Clarification about “Featured Artists”
To All Chestnut members – We are posting this in response to the understandable concern that was raised in connection with material that appeared in The Conservancy’s monthly on-line newsletter to promote our Centennial Park art show and sale. The wording in their material contained the names of some Chestnut members who were noted as “featured artists”.
Those with a history of our group can appreciate that this is philosophically counter to how The Chestnuts operate. Renee and I apologize to all of you and are very sorry that we did not catch the phrasing used in those Conservancy postings. It cannot be excused, but I do want to outline how it came about.
This is our first show with Centennial Park, and, though we started the meetings in the fall of 2018, there were still intervals in the spring where deadlines for submitting the promotional materials they needed got squeezed. Such was the case when a new marketing person joined their team.
It was decided that having a repetitive monthly feature in their on-line newsletters would be effective in the final months leading up to this event. They asked if their featuring different artists each month was a possibility. The concept seemed solid, but it materialized so last minute that when asked for material from our artists in electronic format, we turned to some of those Chestnuts who typically instruct and maintain the most robust websites.
Their marketing person missed the point we made back in the initial meetings that the Chestnuts do not promote one artist over another, and that the term “featured” was generated with The Conservancy’s looking for a series to roll out. We understood they wanted to have several of our members to focus on in subsequent newsletters but had no clue they would compile them into a group posting.
Once the inappropriate messaging of the material was pointed out by one of our members, we tried to revise the wording on The Conservancy’s site as discreetly as possible. At no point were anyone’s intentions on anything but to generate momentum from which all members of The Chestnut Group would benefit.
The time that Rachel, Renee and I, are investing in this show is about building relationships with partners who may offer expanded opportunities for ongoing Chestnut ventures. It’s difficult to appreciate the learning curve required in these initial shows with new partners – especially ones with the number of players operating backstage as with the Parthenon within Centennial Park.
Glitches in communication are going to happen, but the last thing we want is to bring any discord to an organization based upon people’s wanting to volunteer their time and energies. Thank you for raising concerns and please contact any one of us if there are further questions.
We appreciate the great paintings, participation, and support that have gone into making this a wonderful show.
Sincerely yours,
Judson Newbern and Renee Bates