UrbanSketchers.org Annual Report 2019

ANNUAL

REPORT Urban Sketchers 2019 Annual Report

MISSION TO RAISE THE ARTISTIC, STORYTELLING AND EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF ON-LOCATION DRAWING, PROMOTING ITS PRACTICE AND CONNECTING PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD WHO DRAW ON LOCATION WHERE THEY LIVE AND TRAVEL.

MANIFESTO WE DRAW ON LOCATION, INDOORS OR OUT, CAPTURING WHAT WE SEE FROM DIRECT OBSERVATION. OUR DRAWINGS TELL THE STORY OF OUR SURROUNDINGS, THE PLACES WE LIVE AND WHERE WE TRAVEL.

ROHIT KULKARNI

OUR DRAWINGS ARE A RECORD OF TIME AND PLACE. WE ARE TRUTHFUL TO THE SCENES WE WITNESS. WE USE ANY KIND OF MEDIA AND CHERISH OUR INDIVIDUAL STYLES. WE SUPPORT EACH OTHER AND DRAW TOGETHER. WE SHARE OUR DRAWINGS ONLINE. WE SHOW THE WORLD, ONE DRAWING AT A TIME. COVER SKETCHES: SHEILA PUTRI | JASON DAS

CONTENTS 4 6 10 12

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT 2019 AT A GLANCE EXECUTIVE BOARD BRIEF HISTORY

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FOCUS ON EDUCATION FOCUS ON COMMUNITY BUILDING FINANCIALS DONORS & SPONSORS

A PDF VERSION IS AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE.

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LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT DEAR URBAN SKETCHERS, THE YEAR 2019 WAS BIG FOR URBAN SKETCHERS WITH MANY MILESTONES, MEMORIES, AND SUCCESSFUL EVENTS...

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n February, the board of Urban Sketchers gathered in San José, Costa Rica, for our annual board meeting. In addition to planning for the coming year(s), the board participated in public events hosted by Urban Sketchers Costa Rica. The workshops, lectures, and sketchwalks reached over 100 people and allowed us to introduce sketching to the children of Pueblito, a local orphanage. You can see a wonderful video about the sketchwalks and read a recap of the event in the April edition of Drawing Attention. The weekend was a warm welcome to new sketchers and embodied our manifesto to celebrate our unique styles and to support one another as we draw together.

As ever, our educational offerings remain world class, with workshops spanning the globe and culminating in the 10th Urban Sketchers International Symposium, held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in July. The Symposium was attended by 705 registered participants and offered 36 phenomenal workshops and 6 lectures on techniques, history, sketching adventures, and how to organize an Urban Sketchers chapter; and a high-quality market of art materials from our sponsors. To celebrate our 10th Symposium, for the first time ever, Symposium sketchwalks were free and open to the public. Our final 4 2019 ANNUAL REPORT

group photo shows over 1200 sketchers gathered together to celebrate this amazing practice called urban sketching.

Milestones: Shortly after the record-setting attendance at the 10th Urban Sketchers International Symposium, we passed the 200,000 followers mark on Instagram in August. Urban Sketchers added 19 new regional chapters bringing our total to 303 chapters in 57 countries globally.

The support from the Urban Sketchers community in 2018 made possible the Community Workshop Grant Program. Three grants were awarded in 2019 for Urban Sketchers instructors to partner with regional chapters and not-for-profit organizations to share the excitement and impact of on-location drawing. In 2020 we’ll be awarding five more grants. If you’re moved to support this special program, you can do so here.

In November 2019, Urban Sketchers, in collaboration with the Urban Sketchers Hong Kong chapter, made the difficult decision to cancel the 11th Urban Sketchers International Symposium due to political unrest in Hong Kong. Urban Sketchers will be supporting regional events

ANTONIUS WIDJAYA

around the world in 2020 to foster the educational, artistic, and storytelling opportunities these events provide.

Happy Sketching,

Urban Sketchers exists thanks to hundreds of volunteers around the world--from our regional chapter administrators and instructors to our executive board, social media team and dozens of committee members. Thank you to our volunteers for all they do to make our work possible.

