Community Education Project | felt::feutre canada

Please Read Everything. There may be a way for YOU to contribute!
Note the dedicated email address!

We have two budgeted projects left over from 2022 that we would like to launch before we close down felt :: feutre canada. One is a Community Education opportunity, led by Sue Gardner, and the other is the creation of a memories book with member submissions led by Sandi Luck.

Community Education

We were looking for something that benefited Canadian artists, could be somewhat informal and fun, minimized the amount of overhead and administration required, and limited the size of the community to 2022 and earlier felt :: feutre canada members.

Rather than hold a single workshop by a single instructor, we thought it would be better to have promotional and educational materials created by the felt :: feutre canada community to cover a range of feltmaking techniques, artist development and the business of art. We have done an informal survey and we have members encouraging us and interested in being part of this.

There are two ways to participate: one is as an “instructor” and the other is as a student. All 2022 felt :: feutre canada members are eligible.

There will be no charge to students who are anyone who has ever been a member of felt :: feutre canada and is still on our Mailchimp mailing list. This is upwards of 300 members.

No “per student” fees will be paid to instructors. Instructors can choose to participate at no charge or to receive a small one-time amount as compensation. Board members will participate as both instructors and students at no charge. Instructors will not be required to host Zoom calls or monitor student forums.

There are Deadlines!
You need to read this if you are interested in providing content for this opportunity. The deadline for anyone to express an interest in participating as an instructor or to promote themselves is before Sunday, January 15. The deadline for providing materials to Sue Gardner for student access is Tuesday, February 28.

There are no deadlines for students. We will invite everyone, even "instructors," to join in before the end of January!

There is a budget for this opportunity and as decisions are made for those preferring financial compensation, the remaining amount will decrease with each assessment. Decisions will be made on submissions in three groups.

The information required for an Expression of Interest (see below) is minimal. So don't be daunted! All Expressions of Interest received by Friday, January 6, 2023 at 11:59 pm EST will be assessed, decisions made and the submitters notified by Sunday, January 8. Another assessment will occur on submissions received by Wednesday, January 11, 2023 at 11:59 pm EST. A final review will occur for submissions received by Sunday, January 15, 2023 at 11:59 pm EST.

If there is budget remaining after the review of the wait list submissions (January 16), we will open this opportunity to all prior felt :: feutre canada members who are still on our Mailchimp mailing list.

All the submitted material will be hosted in a single Google Classroom with lessons organized by instructor. There will be no charge for contributors. It is expected all content will be loaded Sue Gardner by February 28 and the Google Classroom will be deleted on June 30, 2023 along with all access to material. To make this manageable for Sue, students will be notified of additions to content weekly from mid January to the end of February.

Sue Gardner will load all the material for instructors to minimize the need to learn the Google Classroom instructional platform. All participants will be “students” even if they are instructors. This will greatly simplify people’s interaction with the material.

There will be no charge to 2022 members and any prior felt :: feutre canada member to gain access to the educational material. Our thought is to invite everyone to register with the Google Classroom. We would leave it to individuals as to whether or not they accept the invitation and how they benefit from the material. Google Classroom does have issues with some email addresses and so some people may find they need to create a gmail account to gain access.

Categories: For those interested contributing promotional and/or instructional material

If you are interested in providing promotional and/or educational content, there are four ways you can participate and different compensation options. All materials belong to the instructor. To be eligible, you must provide something that would be of interest to the membership.

Please note, none of these opportunities include the requirement to monitor a student forum or hold Zoom meetings for students. Sue will work with those submitting material, to develop a workable schedule for uploading materials. Arrangements will be made to receive material as early as Monday, January 9 through February 28 for anyone who has expressed an interest in participating (no later than Sunday, January 15) and had their submission accepted (as early as Sunday, January 8).

Category 1: Promotional material in Google Classroom
Choose this category if you would like to promote your teaching, coaching or art practice. You may or may not have educational material to load into Google Classroom. You can choose to link to a for-fee workshop you offer if you want. To simplify the language, you will still be referred to as an “Instructor.” In this case, you can ask Sue to load any of the following document types: pdf including web links, jpg, mp3 (audio), or mp4 (video).

There is no compensation available for this Category and it is open to any 2022 member. Those participating in one of the other categories should consider including some material related to this category.

Category 2: Instructional Materials in a PDF
You may or may not provide video material but you do have a tutorial available as a pdf document that you would like to offer to members with a materials list, step by step instructions and some useful photos. Students will be able to download these files and keep them so they should include copyright and contact information.

