The old PMS is dead - long live the PMS !

[Brigitte Martin]

Jon Radermacher, Glen Gardner, Stacy and Todd Rodgers and I attended a meeting a few weeks ago that was mean to revive the old Pittsburgh Metalsmith Society that had ceased to exist.

That evening, roughly 10 people were in the room, and a few things were discussed, but it became clear that in order to reach some kind of consensus about what the group as a whole wanted, and the (new) direction the group wanted to take, more meetings were necessary and especially more members needed to be involved in order to make this happen.

I would like to start a discussion about this new group (hopefully PMS as an acronym/name is off the table) and what potential members would be looking for.

Topics discussed at the meeting were:
- Should we be non-profit and how do we go about the setup
- Do we need some sort of Board or other organizing structire BNEFORE we even start
- What are our goals: Promotion of the metalsmith arts, development of membership, education (workshops, lectures), juried and non-juried exhibition opportunities.

Let's hear it, and please feel free to start additional discussions as well.

[Stacy Rodgers]

I think that it is very important to get an cohesive structure set in place before we start throwing our group into public demo and shows a Board will help with spreading out the responsiblity so hopefully it does not land on one persons shoulders. I like the idea of being a non-profit and working towards the benefit of metalsmiths in the area. I think it is a good idea to research how other metalsmith groups have organized themselves and how they have managed to endure over the years.