On Wednesday evening The Mountain Arts Network had our first full membership meeting at the new gallery space in the village of Lake Arrowhead. It is 2000 sq. ft. and through a large front window we overlook the lake on the ground floor. It was a larger turnout than I have seen since joining in January. I am already the Chair of the newly created Fundraising committee but was appointed to the Board by the President that night after the meeting was adjourned. There is an enthusiasm that I am told by some of the Board members that is new and exciting. However there are a number of important business items that need attention and we are embarking to clarify and clean up these issues.
I moved up here in Sept. almost by accident and now my wife and I are full blown residents with an involvement in the community that I have never had before. The time is right one might say. I am in my late 50′s raised four kids who are now on their own, and my wife inherited enough to be able to buy a house almost anywhere we wanted. So we literally threw a dart at a map and drove up here to look around and ended up putting a bid on a house the first weekend. This didn’t end up being the house we bought but we were bitten with the bug of ownership and mountain living. Plus as a fine artist I was getting the idea that I could actually do my work in tranquility, with inspiration that comes from mountain living.
So now I am a Board member and the Fundraising Chairman and I have friends who are artists. No one is really good enough to shake the world but the camaraderie is infectious. Again a new experience, one I haven’t had since I was in art school in NYC. The non-profit wing to The Mountain Arts Network is really the one that needs the focus and development and this is where I will broaden my influence. But I am also looking to make our mission, Support local artists, which I didn’t write, but found it is what I want too grander and more influential.
Yesterday I drove to the gallery to help in whatever chores Candy and Sue our gallery managers needed. We, the Board members, are the ones making the move and fixing the space and painting et al. So in a sense it is a small coop with big ambitions. I wonder why more members aren’t helping and as my wife says trying to get volunteers to help is very hard. Most members want the rewards and want to be left alone without the responsibilities of a coop. As if they are in a formal gallery and leave the running and maintaining to the owner and staff. This is also something we need to address.
We also lose members during the winter because the entire resort has nothing to offer tourist during this harsh season. Unlike our neighbors to the East, Big Bear. They either go back down the mountain to their permanent home or they decide leaving their work in the gallery isn’t profitable. Candy says some come back when the weather gets better. My initial thought was to encourage them to stay members, we need their monthly hanging fee, but unleash the responsibility of sitting in the gallery once a month.
Lou
