By Kalena Reynolds | Reporter
Every Thursday in the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center, students come together to discuss the art industry, running a successful business and developing one’s network as an artist. This student-run group was founded by three art students — Nashville, Tenn., senior Emmeline Scott, Belton fifth-year senior Abby Olsen and Baton Rouge, La., senior Mace Shipley. It’s called “The Starving Artists Club.”
Scott, Olsen and Shipley all plan to pursue a career in the arts after college, but have found themselves questioning how to be successful postgrad and find a collective group of people to share ideas with. While their classes teach them how to hone their art skills and techniques, they saw a gap in education on the business side, which spawned the idea for the club.
“The club right now has several main goals in mind, one of which being fostering a sense of community within and among art majors,” Olsen said. “Another one is helping students find ways of monetizing and supporting themselves off of their art.”
While the club is currently in the process of getting chartered, they have already had many notable events and opportunities for members, such as successful guest speakers and art critiques. Even though the club is catered toward art students, there are no prerequisites, and students across all disciplines are welcome.
“All of our meetings have had a very different sort of look — our last meeting, for example, was like a process critique,” Olsen said. “So we went around, and we looked at a bunch of people’s work, and we kind of just had a very casual discussion about people’s work.”
Scott, Olsen and Shipley all found themselves asking their professors lots of questions about being a profitable artist and wanted a place to discuss professions in art with other students. While their professors could guide them outside class time, they felt there needed to be further discussion on the topic.
“Our professors have done a great and amazing job fostering us as artists, but there’s not like a business equivalent to the art major,” Olsen said. “That whole business side of it isn’t really directly talked about.”
The club aims to host events that students can participate in and use to begin developing their careers — opportunities that generally wouldn’t be available until after college. These events range from art showcases and sales to receiving feedback from other students.
“We all have done individual things to kind of fill those gaps,” Shipley said. “For instance, Emmeline put on a student show at the end of last semester. Abby and I put on a student art sale on Fountain Mall last semester.”
Even though the club keeps the meetings casual yet informative and inclusive, it hosts “Western Wednesday” every week, where members dress in Western wear. Western Wednesday was inspired by Baylor’s theatre program doing a “Floral Fridays” theme every week.
“I just thought it’d be fun if everyone’s kind of dressed up the same once a week to build that camaraderie — and I can show off my wardrobe,” Scott said.
The Starving Artists Club meets at 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays at the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center and welcomes any student.
The club frequently updates its Instagram, which is the best place to learn more about the club and its meetings. Most meeting itineraries look different and apply to students of any degree or art level.
“Genuinely, you don’t have to have any sort of artistic skill to come and be a part of it,” Scott said. “All you have to do is just honestly show up to a meeting with a good attitude.”
