or interpreted as bullying, sexual harassment, or grooming; 

  • And do any actions that are targeted towards a person’s race, disabilities, religion, sexual orientation, gender, political status, and background. (ex. Going out of your way to attack/harass a person or group because you do not agree with any of these topics.) Any sign of this will result in a non-negotiable termination of membership. 

7.C. Compliance. Compliance with the law and CANE policies. Members agree to follow the law and CANE policies. 

8.Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen A.I.) 

8.A. CANE has a firm stance against Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen A.I.). Examples include, but are NOT limited to: ChatGPT, NanoBanana (PRO), Gemini, OpenAI, Claude, MidJourney, DALL-E 3, Grok, Synthesia, Jasper, Stable Diffusion, and CoPilot. The use of ANY Gen A.I. software to create art (images or videos), music, or writing, to pass off as your own, is STRICTLY forbidden, and suspected use of these softwares will result in immediate termination of membership. 

8.B. Members agree not to use Gen A.I. to create images or videos of events or people related to CANE. Members agree to not use Gen. A.I. to create images, videos, writings, or music that reflects CANE negatively. 

8.C. Members agree to not feed any works found on CANE’s website, social media, newsletters, or other publication, into A.I. for training or other purposes. 

9. Resolution of Issues

9.A. If any person believes a member has violated any of these rules, or has caused other problems or issues, the affected party should immediately notify the HR officer (currently Sophia Asbury, soap@creativeartistsofnewengland.org), whether through written communication (email) or verbal. The person making the complaint will remain anonymous. 

9.B. The HR officer will investigate the claims. After this investigation, any member who was determined to have engaged in behaviors against CANE policies will be placed on their first strike warning. Serious offenses like hate speech or discrimination will result in immediate termination. 

10. Intellectual Property Rights 

10.A. CANE’s property. CANE is the owner of all intellectual property rights in our Services, including all website designs, audio, video, text, photographs, graphics and logos. No Content of CANE’s may be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, publicly displayed, distributed, sold, licensed, or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose whatsoever, without our express prior written permission

10.B. Your Submissions. All submissions (writing, images, videos, etc.) remain yours BUT CANE reserves the right to use it in marketing materials, like on our website and social media. 

11. Liability

11.A.  Members participate in events at their own risk and agree to indemnify CANE from and against any damages, costs, and expenses arising out of or related to their membership and participation in CANE events. 

11.B. CANE will not be liable for any loss or damage to members’ personal property during CANE events or activities, except where negligence can be proven. Liability limitations apply to personal property, equipment, or valuables 

12. Amendments 

12.A. These Terms and Agreements can be updated at any time to reflect changes in membership terms, fees, and benefits. CANE will notify members through email when this agreement changes. 

12.B. Changes in Fees. Members will not be responsible for any changes in the amount of membership fees until their renewal date. Therein, members who wish to renew their membership agree to the new fee price, whatever it may be. 

13. Entire Agreement 

Members agree to all the terms within this document. 

Version 01.2026