 This is Dennis McMahon and welcome to Positive Monk. And today we are going to be exploring a very exciting group, the Milton Artist Guild, and what they have in store right now during the holiday and post-holiday period, and how youth people in the area and around the country can get involved with the Milton Artist Guild. And my guest is Lisa Rees, the president of the Milton Artist Guild. Welcome, Lisa. Thank you for having me. I appreciate you spending time with me today. Tell us a little bit about yourself, first of all. Well, I am, as you said, the president of the Milton Artist Guild. But I also have a full-time job. I am a leadership coach. I have my own business. And I am very active as a volunteer in our community. I serve on a couple of other boards and do a lot of customer facing things with all our customers in the gallery, as well as the community. I'm constantly attending meetings and just getting the pulse on the community. What is it that is on their minds? What is it that they're looking for? And especially, you know, being an art gallery, a lot of people still don't know about us. So my mission right now is to spread the word. And that's why we were thrilled when we got this invitation to come on your program and to talk about who we are and what we do. Well, tell us a little bit about the Milton Artist Guild and how it got started, its history, and who was involved. Yeah, so I live in Milton. And I, you know, love to craft shows. And I noticed that there was something called the Milton Artist Guild. And I really didn't know what it was in all honesty. I thought it was something for artists to go and, you know, advance level people. And I didn't realize what it was. It was a bunch of artists who display their work, and all their work, and support each other in this wonderful community. So how it started was back in 1988. There were three women who were artists in this area, and they loved so much of what they did. And they had passion for their art that they wanted to share it and talk about it. And so they formed this kind of living room collaborative where they, you know, got together, shared what they were working on, their projects. This was back in 1988. And they all of a sudden it started to just grow and grow, where more people were hearing about it and wanting to join. And finally it got to be so large that they needed space. They said we're ready to take that next step. And you know that space is at a premium, especially five years ago. This was obviously pre-pandemic. And in Milton, you know, there's not a lot of retail space. So we were very lucky, fortunate that Ernie Parmelot of Parmelot Real Estate, when the Hanna-Fords moved to its new location, they had a lot of space. And we said we would love to open up a nonprofit and to display all these artists, all their work, and to sell it in the gallery. And so for the last five years, we have been so blessed with having their support. Ernie Parmelot has been our biggest champion, and he has allowed us to be in the space for free. And that is a game changer because as a nonprofit, we knew we couldn't possibly afford the space. So it started as, you know, just three women coming together. And all of a sudden it just grew into a storefront. And now we have been there for, we celebrated our fifth anniversary over the summer. And as I said, you know, right now we have about 160 artists, and they are displaying their work in the Milton Square. That's what it's called, Milton Square, right behind the post office in Milton. Well, I remember that situation getting it several years ago, and that was, I think we did a program shortly after you came there, but this show goes not only statewide, it gets around the world, it gets on the web, to the country. So tell us a little bit about Milton, where it is, any geographical or helpful information you can give to someone who wants to come into Chittenden County and go see it. Yeah, so a lot of people ask, you know, where is Milton? We are about 20 minutes north of Burlington, and about an hour south of Montreal. So we are just on the northern part of Chittenden County. A lot of people think we are part of Franklin County, but we are actually in Chittenden County, which is the most populous county in Vermont. And so we are really easy to get to, we are not far at all, but a lot of people still, even in Vermont, and even in our community are like, where are you? So we have really made it our mission to advertise, you know, we took this huge initiative, something that you know nonprofits don't have a lot of money, but we thought it was important to be part of the Vermont Attractions Association this year. So what we did is we had all those rack cards printed up. And so when you go to big tourist attractions like Echo and Ben & Jerry's and the Teddy Bear Factory, you'll actually see the Milton Artist Guild, our cards on the rack. And what that's doing is it's helping people, you know, understand that we're so close to everywhere. And you know, Vermont, we're not a big state. And it's been very gratifying to see people from throughout the state and the region. We had a lot of tourists this summer. And we had a lot of people who made special trips to our gallery to see all the different artwork. So that was really gratifying. I've seen those cars. They even have them