Between Artropolis 1997 and Artropolis 2001, the federal government terminated their job creation program after a scandal erupted over political interference in the grant selection process. Artropolis 2001, therefore, was the first Artropolis to be produced virtually without staff. Artropolis, then turned to the government for support and soon the society realized that operational funding would never come to the organization if it only held sporadic exhibitions. They decided, therefore, to make Artropolis a biennial exhibition. Hence, Artropolis 2003.

Undertaking an Artropolis exhibition is exhausting. I know. I was the volunteer Executive Director of Artropolis 2001. The core group of artists that worked on 2001 and those who organized 2003 with the help of the most recent Artropolis Executive Director, Kriss Boggild, are "fried" and need committed volunteers to help carry on the tradition. The biggest problem that the group organizing the next incarnation of Artropolis will face will be working without "Mr. Artropolis," Ed Varney. Ed has been involved with every single Artropolis exhibition since the tradition was begun in 1983 as the October Show. Recently, however, he has announced his intention to "retire" but to continue with his art practice.

My first action in undertaking the organization of Artropolis 2001 was to call Ed Varney. From that day forward, he was by my side. Faced with making thousands of decisions organizing the show, I always felt secure if Ed and I were in agreement. I will miss having him around and so will Artropolis.

To replace him, Artropolis needs many good volunteers to come forward. If you are interested in ensuring that the Artropolis tradition continues, please consider attending the Artropolis Annual General Meeting at Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design on November 18, 7-9:00pm. All are welcome.

We're heading into seasonal sales for artwork and in the weeks leading up to the Christmas holiday, artists and craftspersons can make a lot of money through their own studios or collective fairs and sales. For creative people, there is no better time of year than now.

Various fairs at recreation, art centres,and churches, etc., provide artists with an irresistible marketing opportunity. The benefit of these craft fairs for artists is the marketing and the body of regular customers they provide for artisans. The better the fair and the smarter the marketing, the harder it is to get juried into the show/sale. Once in, these fairs allow artists to concentrate on what they do best-making inventory. Shows/fairs without a community tradition and studio sales make the artist responsible for publicity and marketing as well as making inventory.

Whether alone or in a group, remember to capture the name and address of every visitor showing interest in your work. Perhaps offer a free draw to help entice people to leave you with contact information. E-mail is the most cost-efficient way of communicating/selling today. The other important thing to do, is to do your holiday buying from other artists. Also, don't forget your business cards. Remember, someone who may not buy today, may buy tomorrow and the key component of successful sales is establishing a relationship. (Consider the relationship this writer has developed during the last 15 years with Opus customers.) By getting their information and giving them yours, you begin the process. Follow-up is the next step and if you maintain contact, sales will follow.

One aspect of annual sales for many artists is pricing. One effective way to price your work if you are new to holiday sales, is to have a pricing workshop of peers. I have organized such events for groups of visual artists and craftspersons. Each artwork to be priced is accompanied with a pile of small pieces of paper - the papers for each piece of work is a different colour. The artists provide a small box in their area with a slit in the top like an election box. Then all the workshop participants move around the room looking at everyone else's work. As they look at each piece, they write the price they would pay for it on the piece of paper and then put it in the box. When the session is over, artists reclaim their boxes. Inside, they find all their estimates. By sorting the papers, workshop participants can determine the average price people would pay for each piece of work.

In May 2003, The Capacity to Serve: A Qualitative Study of the Challenges Facing Canada's Nonprofit and Voluntary Organizations was released. Commissioned by the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy, the research was carried out through the National Survey of Nonprofit and Voluntary Organizations (NSNVO) project.

The findings of the research team ring true to my experience in the arts. This report suggests that the problems I have experienced as an arts administrator are endemic in the voluntary sector. The Canadian Conference of the Arts noted that key findings of the report identify:

• a growing tendency of funders to support short-term projects rather than long-term activities and operational or core costs;
  
  
• funding restrictions lead to difficulty in finding revenue to support organizational infrastructure and administration
  
  
• difficulty in accessing long-term funding requires organizations to spend excessive amounts of time searching for new funding to support programs, and limits the organization's ability to do long-term planning
  
  
• onerous demands for financial accountability from funders and the different financial accountability requirements of funders are straining the available resources of organizations
  
  
• corporate support is difficult to access for many organizations

The report states: "Participants indicated that they do not just need more money; they need better money. Better money refers to funding that is flexible enough to give organizations a degree of autonomy so that they can decide what activities to pursue, and can develop and maintain their human resources." The report also identifies a shortage of paid staff with specialized skills, and problems in retaining skilled staff that are attributable to the restrictive, unstable, and unpredictable nature of project funding. And another finding that really hits home for me from past experience is their observation of weak strategic planning and development that is due to the uncertainties of funding, frequent changes in funding program priorities, and constraints on the use of funds. The report notes another fact of my experience: "Most participants identified their organization's greatest strengths as their human resources and their ability to draw on their networks and relationships with others".

The final part of the report contains recommendations for changes in public policy to address the problems observed. For further information about The Capacity to Serve: A Qualitative Study of the Challenges Facing Canada's Nonprofit and Voluntary Organization, please check the following websites: www.nonprofitscan.ca/nsnvo_intr.asp (A downloadable version of The Capacity to Serve) or www.ccp.ca (To order print copies of The Capacity to Serve report)

In closing, I am sorry to discover that some Opus customers were offended by my support of the arts funding initiatives of Imperial Tobacco as written in the October issue of The Opus Visual Arts Newsletter. I would like to remind readers that the editorials that I write every month reflect my opinions alone and should not be read as though they are the opinions of Opus Framing & Art Supplies. To further clarify the issue, I do not support smoking or cigarette sales. I recognize the impact of cigarette sales on health care and I would prefer that cigarettes and liquor were both illegal. However, the reality is that a lot of public funding comes from the sale of liquor, lottery tickets and cigarette sales and if anyone is truly addicted, it's our federal and provincial governments who are 'hooked' on the tax revenues of the noted vices. If there are going to be legal cigarette sales, I remain content that Imperial Tobacco is putting a considerable amount of money into arts support-money that by law cannot create any "advertising" visibility for Imperial Tobacco brands.

Should arts groups refuse cigarette, liquor and lottery donations because of the issues of morality involved? It is an interesting debate, and I encourage you to write me with your opinions. With enough reasoned debate, we can continue this topic in a subsequent issue of this newsletter.