Happy New Year!
I am happy to report the momentum we began at the Guild last Fall carried into the holiday season as we continue to plan for broader, fresher ways to reach more members of our community to promote the Guild’s offerings.
We extended our Holiday Event into the evening and attracted the Island Heights Historic House Tour visitors into the Guild to enjoy our beautifully decorated building, art, Santa, food, and drinks, as well as some fun auction and lottery items. We broadened our advertising and the turnout was great! We look forward to many more “events” in the New Year and hope members — old and new — will participate and enjoy our historic building.
Additional notable initiatives started in December include the Web Redevelopment Committee redesigning and updating our website and branding. We are significantly simplifying our current layout and navigation so you can quickly and easily find the information you need, such as classes and events. We are also updating portraits and refreshing the bios of our Board Members, and training sitters to become docents. This will enhance the experience of our dedicated volunteers, as well as Guild visitors. We greatly appreciate your patience as we complete these projects in the next couple of weeks.
In the meantime, please keep in touch with OCAG through our Facebook and Instagram accounts, where we will be sharing our new program of classes, teachers, and exciting pop-up workshops!
Our next General Membership meeting is on Saturday, March 8, at 1:00 pm. I am personally inviting you to come and “Meet the Board,” to get to know our members better and learn more about our mission of creating a collaborative environment in 2025, as we strive to elevate the Guild’s public awareness and community outreach.
Our Board is currently transforming the way we operate, with long-standing members retiring. Our experienced, new members are dedicated to helping us complete the heavy lifting of writing grant proposals for our Building Preservation Plans and educational, teacher, and class development. The Board is also refining the Parliamentary procedures exercised in meetings to improve productivity and decision making. More information will be available and discussed at the General Membership meeting in March.
2025 is going to be a fun and busy year as we are creating several events to promote the Guild as fast as we can, including juried art shows, teen and children’s art shows, and musical offerings to enhance our gallery openings.
We hope you can participate in all of our events and these ones coming up soon:
- Mini Golf Sponsorship at RWJ Barnabas Health and OCC Foundation event
- Bourbon Tasting at Klee’s with live music
- Gift Auction at the Clarion Hotel
- Nobel Prize-nominated Poet and an Arabic Poet – both officially appointed Ambassadors for Peace by the Universal Federation of Peace
- Women’s History Month celebrating “Women of the Guild: Past and Present”
- Ghost Hunting Evening at the Guild with NJ Paranormal Investigator
We are evolving to heighten awareness of the Guild, attract new members, and reach new audiences. Come and join the fun in 2025!
See you at the Guild!
Bill Pike
President
Ocean County Artists Guild
