Chair’s Message September 2024
Dear Members
My fellow Committee members and I hope that you have all enjoyed a good summer and are looking forward to participating in some of our exciting Autumn and Spring events, whether online or in person. We encourage you to book early to avoid disappointment.
Whilst we always strive to provide a good balance of events across the entire art historical spectrum, we realise from some recent comments and suggestions that we need to provide more for those members whose main focus is 20th and 21st century art. We are currently exploring the suggestion of one member to arrange a course on American Art of the 1960’s and we welcome all such suggestions. The active involvement of our members is key to maintaining our Society as a relevant and vibrant organisation. If you have any ideas, suggestions or feedback, we encourage you to contact our Secretary, Geoff Shepherd, at secretary@londonarthistorysociety.org.uk or by letter to our correspondence address. Alternatively, please have a chat with one of the organisers at an event.
As we continue to face rising costs in all areas, most particularly for the hire of central London venues, a further increase in our event fees is unavoidable. This will take effect from 1st January 2025, as follows:
- Short courses in-person from £110 to £125
- Short courses via Zoom from £99 to £110
- Study day in-person from from £45 to £49
- Study day via Zoom from from £40 to £44
We have tried to keep increases to the minimum possible, balancing the need to ensure that events are both viable with an acceptable number of participants and that they represent value for money.
The current trial to allow non-members to attend one event at the same price as members, in place since early 2023, has had some success and allowed some events to go ahead on a live basis or boosted income on events which were covering their costs but not fully booked. Given that bookings are still made later than pre-Covid and that we need more certainty, especially when booking live events, the Committee has decided to implement a new policy from 1 January 2025, as follows:
- Introduction of a priority booking period for members, to end 8 weeks before the date of an event. If at this point, it is clear that an in-person event is struggling to cover its costs, then non-member booking will begin. Given that very high numbers of participants are now needed for in-person events, it is highly unlikely that all remaining capacity would be taken by non-members, but we will limit the number of non-member places to ensure there are sufficient spaces for members who prefer or need to book later.
- Non-members can attend multiple events.
- Non-members will pay a higher fee than members (a supplement of £10 for study days/study visits and £20 for courses), so that fully paid-up members are not disadvantaged and that non-members may be encouraged to join the Society.
We hope that this new policy will both protect the interests of members and assist in increasing attendance at some events. We know that many of our members value our in-person events, and we regard these changes as another way of ensuring that we can continue to offer them as part of our programme.
I am sure you will all join me in thanking my fellow Committee members, organisers, all other volunteers and our Administrative Assistant Judith Burt for all their hard work in ensuring that we have such a rich and diverse programme of events and that all events run smoothly. Although between us we possess a wide range of experience, we still lack someone with marketing skills to help us promote the Society and its activities and would welcome any member who might feel able to help us with this. If you would like to discuss this or volunteering in general, please contact me at chairman@londonarthistorysociety.org.uk.
Last but not least, a reminder that our AGM will take place on Tuesday 26 November at the Art Workers’ Guild and will be followed by a talk on Alphonse Mucha: The Man, The Artist, The Legacy, from Marcus Mucha, his great grandson. We hope that many of you will be able to join us there and look forward to having a chat with refreshments following the event.
Best wishes
Jeanette McCauley
Chairman