in the Burlington Police Station and other parts of downtown Burlington. It's really something else. Tell us about the physical make-up. The physical space? Sure. So when people look at the shopping closet, they are really surprised by how large our facility is, our store is. We have 6,200 square feet of footage in our gallery. We have about 150 different artists of all different mediums from painting, to sculpture, to metal art, to woodturning, photography, play. We have potters. I mean, it's just amazing. And so people can kind of get an idea of what we offer by going to our website, which is miltonartiskild.org. And they can see how big we are. We also have in the back a workshop space because we love to give workshops. So our artists will give workshops on introduction to acrylic painting or how to make a beaded snowflake. I made a beaded bracelet the other day. And every month we're doing paint and sips, which is super popular where you come in and bring your own beverage of choice. And you get to paint with one of our artists, a painting to bring home. And we've had a lot of people who have given them as gifts, who have kept them, you know, kept them for themselves and just love just coming together and having a good time. So our gallery is very deceptive from the storefront because when you look at it, you see a double window. Side of it, it is spectacular. Yeah. Is there any kind of process by which items get displayed in the gallery or is it like a jewelry system? Tell us how that works. Yeah. So when I talked about, you know, our mission and who we are, we take a lot of pride in that everybody is welcomed into the gallery. It doesn't matter if you're a juried artist. And what juried mean is basically it goes through a panel of to see if your art is, is that a caliber to be displayed and sold. What, and while we do have juried artists in our gallery, which is exciting, we have a lot of juried artists, but what we pride ourselves is that we are also for the beginning artists, the artists who has never sold their wares or as unsure whether or not they're, they're good enough to display. And so what we do is because we have 150 artists, we really can help mentor younger artists. We can give them advice and pointers. What should you sell your product down by, you know, how much should you, you know, what's your markup? Knowing that we take a small percentage of commission, but we, a pride herself that we only take 30% of commission where the artists get 70% if you volunteer in our gallery. So that is what's exciting about it is that we are the largest nonprofit, non-juried art gallery in Vermont. And so, well, you know, we love, you know, all the art galleries, we just take pride that we're so large and that we really have a community. And that to me is the most important part of who we are is a sense of community and belonging. That's one of the things we spoke about was what the Milton Art Guild does for the community. Tell us about some of those projects or other activities that you're involved in. Yeah. Well, if you come into Milton, you're going to see our work immediately because as you come into Milton, you'll see Garner's supply, which is a huge national firm. And they have a huge warehouse on Route 7. And if you go towards it, you'll notice on the site is this beautiful mural with a hummingbird and flowers, huge giant, giant. And Milton Artists Guild was part of painting that for them. And as you start to go into Milton, the welcome sign of Milton was designed by our artists. As you continue through our town, you'll notice that if you go to our public spaces like our ballparks, you'll see all the dugouts and all the different buildings in the park. And those were all painted with our artists and kids. So the kids from the schools got to participate. We did outlines for them and they actually painted it. In the schools themselves, we help with murals on the walls and we will come in and do guest speaking. The Milton High School just launched a Milton Innovation Center at the High School. And what they're doing is they are opening this up to makerspace for the students and the community. So last year was a pilot earlier this year where we met the Milton Artists Guild partnered with the school and we told them, well, what would you need if you had a pottery studio or a woodturning studio or a metalsmithing? And so we lent our volunteers, our members came in and taught classes. They taught advanced techniques in metalsmithing and in pottery. We also had a woodturner who's helping them convert some of their space into, it's called dirty space, you know, where you have shavings and things like that. So we see the potential of partnering with the schools and kids to say, you know, you don't have to always go the traditional route of going to college. Maybe you want to become an artist. So that's really important. The other thing we do around kids, which I think is critical, is that we have every Sunday a free kids workshop. So from one o'clock to three o'clock every Sunday, we receive a grant from the Vermont Federal Credit Union and they've been so gracious to give us money so that we can pay for supplies and our artists to teach a 15 minute to 30 minute craft to kids ranging anywhere from three years old up to teenagers, they come in, they can make a project. It