The Value of Community

Before The Artists Business Lounge

Did you catch the video and action guide The Art of Business – 10 Keys to your success? If you did, you will know that one of the 10 keys to your success is community (click the link to find out the other 9).

Community is something I am passionate about.

As artists who frequently spend large chunks of time alone, it can be easy to become isolated, and when things aren’t working out quite how we want, it can be way too easy to slide into self-doubt or to flounder.

When you have a community of fellow artists, people who understand the draw of creating and the ups and downs of a creative life, you can feel understood and resist that self-doubt spiral.

This is only one of the reasons I believe Community is one of the keys to success.
The Artists Business Lounge was born partially from that desire to build community.

Back in late 2007, not long after welcoming my (then) baby boy who didn’t understand the need for sleep, I was stuck at home yearning for a community of fellow professional artists.

I couldn’t find one that was designed for professional artists, so I decided to create one. It was an artists supporting artists community, to help artists (myself included) with the business of being artists and to connect with artists wherever they were.
And so TLF (The Littlest Forum) an online community was born.

So how did my first community start?

I asked two artists I knew – Erika Gofton and Simon Collins – and then we invited other artists and asked them to invite artists they knew. People were thrilled by the idea (nobody was on Facebook in those days).

It wasn’t designed to be big – in fact, it was called TLF short for The Littlest Forum. We had rotating members – 100 artists max at any one time – and there was a strong core of artists who were always active.

The technology was a clunky beast – I had to post instructions on how to upload an image and video could only be linked to not uploaded!!

But it was well-loved, full of spirit, helpful information, discussions and, for some, collaborations and friendships that endure to this day.

I facilitated conversations, managed the forum, created newsletters, commented, linked to resources, asked questions, connected people, initiated projects and got to meet some fabulous people.

In TLF we also organised large-scale art swaps and co-created exhibitions, crowdfunding to get catalogues created.

The Littlest Forum: An exhibition celebrating online artist community from Amanda van Gils

Here is the catalogue for the Net Work Exhibition, at The Art Gallery of Ballarat during summer 2010/2011. 38 Artists all drawn from TLF.

You can see the names of the participating artists in the catalogue here and read the essay penned by Artist, Writer (and TLF participant) Robert Hollingworth.

The Exchange Exhibition, at Gattakers Art Space was our largest and most ambitious ‘art swap’ featuring 55 artists who each contributed two works – one to swap and one to sell.

The Artists in this exhibition were all part of TLF and lived in regional and metropolitan Australia with one living overseas in France.

You can see the names of the participating artists in the catalogue, here.

Exchange was hosted in Regional Queensland, and for many artists, it was their first time exhibiting in Queensland.

Exchange exhibition catalogue. Essay by Jacqueline Houghton from Amanda van Gils

The Beginnings of The Artists Business Lounge

Things evolve, skills develop, and knowledge expands. Which leads me to The Artists Business Lounge.

Fast forward 2018, I started a leadership coaching business working with businesses and corporate clients but I really wanted to work with artists instead. So I buried myself in learning about the systems and processes that running such a business would require, created a plan, researched all the different platforms, gathered feedback from artists, and so much more, and in 2020 The Artists Business Lounge was finally launched!

This was a way to use my different qualifications and talents with people I love to support.
Of course, technology is way easier now and people are more used to connecting online – my son turns 17 this year and can’t imagine a world where online connection did not exist.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the value of community, continual learning and connection.

These days there are a lot of online courses, but for me, online community remains at the hub. The opportunity to connect, for introverts and extroverts, for people who are in remote places or have other reasons to not leave the home or studio. is something I wanted to provide. ‘The lounge’ is much more sophisticated than the old forum, and it’s a breeze to add images and videos.

At the core of The Artists Business Lounge is The Success System Program, a combination of courses, resources, calls and there are also individual coaching and standalone course options – even then a community platform is provided so you are never alone – unless you prefer to be (totally fine BTW).

At the Table 21 our Inaugural Exhibition.
Click the image above to learn more.

Yes, The Artists Business Lounge is a business. But at its heart, it is also a community.

Would you like to be part of our community?

Supporting YOU to thrive as an artist YOUR WAY

Right now the doors are open for my signature program – The Success System Program – a supportive and comprehensive group art business that gets results.

The Artists Business Lounge Success System provides a systematic approach to structure your artist life, enabling you to achieve YOUR vision of success with ease, unlike cookie-cutter approaches. This isn’t just about gaining more knowledge, this is rolling up your sleeves and getting elbow-deep into your Art Business life!

As an artist in the Success System Program, you will experience a combination of approaches so that you can transform your art career and business.

Find out more HERE.
Or get in touch to have a conversation.

Some of the ways you can work with me

Join the Success System Program, our amazing 12-month bells and whistles program. Doors are open in April.

Individual Coaching – find out more here and submit your expression of interest