Author: Media Manager

Feltwest Committee

• Facilitate planning meeting
• Foster new tutors through eNews, Meetings, and approaches

Feltwest Admin

• Prepare, distribute and maintain contracts for tutors
• Administer payments for tutors
• Prepare and publish workshop events, products, and email processes
• Notify Co-ordinator of participant registrations
• Notify Co-ordinator of survey results
• Maintain SEP Master Documents
• Facilitate expense reimbursements
• Facilitate supplier payments
• Maintain new tutor submissions

Co-Ordinator:

• Plan and liaise with the Committee for yearly calendar – attend planning meeting
• Review survey results
• Develop and maintain list of tutors
• Liaise with tutors
• Foster new tutors
• Develop skill workshops as required utilising skills and capabilities from tutors, committee and members
• Assess and maintain required resources – wool packs, kits, equipment etc
• Submit invoices from suppliers for payment
• Submit Expense Reimbursement claims through Members Area – Expense Reimbursement

Lead Tutor

• Prepare class room environment for participants
• Report to Co-ordinator on low resource levels
• Take lead in teaching workshop
• Pack up and maintain equipment post workshop which may include taking items home to be washed
• Return all equipment at next meeting or through liaison with Co-ordinator
• When requested assist Co-ordinator of workshop development
• When requested prepare kits for participants
• Post workshop complete SEP Tutor Payment form through the Members Area of website

Assistant Tutor

• Prepare class room environment for participants
• Assist Lead tutor
• Pack up and maintain equipment post workshop which may include taking items home to be washed
• Return all equipment at next meeting or through liaison with Co-ordinator
• When requested assist Co-ordinator of workshop development
• When requested prepare kits for participants
• Post workshop complete SEP Tutor Payment form through the Members Area of website

Beginners workshops minimum number of participants is 4 or as determined by the Coordinator in consultation with President or Vice-President. If more than 6 participants, a second tutor can be engaged.  Maximum participants of 10.

Skill Extension workshops minimum number of 4 or as determined by Skills Extension Coordinator in consultation with President or Vice-President.  Maximum participants of 10 but may be 12 with Tutor consultation.

Workshop duration 3 hours.

Participant fee $50 all equipment supplied with wool packs for sale or $55 inclusive of materials kit.

Members wishing to be considered for tutoring Beginners Workshops must have submitted an EOI and be judged to have appropriate felting knowledge and teaching experience by the Skills Extension Coordinator.

Lead Tutor fee $200 and Assistant Tutor $150.

Skills Extension Coordinator to provide course outline to tutor.

Principles and objectives

• Feltwest wishes to make available a varied range of workshops catering to different felting interests and skill levels.
• We aim to expose members to skills/tutors not usually available in WA at least once a year, and preferably more often.
• While recognising that some workshops will inevitably be expensive, we aim to ensure that price  (including the price of materials and kits) does not generally deter members from attending
• We recognise that for many artists and craftspeople, sharing their skills can be in the nature of a hobby, done to enhance their own enjoyment. For those who work in the textile arts, giving workshops helps people promote themselves, their skills, and their goods and services.
• We recognise also that an artist’s or craftsperson’s skills have real value and that their work-including teaching work-should be fairly remunerated. For those who work in the textile arts, workshops may form an important part of their income.

Tutor Selection.

We aim to provide a mix of skill levels and techniques, long and shorter workshops, and project or sample based workshops.

It would be desirable for the proposed tutor, or the person suggesting the tutor, to indicate;

• Is the workshop for beginners, more advanced, very advanced?
• What will be the outcomes of the workshop?  eg. samples, completed piece, assistance with participant’s own work
• workshop duration
• proposed fee and materials list or kit price
• brief description of  subject  eg.  shoes, wall hanging, working with resists
• here else in WA may the tutor be teaching this year?
• is the tutor prepared to give a presentation if requested? Cost?

It is also important to attempt to obtain the views of members by eg. email survey, ongoing discussions at TnT and on Tuesdays.  Where members  mention a preference spontaneously, Committee members should ensure these are noted down.

In selecting tutors, the Committee will take account of feedback from members and others who are familiar with the tutor’s work or have attended their workshops, but will also remember that assessments of quality have a subjective element. Feltwest’s task is to help its members to learn, but not to set itself up as an arbiter of taste or skill.

Payment policy

1. All workshops should be costed to break even at 10 participants.
2. A base fee is $500/ day (9.30 to 4.30, with tutor arriving at 9 & tidying away at 4.30), to be amended as required ..
3. Any tutor may request a fee in excess of the standard fee.
4. In order to keep workshops affordable, only a limited number of tutors will be engaged at more than the standard fee. Additional nonstandard fee workshops may be scheduled at any time for good reason e.g. to take advantage of the visit to WA of a felt artist which was not known at the time the year’s programme was set.
5. Any tutor may accept a larger number of participants, and a higher break-even number (eg 14 participants, 12 break-even), but the Committee will only accept such a proposal if satisfied that participants’ experience will not be adversely affected.
6. Unless varied by the Committee, the cancellation date will be: for Perth based tutors,2 weeks prior to the first day of the workshop; for interstate tutors, 8 weeks prior; and for international tutors 12 weeks prior. To be reviewed further at recommencement of International travel.
7. The Committee retains discretion not to cancel, for any good reason (e.g. where cancellation would adversely affect other textile groups who are sharing the cost of an out of state tutor)
8. Where participant numbers have not been reached an offer to the tutor will be made to accept or decline the balance of receipts minus Feltwest’s expenses including but not limited to: room hire, administrative expenses and any other expense incurred by Feltwest.

Tutors Selling at Workshops

Whilst Feltwest recognises that selling product may be an intricate part of the tutor’s income stream any selling activities must be approved by the Feltwest committee prior to contract signing.  Any selling must be disclosed on the Workshops Submission and the scope allowed will be written into the Contract.  Selling is to be specifically to the workshop participants and is not allowed to be advertised to external persons.