Having gotten to the point of our carreers where we feel it is time
to start giving back, we have started teaching jewelry classes from
beginners to advanced classes. My partners and myself have been in
the jewelry industry for 30 plus years and have a wealth of knowledge
to share. We have a large, well equipped facility and more time as
all of our kids have grown up and moved on to life’s of their own.
So what is the best way to promote and find students these days?
There was a thread about mentoring a few weeks past and that what
got us thinking about proceeding with this.
In the 90’s, I taught extensively for vocational rehabilitation and
enjoyed it immensely. I am a Graduate Gemologist and Master Jeweler
and Setter with many, many years on the bench making fine high end
platinum and gold pieces. We do a tremendous amount of CAD design and
Casting for the jewelry industry in our day to day operations.
I am a graduate of the School for American Craftsmen at RIT way back
when, where I studied under Hans Christensen and Gary Griffin. My
other partners are equally or even more experienced than myself. We
have established a web site and have done emails and such to
promote, as well as some flyers and notices at the art gallery and
rec center. So far only a very few people have been interested.
Ganoksin Project Media Kit details a variety of ways you can share
your message with a monthly audience of more than 350,000 gem and
jewelry related professionals.
You don’t tell us where you are, but if you are in the US then I
would start by seeing if there are any goldsmith or jewelry - related
clubs in your area. And I define area widely - I’m co-president of
the North Carolina Society of Goldsmiths, but I live in South
Carolina - and have been a member for years, since as far as I know
there is not a similar group in SC. So go broad in looking.
Next check with your local and area gem and mineral clubs. Again, if
you are the US the parent group for many of these is AFMS,
Their site will have contact info on clubs across the US.
Then check with your local high schools, colleges and universities -
they may have art programs or students who might be interested.
I suppose it really depends on what sort of students (hobbyists,
aspiring jewelers, etc) you’re looking for but I would recommend
that you go with social media-facebook, twitter, et al. Regardless of
personal feelings about it, facebook is here to stay and
increasingly is the way to reach the younger generation.
How about lurking at local bead and gem shows and handing out
flyers?
If your local community college doesn’t offer competing classes, see
if you can post flyers on campus.
And if it isn’t already, make sure your website is optimized to get
picked up in Google searches, particularly about jewelry classes.
Tim and I just put the word out with our local suppliers. Since they
see all of the local jewelers and jewelry students on a regular
basis, they know who is looking for classes. You can also put the
word out with local guilds. We have gotten students from The
Creative Metal Artists Guild and the Willamette Faceter’s Guild as
well as Craigs list.
I love teaching and learn new stuff myself in the process. I feel
it’s important to pass on the “Old World” skills that Tim and I
have. I feel i owe it to the folks who taught me.
So what is the best way to promote and find students these days?
There was a thread about mentoring a few weeks past and that what
got us thinking about proceeding with this.
Write class descriptions. Create a schedule of classes. Create a
website for your school, publish that class info. Make a facebook
page for your school. Talk to people in your community about it who
would be interested – community college metals students perhaps?
Oh, and check with your insurance person about appropriate coverage
for this.
we are in Sunny Arizona Just outside of Phoenix in Gilbert. Good
points! We have visited the lapidary clubs locally very nice folks.
Havent checked with the schools yet, gotta do that!
Thank you for your ideas
Cheree
We are looking for Professionals and serious beginners. We have
participated at the bead show in Tucson last September and also went
around the bead shows this last February. We need to get out to the
community college- good Idea. Oue web site is
thank you for the concise list we have done a class schedule and
class descriptions though we haven’t made a completely separate site
for classes maybe we should? Gotta get out to the community college-
good idea. Good point on insurance as well
Jo
Good point about the suppliers. Im also going to check if we have a
metals guild here, I know we have a crafts guild so thats a good
place to start. Its goping to be good to give back!
Mr. Thomas Cavagnaro - may I ask what your website is, and where your
proposed classes will be held? (I would suggest always listing your
website with your name in any correspondence.)