by Grace Butland

How to Run a Successful Co-op

Art IN Hand Gallery members inside the gallery (left to right): Wendy Mathiesen, Sandy Ezell, Sally Phillips, JD Nolan, Brigid Hamilton, Sylvia Gray, Christine Davis, Allison Leer, Carol Myers and Peg Neal.

We wanted more control over how our work was shown and sold, and we wanted to retain more of the selling price.” That’s how Wendy Mathiesen explains why she and 20 other artists joined together to form Art IN Hand, an artists’ cooperative in Zionsville, Ind.

Many artists find that cooperatives offer a satisfying and profitable way to market their work. But success is not guaranteed. Launching a co-op has many challenges, including dealing with the members’ multiple priorities and different personalities. Before they even open for business, members of successful cooperatives spend many hours making decisions about organization, policies and procedures. And what works for one group might not meet the needs of another.

Shaping the organization

Here are some of the decisions you’ll have to make if you’re organizing a cooperative:

• Will you allow more than one level of membership — working and non-working? Many cooperatives, including Art IN Hand (founded in 2000) and Artists’ Cooperative Gallery (founded in Omaha, Neb., in the mid-1970s), only allow working members. Others allow multiple levels of membership. At Cambridge Artists Cooperative (founded in Cambridge, Mass., in 1989), full-time members work 35 or more hours per month in the store, handle all committee responsibilities, such as jurying, publicity, finances, personnel management, Web site development and maintenance, and have a vote in membership meetings. Part-time members work fewer hours and have no vote. The Art Company of Davis (founded in Davis, W.Va., in 1990) has both working and non-working members, but only working
  members may serve on the board and vote.
• Will you accept work from non-members? Approximately 135 of the 150 artists represented by Cambridge Artists Cooperative are consignors. Art IN Hand opted not to take work from non-members in order to keep the organization as simple as possible.
• Will you charge a membership fee, a percentage of sales, or both? Art IN Hand charges a $100, one-time membership fee, $75 per month dues, and no percentage of sales. Full-time members of the Cambridge Artists Cooperative paid an upfront fee when the business was started. No other fees are charged, and operating expenses come from a percentage of sales: 25 percent from working members, 35 percent from part-time members, and 50 percent from consignors. Artists’ Cooperative Gallery members pay a non-refundable membership fee of $335 per year and no percentage of sales.
• Will you limit your membership? Art IN Hand keeps its membership at 20 to 25. The Art Company of Davis has about 150 members of which only 20 to 25 are working members. Cambridge Artists Cooperative has 10 full-time members, five part-time members and around 135 consignors.
• What are the guidelines for accepting new members? Will you require a minimum time commitment, such as six months or one year? Art IN Hand considers new members only in January and late June/early July to prevent people from joining just for the Christmas season. A selection committee screens the applicants, and a 75 percent vote of the full membership is required for acceptance. Artists’ Cooperative Gallery admits new members in October. Cambridge Artists Cooperative has a three-month probationary period, during which either the new member or the cooperative can end the arrangement with no penalty.
• Will you limit the number of artists in each medium? Most cooperatives try for a good balance of media without setting firm limits. “We try to keep a balance depending on the openings, but a good artist will be admitted regardless,” says Pete Wroblewski of Artists’ Cooperative Gallery.
• How will the cooperative be managed? Most cooperatives have a strong committee structure with well-defined responsibilities. For example, Artists’ Cooperative Gallery has maintenance, membership, hospitality, outreach, publicity and hanging committees. Each member must serve on at least one committee each year. Issues are discussed and resolved at monthly membership meetings. In some organizations, the board makes all decisions and a full membership meeting is held only once a year.
• Will you have paid staff? Cambridge Artists Cooperative employs a full-time manager, an assistant manager, and several part-time employees. At The Art Company of Davis, Executive Director Lori Haldeman is the only paid employee. Both the Artists’ Cooperative Gallery and Art IN Hand function without paid employees.
• If the cooperative makes a profit, will the money be distributed to members or reinvested in the business? What guidelines will be followed? Be sure to set a policy early to avoid conflicts later.

Anticipating problems

Make no mistake, problems will arise. Resolving them is less stressful if you have determined how they will be addressed before they occur. Anticipate all you can and establish a process for solving anything unanticipated. “By the time we opened, we had every eventuality we could think of covered,” says Mathiesen.

One common problem is when a member doesn’t show up for work when scheduled. At Art IN Hand, the member receives a letter after the first occurrence and is relieved of membership after the second. As part of the annual membership dues, Artists’ Cooperative Gallery charges a $35 work fee that is forfeited if no arrangements are made for a substitute, and anyone who misses work consistently is asked to forfeit his/her membership.

Display space also can be a source of problems — everyone wants the “best” space or more space. Who will make decisions on how and where work is displayed? Problems can also arise when a member changes medium or style after acceptance.

Marcia Dean, president of Cambridge Artists Cooperative, has been in about 20 different cooperatives over the years. She has seen problems ranging from inappropriate behavior in conflict situations to substance abuse by members. The most common problem, she says, occurs when members have other commitments that don’t allow them to meet their obligations to the cooperative.

People and places

Who makes up the membership and where the gallery is located are key factors in the success of any cooperative. “Look for people who will become actively involved,” says Mathiesen. “If one of our members sees a problem, they handle it. They don’t wait for me to take care of it.”

“Location is absolutely crucial,” says Dean. “No matter how wonderful the work or the displays, if you don’t have customers coming in, it’s not going to work because the members are there to sell their products.”

Cooperatives can be personally and financially rewarding. But a successful journey requires starting off on the right foot. Do some research — talk to other cooperatives and get professional help to set up your organization. Cambridge Artists Cooperative hired an attorney; The Art Company of Davis had help from the Center for Economic Options, a nonprofit organization in Charleston, W.Va.

Pick motivated and compatible people, find a good location and have fun. The multi-faceted experiences of cooperative membership can be an energizing change of pace from life in the studio.

 

MARCH 2002 : TABLE OF CONTENTS