ArtLink: Young Friends of St. Louis Arts

Satisfy your Cultural Cravings!

You want to fight the perception that St. Louis is challenged and lacking things to do. You love the arts organizations in St. Louis. You enjoy rocking it with other people that feel the same way.  And you just might be perfect for the ArtLink Board.

If you’re interested in joining the Board of ArtLink, let your voice be heard. Nominations for the Board are being accepted over the next two weeks and nominating yourself is easy.  Just send an email to jen@artlinkstl.org with your persuasive statement of intent. The ArtLink Board of Directors will elect up to four at-large board members in June. ArtLink Board positions have one year terms that begin in July. Board members attend monthly ArtLink Board meetings while also attending as many ArtLink events that your schedule allows. Candidates must be current ArtLink members (and yes, you can join or renew today if you are not currently a member). We ask that you have a great attitude regarding the arts in St. Louis and share your mental, physical and emotional support. Get involved!

ArtLink and Other Young Friends Groups in the Post-Dispatch Today

Hi, ArtLinkers -

You may have noticed that ArtLink was in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch today, in an article about the various young friends cultural groups in St. Louis.

For those of you who have not yet seen the article, you can read it online here:

Cultural Institutions Seek More Young Friends

Granted, I think a more apt title for the article would be "Cultural Institutions Doing More for their Young Friends".  Read it and post your thoughts below.

Those of you who attended our One Year Anniversary Party on March 8 may have met Diane Keaggy, the author of the article, as she was conducting her background research for the article and interviewing people.

There is a good sidebar in the article, listing ArtLink and seven other young friends groups in town.  Hopefully you are in several of them?  If not, this is a good chance to learn more about the groups and find one that matches your interests.

If you are in a Young Friends group that is not mentioned in the Post article, shoot me an email (james@artlinkstl.org) and I'll see what I can do to put together a master list for everyone.

Thanks to Diane for writing the article and raising awareness. 

Cheers
James Grove

New Website Features

Hi, ArtLinkers -

It's been a bit quiet this month, so we've taken the time to do a bit of housekeeping on the website.

We have migrated our ArtLink online calendar to a new provider, Eventful. You can now see the upcoming events on this website (see the right-hand margin), or on the Eventful site at http://eventful.com/groups/G0-001-000131498-1

Moving to Eventful also gave us a chance to start putting this year's big ArtLink events on the calendar.  Be sure to pencil those dates in!

We've added a new customized Google Site Search feature, which we are working the kinks out of.  It searches the ArtLinkSTL blog as well as the websites of our three affiliated organizations.

We are still using Zookoda for our email list, and it's generally working fairly well.  Although there are a few Yahoo Mail addresses that bounce the Zookoda emails for some reason...  So if you have a Yahoo email address and you are not receiving the email update, that could be why.

And finally, we are reaching out to other St. Louis arts websites and blogs, to ask them to help us spread the word about ArtLink.  If you can give us a link, we would welcome the support!

Cheers,
James Grove
ArtLink Webmaster

Welcome to the New ArtLink Email Update

Hello, Art Lovers and ArtLink Members  -

I'm pleased to announce that ArtLink now has a new email service in place, and I'd like to welcome you all to the new ArtLink Email Update.

The new email service is linked (no pun intended) to the ArtLink website. Whenever we post a new item on the ArtLink blog, shortly thereafter an email with the post will go out to everyone on the list.  The updates will give you the latest scoop on the St. Louis arts scene.  And when you get an email, don't forget to stop by the website to scan the calendar of upcoming events, too.

You are on the email list if you checked the box on your membership form asking for emails from ArtLink.  It is also possible to join the list by signing up through the online form on ArtLinkSTL.org.

Thanks for supporting the arts, and please let us know how you like the new service.

Cheers,
James Grove

New Email System

Hi, ArtLinkers -

I just wanted to give you a quick update that you should be seeing a new ArtLink Email Newsletter in your inbox sometime in the next few days.

We are moving to a new email system that gives us a lot more flexibility in the look and feel of the newsletter, as well as control over when it is sent out.  The new newsletter is considerably better looking, as well as easier to read.

We are currently in the final stages of testing the new system, then we will put all of our subscribers onto the new mailing list.  I think you will like it, so please post your comments after you get a look at it.

Cheers,
James Grove

New Authors on ArtLinkSTL

Hello, ArtLink Members -

As of today you will see a new feature on the ArtLinkSTL blog -- we will now have multiple authors working on the site.

Up to now we've used a single "ArtLink" account for posting, so we had to utilitze the royal "We" an awful lot to describe things one person was working on.  But henceforth the posts will be written (and signed) by the individuals who help run ArtLink, so you should get a better feel for the people who manage the programs. 

So don't be shy - use the comment form and let us know what you think of the new feature!  And if you see one of us at an ArtLink event, come over and say hello!

Thanks for your support,
James Grove

Volunteers Needed: Young Friends Night at the Shakespeare Festival

The Young Friends of the Shakespeare Festival needs your help at the annual Volunteer Night at the Festival on Sunday, June 11, beginning at 5:00 p.m.   

Young Friends are needed at this show to help as Ushers and Parking Attendants, as well as Chair Rental Agents, Roaming Salespeople, Information Specialists and Post-Performance Clean-up Staff. 

All jobs, with the exception of the Post-Performance Clean-up, begin at 5:00p.m. and last through intermission.  (And yes, you can sit down when the performance starts!)

If you are interested in helping the Shakespeare Festival for this annual Young Friends Volunteer night, or know someone who is, please email the Young Friends at:
youngfriends_sfstl@yahoo.com

In your email, please provide your name and contact information, and the Young Friends will contact you with further details about the jobs available.

This is a great way to get involved with the Shakespeare Festival, and meet some other young friends!

New Calendar

Hello, ArtLink Members -

We are experimenting with a new online calendar to keep you up to speed on the ArtLink events.  You can see it over there, on the left side.

Give us feedback on how you like it.  Does it work for you?  If there is an event you plan to attend, try automatically downloading the event to your Outlook calendar.

Thanks!

Welcome to ArtLink!

ArtLink is the new Young Friends collaborative program sponsored by COCA, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, the Foundry Art Centre, and Laumeier Sculpture Park.

Your individual ArtLink membership gets you exclusive access to the ArtLink Events newsletter, keeping you informed of cutting edge art events in St. Louis.  It also gets you discounted admission to designated Young Friends events at COCA, the Contemporary, the Foundry, and Laumeier.

ArtLink memberships are $20 per person and provide you with discounts to Artlink sponsored events for an entire year.  The average discount per event is $10 -- so the ArtLink membership pays for itself after just two events!  ArtLink members also receive a free subscription to Alive Magazine and discounts at many hot area restaurants.  You won't want to miss out!

Are you already a member of one of the participating arts organizations but intrigued about the others?  Don't worry.  You can simply add on an ArtLink membership to your current membership at any participating art organization to enjoy the opportunity to sample many other great cultural offerings in our city.