Five Questions With: Jim Scott

Jim Scott has been a member of the board of directors for the nonprofit Art Connection-RI for five years, serving most of that time as chairman of the Art Committee, which reaches out to artists to coordinate their donations to local social service nonprofits. Besides recruiting artists, he also photographs the art so that it can be presented to the staff and constituents of the organizations that choose the art for their walls. To date, 466 artworks are being used to create welcoming and inspiring environments at 38 organizations. Here, Scott discusses the value of the nonprofit’s work and what its upcoming five-year anniversary means to the organization and the groups it benefits.

PBN: Over the past four years the Art Connection-RI has placed more than 466 pieces of original artwork from local artists at various organizations. How do you plan to increase that number and to what extent?
SCOTT:
Our goal is to place 20 artworks in a qualified social service nonprofit every month. As more people in Rhode Island learn about the service Art Connection-RI provides, we are receiving more and more applications for art and, fortunately, Rhode Island artists have been very generous with their donations.
This past year Art Connection-RI began to exhibit some of the artwork available for selection so that the public will know more about what we do. For example, we exhibited some of our available art at the University of Rhode Island Feinstein Gallery last summer and this coming summer there will be an exhibit at the Pawtucket City Hall Art Gallery.

PBN: Art Connection-RI is celebrating five years of existence this year. How has your status as a full-fledged 501(c)(3) nonprofit ensured your survival?
SCOTT:
Our nonprofit status helps on several fronts. First, it gives the artists confidence in our mission. This is important because, unless they have their work formally appraised, artists typically cannot get a tax write-off themselves, yet I have personally found that they still wish to donate because they are confident in what we do.
Second, it helps nonprofits understand the value of collaborating with Art Connection-RI. They typically don’t have a pre-planned objective for this, yet they quickly understand what we can offer them.
Third, it provides our benefactors with the incentive to give. When we apply for grants, we can demonstrate to funders the value of what we do.
Having made the effort to apply to the IRS for nonprofit status shows that we are confident that our service is valued by the community and that the AC-RI board is committed to be there long term.
Until last year, we were an all-volunteer organization. With the funds we have received from several benefactors, we have hired our first part-time staff and opened an office at the Pawtucket Armory Arts Center.

PBN: What has been the biggest challenge in running your organization?
SCOTT:
The biggest challenge for the Art Connection-RI is getting the word out that we provide art to social service nonprofits as a permanent donation with no cost to them. My personal experience with a few nonprofits has been that they feel “What’s the catch?” Many of these organizations are understaffed and have major goals to accomplish for their clients; therefore, getting art onto their walls is almost never on their priority list. However, once they realize we’re serious and understand how interesting it is for their staff and for their constituents to get together and select art from a presentation of 150 artworks, they become very excited about it. And, of course, once the art is installed, they are delighted and proud at the difference it makes.
Ironically, the easiest part has been getting local artists to donate high-quality art. Virtually every artist I have talked to thinks that our mission makes a lot of sense and tries to provide at least a few pieces. Last week, I talked to an artist I’ve known for just a couple years, and he immediately committed to donate 50 pieces of his work.

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PBN: How many artists are affiliated with your organization, and are there “regular” contributors?
SCOTT:
Over 80 artists have donated art to social service nonprofits through the Art Connection-RI. Once an artist experiences how rewarding it is to have their artwork selected and placed in an organization where it is respected and appreciated by many people, they often will give more art. For example, Beverly Thomas, an honoree at our upcoming fifth anniversary celebration, has donated 53 paintings to nonprofits.

PBN: How are you celebrating the nonprofit’s anniversary?
SCOTT:
Our fifth anniversary is a landmark event for Art Connection-RI and a time to acknowledge not only our accomplishments but, more importantly, accomplishments of key members of the art community. The Iona Dobbins Award will be presented to City Arts, the Community Art Award to Munir Mohammed, and the Artist/Donor Award to Beverly Thomas.
Our fifth anniversary celebration will be on March 30 at Providence Picture Frame’s Dryden Gallery from 5:30 to 8 pm. Besides the awards ceremony, there will be entertainment, refreshments and a silent auction.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Great to see this story on Art Connection-RI and Jim’s hard work as a board member. I’d like to give a huge shout out to all the amazing volunteers at AC-RI, including Wendy Ingram, the co-founder and executive director, whose tireless commitment to this idea has brought joy and comfort to so many clients of these organizations who otherwise might not experience the work of these donating visual artists.