Planning Artist Visits

Having a professional artist visit your school, day care center or community can be an exciting and re-vitalizing experience. Professional artists can bring new ideas, skills, energy, and enthusiasm to any place they visit and work. Their enthusiasm for the arts and their particular discipline is contagious. Children and adults discover new interests that can be developed as time is available. School hallways may become temporary art galleries or the lunchroom may become a performing space. The school play may become an inter-generation production with community elders. School announcements may take on new life with student actors/announcers taking on the task. A community/school newsletter may have new designers and writers as a result of artist workshops.

You may invite an artist for one performance or exhibit or for a series of workshops. However short or long the visit, here are some planning ideas to help it run smoothly.

• Discuss the possibility of an artist visit with colleagues.
• Decide upon goals. What do you want to support, expand, or change in your school or community?
• Create a small team or committee that will plan, carry out the plan, and evaluate the results.
• Review your resources: financial, personnel, space, time, energy.
• Review the MaineArtistAccess Directory, your community's cultural directory or any other information resource you have about visiting artists. Call friends and colleagues for suggestions. Or call the Maine Arts Commission staff. Make some selections based on your needs and budget. (Most artists can negotiate their fee to some extent, depending upon their availability.)
• Interview several artists (by phone or email) to determine whose skills and philosophy match your needs and goals. (A written list of questions is helpful so that you don't forget an important detail, idea, or concern.)
• Negotiate schedule, dates and fee. Include details about how many exhibitions or performances, for how many people, of what age; how many workshops, of what length, with how many people of what age; community presentations; teacher workshops of what length and for how many people; how and when payment will be made; and who is responsible for purchasing and delivering supplies, for example.
• Put details in writing and sign a contract with your chosen artist. This assures, as best as possible, no miscommunication and alerts each party to unresolved questions that need to be clarified.
• Remain flexible and alert. Even the best plans are interrupted by weather, illness, budget shortfalls, accidents, and opportunities that must be taken.
• Work as partners with the guest artist and members of your community for the best possible results.