The (New) Art Room

TAR STORY

The Art Room (TAR) was established in 2009 by Erika Gofton with a small group of students in her local community, Ilona Nelson began working with Erika 10 years ago and they officially became a partnership in 2018.  Early on, Erika recognised a need for supportive, high quality arts training that maintained the highest of standards for its students.  That ethos has proved to be a highly successful model, as continued growth has compelled The Art Room’s 5th move - into a space that will undoubtedly continue to attract those who are passionate about living and breathing art.

New to The Art Room?  Watch this video to get to know us and see how we've grown!

< READ HISTORY OF TAR TRANSCRIPT >

BIGGER & BETTER

The time has come for a space that can continue to evolve and expand with us, and foster The Art Room’s continued purpose; which is to make a meaningful difference and positive contribution for our students, our local community and the arts community.

We aspire to create a space that connects you through your shared appreciation and love of art, with community at its core. Securing such a studio, equipped with more room and more facilities, will ensure that our ambitions to provide new and unique learning opportunities can become a reality.

After searching for quite some time we’re so excited to have found The One, and recently signed a lease for our new home in Footscray at 138 Cowper Street!  We picked up the keys two months ago and have begun transforming it into The (New) Art Room.  To date, we’ve completed all the work ourselves to conserve money for the stages that we need to employ professionals.

It’s an incredible space with good bones and a great feel, the perfect combination for creating a warm and inspiring environment - like we’ve enjoyed at Hyde Street for the past six years, but even better!  To give you an idea of scale, it is 4 times the size of our current studio.  With so much space at our disposal it’s easy to imagine all of the incredible possibilities in store for The Art Room’s future.  And this is what we have planned:

- 4 generous teaching spaces
- 3 gallery spaces
- Art supply and makers shop
- Access space for printmaking
- Access space for ceramics and sculpture

- Large communal space and library

We have listened and heard the ever-increasing demand for supportive, nurturing, quality arts education and we believe, whole-heartedly, that our plans for The (New) Art Room is the way to continue to fulfill that demand and make a meaningful difference to all the artists we work with.

So if you’re a current, past, or future student, an art enthusiast, believe art is an important part of our community, or just like the idea of what we’re creating, then please support our campaign. We cannot do this without you. You can make a pledge on one of the incredible rewards on offer, become a sponsor, and share our campaign with your networks. Quite simply the more we raise, the more we can do!

We hope that you are as eager as we are to see The Art Room continue to innovate, surprise and inspire - your support is deeply appreciated.

Thank you,
Erika and Ilona.

WALK THROUGH THE (NEW) ART ROOM

< READ WALK THROUGH TRANSCRIPT >

We're so excited to present our plans to you and what this means for the future of The Art Room - but we have a lot of work ahead of us to turn this big, bare building into the art school we know you will be excited and proud to be a part of.

To fit out a 900 square metre space ensuring it’s compliant and accessible for all is an enormous financial undertaking.  And it’s not only structural, there are many large unseen costs involved such as council permits, architects, numerous consultants, building surveyors and a variety of trades people - just to name a few!  Here's a break down of our pozible targets:

T&CS

- Rewards are not redeemable for cash but can be transferred to a friend.
- Stickers, Tee's, Merch Pack, Postcard Pack, Limedted Edition Prints will be printed at the conclusion of the campaign.  We'll email you to confirm when they're ready to be picked up from TAR or posted.

- Life Drawing Tableau, Private Group Workshops, TAR Gala dates to be confirmed.

- Original artworks can be delivered by art courier at cost of the buyer.  Some pieces will be available to pick up from TAR or delivered locally.

- TAR reserves final approval for Sponsor a Studio names.
*Donated artworks - Artist receives 50%, with the balance minus pozible fees going to the camapaign