How To Startup Community Art Classes
By Charles Combs
By Charles Combs
If you're an artist trying to make a little extra cash between assignments, you may want to consider starting up a community art course in your area. It’s a great way to serve the community, while giving kids the opportunity to explore their artistic sides and earning some extra income.
Figure out the type of course that you could imagine teaching comfortably. The majority of art courses fix their attention on teaching kids to draw, paint, work with pottery, or try out various arts and crafts projects. Keep in mind the different age groups you intend on working with.
If your area already has a community/local arts facility, ask them what the requirements are to run a course. Most of these facilities offer payment, a teaching area, and free advertisement.
If you don't have a community center offering classes, then look for somewhere to suit your specific needs. A church can be a good idea, as can recreation centers that do not offer courses.
If you have to pay for supplies and advertisement yourself, then look into funds or grants offered through an applicable program.
Figure out how much you'll be charging for each class. Charging for each class is one possibility but you can also offer a bulk of classes for a flat rate. Your best bet is to charge for a series of classes, particularly if you're new to teaching. These fees can help cover things like renting the space, items that will be used in the class and even your wages. You should also work out how many students you need per class in order to make teaching viable. This will help in determining whether you'll be able to cover all overheads and still have enough leftover to pay yourself.
There are a number of places that are suitable for advertising your class. A grocery store, a community board, and local businesses are all places that can let you put up your information about the class. Good advertising can also come in the form of offering a free introductory lesson. This can spread the existence of your art class throughout the area via word of mouth. Include all the basic information on the classes offered by means of flyers and brochures. Do not underestimate the power of online advertising; by expending a relatively small amount of energy and effort (at no cost), you can quite easily create a formidable online presence for yourself on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest for example.
Start teaching and have fun!