Membership

How to Join

Membership is open from November to January (so has now closed). All individual artists who are living or working in Suffolk are eligible to take up Suffolk Open Studios membership as well as galleries, art groups and charitable groups in Suffolk. All can be assured of a very warm welcome to our group. In order to open as part of the June event, your studio must be located in Suffolk. To join as an associate member you should live in Suffolk. Artists gain by being members of a great network which is organised, supportive and collaborative. Galleries form an integral part of the SOS network and benefit from publicity as well as interaction with a large number of artists.

The aim of the organisation is to bring together Suffolk artists in an organisation that uses its collective power to produce an event each year where the public can visit the artists studios. We usually produce a printed directory for members to distribute around their area and also publicise the event though various media. The collective power of the organisation allows us to reach further than individual artists – however, this is not a guarantee of visitors to your studios, each artist must also do their own work to generate visitors whether that be by distributing as many directories as possible, publicising on social media or through mailing lists. We all work to help each other 🙂

Artists choose which weekends in June they wish to open (if any) and each weekend they choose they need to be open from 11am until 5pm on the Saturday and Sunday to ensure consistency for visitors.

Benefits

As individuals, publicising and promoting work is difficult and expensive; SOS members benefit from marketing and publicity using pooled resources, complementing the promotions that the members themselves do. All members have their own profile on this website, which they can manage directly, with a portfolio of up to 10 images. Members also have an entry on the App which is available all year round. It is also encouraged for members to post their events on the website which can then be shared by up on social media or to our mailing list of over 700 subscribers.

In addition, it can also often be expensive for members to take part in exhibitions, or they may be difficult to access. As part of Suffolk Open Studios, we aim to organise exhibitions for our members. The first exhibition for 2024 will be at the Pond Gallery in Snape maltings from 19th April to 1st May, to launch the open studios event. We are also currently in the process of confirming 2 further exhibitions for 2024, details to follow.

Responsibilities

It is important that members know they are a part of a group where everyone helps with the publicity of the event in June. Each member is given an allocation of brochures to distribute around their local area prior to the event and the idea is that it is their responsibility to distribute as many of those as possible (as well as keeping some for visitors). If members have trouble finding places to put them then we have a list of suggestions that is sent out before the event. We also provide posters for you to put in windows and in front of your studio. If you have any problems with publicity then the committee are happy to help.

What if I don’t have a studio?

You don’t have to have a studio in order to be part of the organisation. If you don’t have a studio that you wish to open to the public then you can join as an associate member which gives you many benefits including having a presence on the website and on the App. You will also be able to take part in any SOS exhibitions that we are able to organise throughout the year as well as being offered opportunities that are passed on to us.

You are also part of a community which can bring its own benefits, including meeting likeminded individuals with whom to share ideas and possibly collaborations. You may also find a member in your area who is happy to share a studio with you for future years.

2024 Membership (now closed)

2024 brings with it a brand new committee, albeit with no Chair, due to the majority of the 2023 committee stepping down.  This means that with a limited committee, there will be no major changes to the event for 2024. Applications for full membership of Suffolk Open Studios have now closed. However, you can join throughout the year as an associate member. If you join (or renew) as an associate from now onwards, you will not get an entry in the directory or App but you will be able to enter any remaining exhibitions and you will have an entry on the website.

The differences in membership type are shown below:

There are 4 types of membership – Full Membership (where you open your studio/gallery), Associate Membership (where you are a member but don’t open your studio), Student/under 25 membership (for those who either fit the age criteria, are currently studying or who have graduated in the last year) and Art Group membership (multiple artists who have formed a cohesive group). If you join as part of an art group you won’t be able to take part in exhibitions we organise during the year (unless you have individual membership as well).

Applications from artists who collaborate at a single location are restricted to those who produce one set of work between them, otherwise they should apply for individual membership separately.

Associate membership is available throughout the year. Once you join as an associate member you will be able to take part in the exhibitions that we organise throughout the year as long as entry has not closed for those exhibitions. All memberships expire on 31st December in the year of the open studios event.

Benefits of Membership

Open Studio Event – held during weekends in June from 11am to 5pm, members can choose to open their studio or not. Members are also encouraged to get together in their own locality to draw up an Artists Trail, or form a Hub Studio as part of the Open Studio Event.

SOS Members’ Exhibitions – We endeavour to organise a number of exhibitions throughout the year and all members are entitled to apply to take part in those. Some may be selective but most are not. SOS members may also combine to arrange their own exhibitions and use the SOS name and appear in the directory and on the website.

You can find more details about SOS on our FAQ page.

Membership Options

These are the membership options that are available:

Full Membership – for an annual fee of £65, this is for those artists and galleries who would like to open their studio in June. Full members can take part in exhibitions that SOS organise and will have a 1/3 page listing in the printed directory as well as an entry in the App. Payment is per artist, not per studio, so if you share a studio space with another artist, you will both need to join separately.

Associate Membership – for an annual fee £45, this is for those artists who do not wish to open their studios in June (or who do not have a studio) but would like to take part in SOS exhibitions and have a presence on the website and App. They also get a short entry in the directory. You can become an Associate Member at any time of year, but will only get an entry in the directory and App if you join before the cut off date.

Student/Under 25 Membership – for an annual fee of £25 this is for members aged under 25, who are studying or who have graduated in the last year. We have created this membership category to help those who are starting out in their artistic career. For this category members may or may not be opening their studio but will have an entry in the website, directory and app.

Art Groups – for an annual fee of £100 this membership is for art groups to join as an entity in their own right. For the fee you get an entry on our website and app as well as being listed in the printed directory. Art groups can have one address listed for opening in June (if you wish to open) as part of open studios. Individual members will not be able to take part is SOS organised exhibitions (unless they hold membership in their own right).