Last year we started organising Regional Meetings for the community, which have been a great opportunity for the artists to get together, discuss their business, share ideas and support each other in addition to our twice yearly Community Meetings.

Artists have enjoyed discussing opportunities in their localities and the potential of collaborating with one another on the delivery of projects. We have a buzzing online forum where our artist community regularly chat and share ideas, but nothing beats a face-to-face catch up!

So far we’ve had Regional Meetings in the South East, South West, Midlands and Northern England, and we will be organising more over the coming months.

Leicestershire based CM Artist Alison described the Midlands meet up that took place on the 15^th Feb; “Four of us met in Leicester at The Van Gogh Immersive Experience. Only two of us had met before so it was a great way to feel comfortable in each other’s company, talking about what we all love, art!”

“Afterwards we found a small cafe to have lunch with some comfy seats, as we wanted to get to know each other better and discuss our businesses. We shared many ideas and positive experiences and soon realised that we all had different skills and expertise, which could help each other with in areas of our businesses. We plan to meet up again and have remained in contact.”

“It can be quite isolated at times being self-employed and this arranged meeting paid for by Creative Minds, has helped us to realise that friends are not far away and we are all there for each other.”

On 7^th December, 6 CM Artists based in the South East had their Regional Meeting at the Woods Restaurant in The Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells.

CM Artist Sarah Ackroyd commented; “It was a jolly festive lunch and we all listened to each other’s news and shared tips and techniques. Lots of chocolate tart was consumed and I really enjoyed the meeting, putting names to faces!”

Up in Leeds, 4 Northern based CM artists had their Regional Meeting on 25^th November at the Tetley Gallery, where they enjoyed lunch and then went on to explore the exhibitions.

CM Artist Sarah W, based in Cheshire said; “We spent a few hours chatting and getting to know each other. I felt a real sense of community, it’s great to meet our “colleagues” and chat face-to-face so even though we work for ourselves we are not alone.”

CM Artist Caroline & Judy based in Salisbury, Wiltshire attended the South West Regional Meeting on 9th November, where a group of artists met at the Royal West of England Academy to view the latest exhibitions and enjoy a bite to eat together.

Caroline said; “‘It was great to meet up with other artists from our region and discover how much joy we all get from bringing art to residents in care homes and other settings, and seeing how much they enjoy it!”

If you would love to be part of our wonderful artist community, please feel free to request a Franchise Booklet and complete a Franchise Application on our ‘Franchise’ page – www.creativeminds.art/franchise/ . We look forward to hearing from you!