WHAT’S ON?

Guild Members Meeting #3

Sept 29, 2025

1. Purpose and form of the meeting (Ben)
   The Guild has gone through a significant transformation since it began 25 years ago. It
   started with a salaried Director, a donated premises and utilities at the Owen
   Community House, and an accountant. After Covid all that changed and the
   organization had to start from scratch. For two years we were given a home by John
   Elliot, and Erik Arneberg left the Guild $100,000 in his will. Since that time we have
   rebuilt the entire structure of the organization, with a new board, bylaws, premises,
   bank, accountant, insurance, webhost, that provides stable structure for our future.
   Today the Board will briefly share that vision.
   After this short introduction, we will take questions. Please keep them precise and once
   responded to you can follow up if anything was not answered. When everyone has had
   the chance to speak, anyone can ask a new question on another topic.
   
2. State of the Guild: (Ben & Board)
   Introduce the board members and their positions.
   Reworking the Bylaws over the past couple of years has been a great opportunity to
   work out who we are and what we want to be, and we encourage you to read them
   carefully. There are major changes to our structure.
   – Board Officers and Directors are elected annually from within the board for set
   terms. The purpose of this is to not have a legacy President and Board.
   – Add three Board Members.
   – The Guild now has paid Membership and the board has Program Coordinators to
   help with anything that Members wish to do. Currently there is a Visual Arts and a
   Music Coordinator, and discussion is underway to add a Design Coordinator.
   Thus, the Guild is moving in the direction of a Co-op rather than having a top-
   down system. The Board encourages Members to work with Program
   Coordinators to initiate and take responsibility for projects and classes.
   – The Guild has created a formal structure for Outside Fiscal Projects that are self-
   sustaining and self-funding, that use the 501(C)(3)tax benefits of a non-profit
   corporation. These are the New Harmony Clay Project, Theatre Works and
   currently the New Harmony Community Choir is in the process of being added.
   Thus the Guild is an incubator for projects, that may go on to form their own NFP
   status.
   
3. Communications & Website (Ben & Kelsey)
   The website is the go-to place for anything Guild related. Currently, the President (Ben)
   and Administrator (Kelsey) meet on Wednesday afternoons for two hours to update the
   site and keep it current. In addition, Kelsey is responsible for the Facebook account.
   Kelsey’s demo.

If anyone has any questions about the Guild and its operations, please ask the person
to whom you wish to address the question directly to minimize misinformation. You can
write you question to admin@newharmonyartistsguild.org and Kelsey will redirect the
question to the right place, or drop a line in the Suggestion Box
Board Meetings are now held in public for both Members and the general public to
attend. This ensures transparency, that will be reflected in the minutes. There are
occasions when Board Meetings are held in camera, such as for disciplinary
proceedings.

What is the policy for the Guild taking a $ percentage of art sold at a Guild show? The
Board will discuss and confirm this. 10% would be fair, far less than the standard 40%+-
fee of a gallery.

Member’s Questions
-Add a Suggestion Box to the website. Uploaded Oct 1, being formatted.
-Provide a form for steps involved in curating an exhibition. The Board will create a
document with a suggested process, with Member input from Visual Arts Committee.
-What is the policy for the Guild taking a $ percentage of art sold at a Guild show? The
Board will discuss and confirm this. 10% would be fair, far less than the standard 40%+-
fee of a gallery.

Guild Member Meeting
Monday, September 29, 6:00pm, The Depot

Hello Guild Members,

The Board met today to discuss the Guild’s next direction. We would like to share it in an All Member meeting, as well discuss Members’ ideas for the future.

The Guild has undergone significant change in the past three years and the Board feels it is time to think about the structure of the Guild becoming more akin to a Co-op, in which the Members participate and drive the programs. Thus, the Board will not be thought of as a top-down structure, but there to help and guide programs, but not necessarily run them. The Guild will continue its role as a Not-for-Profit umbrella for self-financing ‘Fiscal Projects’, such as Lenny’s NH Clay Project, Paul’s TheatreWorks and Tina’s soon-to-be NH Community Choir.

We fully recognize that clear communication has been wanting, and we are working to fix that as soon as possible. The structure is in place and now we need Member input to identify where the problems are and how to fix them.

We look forward to meeting up in ten days,

Sincerely, 

Ben Nicholson (Chairman)
Lenny Dowie (Vice Chairman)
Paul Moser (Secretary)
Stephen Lucas (Treasurer)
Liz Mumford (Board)
Rick Huffman (Board)
Anthony Rideout (Board)