takes, like I said, about 15, 30 minutes and they get their hands dirty, they get to talk to artists, they get to be in creative space and they get to socialize with each other. So we've been offering this for a couple years now and it's a wonderful give back to the community where we have families who come in all every week. We have, you know, new people that come in. So that's exciting. And the other thing that's exciting is that we applied with the town. They received some ARPA money and we applied for a grant that would be for art programs every week for homeschooled and alternative school children. So we would then open it up once a week, let's say Thursday, we'd have two different age groups and you would come in and you could be from any homeschool or alternative school at a certain point and it would be for a minimal cost because the grant only applies to 80%. And so what we would do is charge a minimal cost to be part of a weekly art program. So we're hoping that we can get the word out. We should receive word any probably by the end of the month and we will be advertising that on our website and through social media. But that to me is about giving back to the community. Our artists are so giving and it's about cultivating art and bringing out creativity and socialization in our youth. It's a really important mission of ours. We're pretty proud of it. Where did that grant come from? What was the source of that? No, it was the pandemic money, the American Relief Act. And so Milton received, I believe, $3 million and they've already, you know, they already have their projects of many millions, but they wanted to give the community and nonprofits an opportunity to maybe fund additional projects. So back in November, I did a presentation to this select board and, you know, asked for the funding for all of next year and the following year and to do it as a pilot and see like maybe eventually we'll have businesses who will want to sponsor us just like the Vermont Federal Credit Union sponsored us for social Sundays. Maybe we'll have businesses who will say, yeah, I believe in this and I want to fund this, but for now we're hoping that we get the funding from the town of Milton. That's great. That's really a great interaction there. You know, a lot of groups have their own projects, but they don't have to know how of being able to apply for things that the grants that come from governments or from industry or even from material makers and manufacturers. And that sounds like a pretty interesting part of networking that you're doing there. Yeah, it's definitely, you know, one of the things about being a nonprofit is that you absolutely have to rely on grants and fundraising, but there is a difference between a grant and fundraising. When you are getting a grant, they give you money to do a project so it doesn't help your operational costs. And so if we're to fund our executive director or we're to fund the power, the lights, the gas, utilities, we need actual, you know, to do fundraising and we count on generous individuals, our artists give back to us. And really what we're hoping to share is that Milton businesses and businesses in general will see that, you know, we're very, we don't have a parent organization. We don't have another place we can apply. We can't apply to the state of Vermont or federal grants. And so we really do rely on the generosity. And that's why we need to raise about $100,000 every year just to keep our lights on. And that's a lot. Well, tell us a little bit about your fundraising activities and why people should support you and how they can do it. Just give us an idea about that entire money, art and money and what you need right now from the public. Yeah. Well, thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to make an appeal because it hasn't been easy. These last three years with the pandemic has really, you know, crippled us unfortunately with our ability to get out there in the community, you know, not a lot of people want to be face to face. So now we're starting to see where people are more comfortable. But we are executive director that we had left back in early July. And so without an executive director, it has been kind of, you know, the board and myself to step in. And it's really hard to be strategic when you're trying to figure out how do you do payroll and how do you do QuickBooks? And how do you do? And oh, there's some grants that I need to. So for me, our biggest priority right now is to hire an executive director. And I'm super excited because one of our artists, who's our vice president, Karina Thurston, she is ready to take on this position. She knows the challenges. She's an artist. She's a leader. And she's, you know, has a lot of energy and ideas. And so what we're trying to do right now is we did our fall letter of appeal where we mail, you know, letters, but on our website, we have a link and we have some opportunities for people to make a donation. And they get put into a raffle and also one of our artists and the founder, one of the founders of the Milton Artist Guild, Lorraine Manley. She is probably one of our most popular. She's a Miltonian. Her and her husband have lived here for many decades and her art is just spectacular. It's been featured in books and magazines and she's been at the, you know, the hospitals and she's on display in the public. And she donated a beautiful 24 by 48 inch painting called Woodlands. And it's spectacular. It retails for $3,200. Right now, I think the bidding is up to $500. It's a silent auction. And it, it ends on midnight on December 22nd. So somebody can come into the store and get it and have it for the holidays. So, so we're very blessed to have that. So our goal is to raise $15,000. We also have a grant, a pending operational grant out there with the Vermont Arts Council. They were also given some pandemic money to help the creative economy. So we are part of the creative economy. A lot of people don't realize, you know, that Vermont has this engine. 