Greetings Friends,

 This is the fourth in a series of five articles outlining the results of the evaluations and surveys completed last fall. Thus far we have learned how your input has directly affected our selection of instructors, mediums and even the length and level of workshops offered.

However, one area that has yet to be addressed is ‘when’ they are offered. For instance, those who were interested in the fiber arts preferred the month of June – thus a majority of our fiber related workshops are included in our Fiber Arts Heritage Week, which is in, you guessed it, June! Watercolorist preferred May-September; Oil: June, August & September; Acrylic: May – October with June ranking the highest; Pastel: June – August; and the Paper & Book Arts: August.

Each survey was then divided up accordingly by type of workshop matched with not only the month, but days of the week as well. We found that 45% of those surveyed would like to be able to take workshops later in the week and on weekends. Therefore, approx 48% of the 2011 workshops are what we call “extended-weekend workshops”, with around half of these scheduled between Friday and Sunday; providing the perfect opportunity for a mini-artist retreat, without taking up your entire work week.

Note: the other 55% who prefer early to mid-week workshops still have over 23 workshops (not including the intergenerational and children’s) to choose from.

By providing a variety of opportunities, we hope Florence will become a place where you can find rest and restore your creativity, when it is convenient for you, on your schedule.  Because, here, artists and fostering an environment for creative thought and artistic expression are our top priority.

I look forward to our final installment where we will look into two programs designed with you in mind. After all, you are the one who requested them! In the mean time keep the comments and suggestions coming~