Arts Guild presses pause until September

After cancelling their fourth annual Winter Arts Gala in January, Big Horn County Arts Guild announced Feb. 11 that they would enter a sunset period until their Sept. 1 annual meeting due to declining participation and a need for redirection. 

Treasurer Brianna Laird noted that only three artists outside of the guild’s five board members signed up for the winter gala, short of their goal of 10 artists. The event has previously had a waitlist for participating artists. This decline mirrors overall participation, which has dropped from 35-40 members at the guild’s height to 10 this year, including board members. 

“Membership over the last year and a half, roughly, has declined greatly,” President Rebecca Kinane said. “I’m not really 100% sure why things have changed, but I do feel that maybe some of them left when leadership changed hands, that seemed to be kind of when some of it started.”

Deanna Skillman founded the arts guild in 2022, with her husband Robert Skillman as the board’s treasurer and Kinane as the vice president. The group organized a Days of ’49 Quickdraw and Art Show, orchestrated a mural on the side of CC’s Pizza on Greybull Avenue, and built up several community events. Kinane noted that Skillmans were not at fault for the membership decline, but a change of leadership in a nonprofit often influences membership. 

Laird added that economic factors have influenced artists’ ability to create, with the price of materials on the rise, as well as patrons’ ability to purchase artwork. 

“It’s been a hard last three, four years. Our community in general has gone through a lot, and I think we’ve kind of strayed especially the last two years. We just want to come back and focus back on where we started and the reason we started,” Laird said. 

During the guild’s sunset period, they will not run any of their community events. Instead, the board is collecting feedback in hopes of adjusting their target and bringing success back to the arts guild. 

“We want community feedback. We want feedback on what they would like to see us do, how we can get them involved,” Laird said. “We also are looking for more than just your painting and photograpy artists; we want to find your welders that create cool things, woodworkers, fiber artists, people that are traditionally considered crafters, we want them to join the arts guild because that’s an art as well.”

Present members will see their dues rolled into next year, with the opportunity to join the guild open even during the sunset. Laird noted you do not have to be an artist to join. Membership is open to everyone 16 and up, in and out of Wyoming. A monthly meeting allows members to develop plans and benefit from community feedback and education on their art. 

Leadership changes are also expected in September, with several board members planning to run for different positions or drop out of the race entirely. Kinane will be stepping down as president, citing time constraints due to homeschooling her children and burnout as one of the group’s original members. 

“This isn’t the end of the guild, this just a pause for everybody to kind of regroup and refocus,” Laird said. 

Feedback for Big Horn County Arts Guild can be submitted online at https://tinyurl.com/3aj3648z. Letters can be sent to P.O. Box 17 in Greybull, and texts and calls can be directed to Laird at 307-760-8347. For more information visit https://www.bhcagwyoming.com.