Being Prepared

It was an interesting day today. I walked in to see Diego sitting at his desk, on his computer and after saying good morning, he said straight up that he has to do his own work today. Luckily, during the week, I had been trying to think of things that I could do to contribute to the BFP. So I came prepared!

I suggested that I could take photos on my Ipad of all the items that had not sold at the renovation sale, and post them on Buy Swap and Sell sites on facebook. Diego said that would be great, so I went about doing this. This took quite some time, about half a day, so it was good for me to feel like I was contributing in some way.

Diego’s girlfriend, Marnee Fox, who is an interior designer, came in and it was lovely to meet her. She has put her hand up to drive this renovation, and she was so enthusiastic and had a great vision for the BFP. Marnee would really like to take the BFP to the next level. She envisions the organisation actually bringing in an income. We sat and chatted about her ideas for a couple of hours, which was good for Diego because it let him concentrate on his own work.

Marnee would like to get rid of all the unused stuff that is laying around, and there is so much of it. Then she wants to paint the inner arched ceiling/walls white and get a small kitchenette installed. Her idea is to make turn the space into a place that is multi functional. She would like to organise and run art markets once a fortnight/month, she suggested someone could run art workshops – which I jumped on because that is what I already do – I run Kiama Art Workshops.

With Kiama Art Workshops I hire a venue, organise artists to come along and teach a one or two day weekend class, organise students to come along by promoting on social media, flyers and through my email database. I usually run around 12 a year, at one a month. When I told Marnee all this, she said that I should think about using these skills to organise workshops at the BFP.

We both talked about what we have done as far as careers go, and I mentioned that I work part time as a contract draftsperson as well as run Kiama Art Workshops, as well as go to Uni part time. Marnee talked about how she used to run a market stall, used to work for a design company but has only just gone out on her own. We joked that we are both creative slashies with such a variety of skills between us to offer.

Marnee also discussed how she thinks the BFP should employ someone to manage the organisation. At the moment Diego is there two days a week and doesn’t get paid for it, and I think it is starting to wear him down a bit (from what Marnee tells me). I get the feeling she would like to see Diego cut back so that he can concentrate on his own work.

After discussions with Diego, we all agreed that we should hold a meeting so that Marnee can present her proposal to all members of the BFP. We decided to do this on 10th August (next week) at 10am at the BFP.

I also met Eloise Lindeback in the afternoon – so good to see a familiar face. Eloise and I started uni together, and she graduated at the end of 2015, so it was so good to hear what she has been up to since she left uni. She aims to get to the BFP at least once a week on Thursdays, so it will be nice to see her there. At the moment she is working on a piece for an upcoming exhibition, using yellow and blue bump dots that are on railway platforms that you need to stand behind whilst waiting for a train. She wants to make a welcome mat out of them.