If you wish to be compensated, the compensation for this Category is a one-time payment by felt :: feutre canada of $100. If you are unable to create a pdf, Sue can work with you to convert your document to a pdf.

Category 3: Video Instructional Materials
You have video material that, after any fast forwarding through the repetitious parts, is 30 – 60 minutes. This could be a tutorial, a sample coaching session, a presentation, a discussion, a walkthrough of an exhibition you put together (e.g. with inspirations, challenges, learnings and impact), or tips & tricks. It must be your own material. Please do not copy work from another instructor!

The video (mp4 file) could have been recorded directly with a camera or it could be a Zoom recording. It doesn’t have to be professional quality but it should have minimal or no background noise, suitable lighting and, for Zoom recordings, have been recorded on an Internet connection with decent speed and little or no video freezing. If a materials list is relevant to your offering and you don’t have an Instructional pdf (Category 2), then you will need to provide a materials pdf to complement your video. In Google Classroom, students will be able to view video material but not download any videos.

Sue Gardner, an amateur video editor, is prepared to provide basic video editing at no charge to anyone who needs it. Basic means: cutting boo boos, breaking into segments if desirable, adding title and closing screens, fast forwarding where appropriate. The edited video would be the property of the instructor.

If you wish to be compensated, the compensation for this Category is a one-time payment by felt :: feutre canada of $250.

Category 4: Video and pdf Instructional materials
This is a combination of Category 2 and 3 where you have both an instructional pdf and video material that are related.

If you wish to be compensated, the compensation for this category is a one-time payment by felt :: feutre canada of $350.

Other Compensation Opportunities

While we are not including Zoom meetups or any formal monitoring of the Google Classroom by Instructors, you can choose to arrange for-fee options.

Instructors can choose to arrange and charge students for Zoom meetups (e.g. $5-20 per student). This would involve arranging for a funds transfer directly between the student and the instructor or use the instructor's Eventbrite account (or equivalent). Alternatively, these meetups could be available at no charge. If you do not have a Pro Zoom account, you can arrange with Sue to use the felt :: feutre canada Zoom account.

The Instructor could choose to submit a portion of a for-fee workshop to the Google Classroom and invite students to sign up for the remaining for-fee portion.

Students can negotiate with the Instructor for coaching in a number of areas (e.g. feltmaking, art practice, business of art) and this could be for a fee.

After this opportunity ends, the Google Classroom including all video materials will be deleted. If students wish to view the videos afterwards, they need to make arrangements with the instructor and the instructor can choose whether or not to charge a fee for access.

How to Express Interest in Contributing Content

To express interest, please send an email to Sue Gardner at feltfeutre.wkshps@gmail.com. Instructions appear below. All other submissions to any other email account will be ignored until after January 15. There are a limited number of paid opportunities available (but at least 12) and submissions will be reviewed in the order they are submitted to feltfeutre.wkshps@gmail.com.

You can submit more than once for Categories 2, 3 and 4. However, if you prefer financial compensation, only your first submission (you need to indicate which it is) will be considered by January 15 and the others will go on a waiting list for consideration beginning on Monday, January 16.

All submitters will need to sign a contract with felt :: feutre canada making the submitter’s ownership of materials clear, duration of this opportunity and, for payment, the requirements for getting paid.

In your email, to Sue (feltfeutre.wkshps@gmail.com) to express your interest, please answer the following questions:

For each submission

Category 1 – Promotional material:

Will submit files for this category - Yes or No
Brief summary of what you will be promoting (e.g. art, teaching, feltmaking or art-related business, coaching, supplier, other services)
Approximate date earliest available for loading into Google Classroom (must be before March 1, 2023

Category 2 – Instructional PDF:

Compensation preferred – Yes or No
Topic and applicability to 2022 members (one or two sentences)
Approximate date earliest available for loading into Google Classroom (must be before March 1, 2023
Assistance needed creating pdf? Yes or No

Category 3 – Video

Compensation preferred – Yes or No
Topic and applicability to 2022 members (one or two sentences)
Approximate date earliest available for loading into Google Classroom (must be before March 1, 2023
Assistance needed with video editing? Yes or No

Category 4 – Video and Instructional PDF

Answer Category 2 and Category 3 questions but indicate that these are a unit and should be considered as a single submission.

Thank you!

Thanks for your interest and looking forward to seeing you online. Please send any questions to Sue Gardner at feltfeutre.wkshps@gmail.com.