Welcome to a new branch of AFA-Online!
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at AFA@Nightlanding.com, otherwise, enjoy the atmosphere!
Here you can find almost everything that is also made available in the monthly newsletter…plus any important changes that may take place in between issues. Our intent is:
*post up-to-date information about the AFA Gallery & Surrounding Venues.
*to provide a more interactive interface for AFA Members.
*provide up-to-date information to the general public.
Artists for Art (AFA) began when a small group of artists in Northeastern Pennsylvania decided to meet to get to know each other better and share ideas about art. This led to a number of exhibits in public buildings. The group also sponsored a series of days creating art on and about the Lackawanna River, which culminated in a series of exhibits throughout Northeastern Pennsylvania known as ‘Riverworks’. The final exhibit was in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg.
These efforts attracted the attention of many other artists and persons interested in art. The meetings became more formalized into monthly meetings and AFA’s membership grew considerably. Dr. Peter Cupple, a member, had purchased an older three-story building on Lackawanna Avenue in downtown Scranton and renovated the facade. He offered the first floor to AFA at a very reasonable rent and AFA then renovated it as a gallery. AFA has since grown into an important cultural force on the local scene with a large membership from the area interested in the arts.
Oral History:
• AFA was founded in 1988. A local artist had a studio on Lackawanna Avenue
in Scranton. A number of fellow artists got together and began to think
about how beneficial it would be to create a network of artists in NEPA.
They felt there were a number of artists in the region but they didn’t know
each other very well. They decided that each person would invite five other
artists to a meeting in one month.
• The following month 30-40 artists got together in the studio. They decided
to form an organization for artists —to get to know each other and expand
the places for exhibitions by networking.
• In 1989, the name “Artists for Art” was chosen as the name of the
organization. They decided to become incorporated and pick officers. They
also defined a mission/purpose, which was threefold:
1. to present the work of regional visual artists to the community
2. to foster an appreciation of visual arts in general — that is, to raise
awareness of the visual arts
3. to provide services for local visual artists
• They took on various projects (i.e. raised $5,000 for the St. Frances of
Assisi Kitchen), participated in the WVIA auctions, showed work as a group in the
Lackawanna County Courthouse and various hospitals. They also coordinated
an art lecture series at the Scranton Children’s Library, which was very
successful. AFA also hosted a number of social events and parties, as well
as founded the Riverworks Show (coordinated by painter Lou Pontone), which
worked to revitalize the Lackawanna River, and included a River Day on the
Lackawanna and a series of traveling shows in five or six venues.
• The next step was a strategic planning session. The Lucen Center for the
Arts in Scranton had received a grant for strategic planning. Ty Welles got
to know the consultant who was leading it, and he agreed to meet with AFA’s
active members for a discussion on future plans. According to the strategic
planner, the worst thing AFA could do financially, etc. was to open a
gallery. After he left, AFA started looking for gallery space.
• Peter Cupple had bought a building on the 500 block of Lackawanna Avenue
to order to save it from demolition. He agreed to rent the first floor to
AFA, and AFA members worked very hard to fix the space up, which pulled the
group together. The newsletter, which was active from the beginning, also
served to pull the artists together and provide a means of communication.
• As a rule, AFA has had the following exhibition policies: 1) all members
could exhibit work in member shows; 2) they did not want to have a pure
co-op gallery, but had a gallery committee that decided what would go on the
walls—group or individual shows. At one point, to save the organization
financially, there was a 2 tiered system. Regular members paid the regular
fee and could exhibit in member shows, but gallery members paid more, and
could have one-, two- or three-person shows. AFA also participates in the
Regional Juried Show with Marywood, Keystone and the U. of Scranton, and
various theme shows—Earth Day, Next Generation, etc.
• There are other activities associated with AFA, such as events which have
been held here by other groups for a rental fee (Mulberry Poets), the
Backroom Gallery, workshops, the Life Drawing Group (which was around before
AFA but is now being held at the gallery). Most of these are break-even
operations, lacking administrative/operational fees.
• AFA has traditionally been involved in things where the current ‘core’
memberships’ energy is…i.e., Liz Parry-Faist is involved in NEIU, so we’ve
been sponsoring Arts Alive. We’ve done performance art, various shows etc.
Profile of AFA, based on survey for Lackawanna County:
• We are officially a PA Non-Profit organization, which should be run by a
Board of Directors, however, we’ve never operated that way. We have made
decisions by member consensus. More recently we’ve had an Executive
Committee to make decisions and now are looking to expand that, primarily
for fundraising purposes.
• The Gallery Coordinator has been at various time both a paid and unpaid
position, based on funding available or grants. Since AFA has been
artist-run, it usually has raised money as needed and never really brought
in significant operational/administrative monies.
• 480 members paying dues; 700 on mailing list; 3,500 volunteer hours put
in; 4,200 attendees to AFA shows, 45% from Lackawanna County, 45% from
adjacent counties (primarily Wyoming. Luzerne, Susquehanna), 10% out of the
area.
• Throughout the history we’ve had 5 presidents/3 treasurers/2
secretaries—stability!