8% of our economy is the creative economy, which is the creative economy. And so we're also doing a lot of work on the arts and theater and things like that. And so that is a big, you know, that's why we're constantly looking at ways to say, you know, we want to serve you, but we also need you to help us to serve you. So we do two big fundraising events a year in addition to our letters of appeal. We have something called the big deal, which we do in the summer. It's a big deal. We do this for the artists, and I think it's a cross Vermont. We partner with them. And it's a cash raffle. Basically the top prize is, is cash. And what we do is for every ticket that sold, we share the proceeds with our partners. So we partnered with the artists in residents, the Vermont dance theater. organization across Vermont to help them raise money, too. So we feel really good about being the sponsor. We find the prize money, we print, we do all the work, and we are able to give back to those art organizations. The other thing we do is in September, the weekend after Labor Day, we do something called Art & Stroll. We had our second annual Art & Stroll event, and it's in the field between the Hannaford Shopping Center and where we're located. There's a huge field there, and we had 50 artists from all over the state, and it was a craft fair, and we are trying to expand that to have more food vendors and crafters, but again, it's a way that we can bring art into the community and also support local artists. So those are our big pushes, but really, where we get our money is from the generosity of individual donors and business donors. That's where it's all at, really. That's great. Well, tell us a little bit about your plans for the future. You mentioned the art walk, but give us an idea of where, again, this is the last show of the year for Positively Vermont. We're going into the holidays, because we're heavily into the holidays. Then the new year, tell us what's next on your agenda for the future. Well, right now, we are, as you said, the holidays have been amazing. This is where we do probably a third of our sales is in December. So I just was at the gallery this morning and walking through, and all the artists are so excited. They're just ramping up and getting all their product out there, and so we really welcome everybody to come and see us. We also have an online store, which we are expanding. So people who are not in this area, who want to purchase anything on our website, that is going to be our goal for next year is to expand our online website. The other thing we're going to do is we're going to offer more workshops. We really want to query people about, what is it that you're interested in? What do you want to learn? Do you want to learn how to paint? Do you want to learn theory? Do you want to learn how to make things? So we all want to continue to offer our workshops and our paint and sips, which are a lot of fun. So we're going to really try to do a lot of marketing and advertising, and also ways to involve the community. We'd love to host events. So we're going to look at rental, renting out our space so that you can have a get together, a meeting, a party, and host it in a beautiful space like the Milton Artist Guild. So that's going to be huge. And also to support our members, we want to do more around that, making sure that they feel supported. So Carina has so many ideas of how do we bring in marginalized communities, unrepresented communities, really making the Milton Artist Guild feel like a place where everybody belongs. And I think that that is going to be our focus. It's not about making a lot of money for ourselves. It's about how do we help our artists support them to make the money. These are 150 entrepreneurial artists who are just their work. It just blows me away. So we're going to hopefully have the kids programs for the alternate school and the homeschooled kids and just stabilizing ourselves and making sure that we are here for many years to come. So it's about building relationships with our donors. And we want people to feel like they're part of our guild. And that to me is our biggest priority, is that everybody's welcome, everybody belongs. We're all in this together. And we really do need the support of the public to make it happen. That's great. That's a nice wrap up for us today. And we look forward to seeing you again in meeting Carina during the course of 2023. And thank you very much, Lisa. And this is Dennis McMahon for Positively Vermont. My guest has been Lisa Ries, the president of the Milton Artist Guild, located in beautiful Milton, Vermont. Thank you all for watching.