And thank you to the 150,000+ sketchers around the world who are ambassadors of urban sketching within their communities. I am so proud of the work we’re doing together to share, support, and engage in our mission to show the world, one drawing at a time.

Amber Sausen

2017-2019President Urban Sketchers

Richard Alomar 2020 President Urban Sketchers

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USK BRAZIL

2019 AT A GLANCE

300+

TOTAL CHAPTERS WORLDWIDE

790,000 WEBSITE PAGEVIEWS

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700+ SKETCHERS FROM 47 COUNTRIES ATTENDED THE 10TH URBAN SKETCHERS INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM IN AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS

BLOG POSTS SHOWING THE WORLD, ONE DRAWING AT A TIME

19 NEW CHAPTERS RECOGNIZED

76 WORKSHOPS OFFERED

USK BENGALURU 2019 ANNUAL REPORT 7

USK AOTEAROA

SHEILA PUTRI

187

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2019 EXECUTIVE BOARD

President: Amber Sausen Minneapolis, USA president@ urbansketchers.org

Vice President: Richard Alomar New York City, USA vicepresident@ urbansketchers.org

Secretary: Uma Kelkar San Jose, USA secretary@ urbansketchers.org

Education Director (through October): Mรกrio Linhares Lisbon, Portugal education@ urbansketchers.org

Education Director: Rita Sabler Portland, USA education@ urbansketchers.org

Events Director: Peggy Wong Kuching, Malaysia events@urbansketchers.org

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Treasurer: Gail Wong, Seattle, USA treasurer@ urbansketchers.org

ADVISORY BOARD Elizabeth Alley, USA Gabi Campanario, USA Suma CM, USA Jason Das, USA Jessie Chapman, USA Jim Richards, USA Joel Winstead, USA José Louro, Portugal Paul Wang, Singapore Tia Boon Sim, Singapore

KEY COMMITTEE MEMBERS Noga Grosman, Social Media Coordinator Mohan Banerji, Sponsorship Coordinator Raylie Dunkel, Sponsorship Coordinator Patricia Chow, Drawing Attention Managing Editor Chantal Vincent, Regional Chapters Coordinator Javier Mas Pinturas, Regional Chapters Coordinator

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BRIEF HISTORY URBAN SKETCHERS WAS FOUNDED BY SEATTLE-BASED ILLUSTRATOR AND JOURNALIST GABI CAMPANARIO. INSPIRED BY ARTISTS SHARING THEIR ONLOCATION DRAWINGS ON THE INTERNET, HE STARTED A FLICKR GROUP IN NOVEMBER 2007 TO SHOWCASE THEIR WORK.

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XANA JUAREZ

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all of 2008 saw the start of our blog at urbansketchers. org, with 100 “correspondents” from around the world sharing their sketches and stories. The 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization was founded in 2009 to support our primary objectives of education and community building.

USK HO CHI MINH

The followers of urbansketchers.org and a growing number of participants in the Flickr group wanted to do more than just share online – they wanted to meet and sketch together.

Regional chapters of Urban Sketchers soon began popping up around the world, bringing an online community to the physical world. The first educational gathering of sketchers, The Urban Sketchers International Symposium, was held in Portland, Oregon, USA, in July 2010. The 10th Symposium was held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in July 2019.

Our primary goals are education and fostering community. Today, Urban Sketchers is a global movement of people who meet, sketch, and share.

USK AOTEAROA

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FOCUS ON EDUCATION WE AIM TO TEACH ON-LOCATION DRAWING SKILLS TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE ALL OVER THE WORLD. WE MAKE OUR INSTRUCTION ACCESSIBLE BOTH THROUGH LARGE GLOBAL EVENTS AND SMALLER LOCAL WORKSHOPS. SYMPOSIUM

E

ach year, we hold an annual Symposium, where hundreds of sketchers gather to learn and to meet one another. USk chapters submit proposals to bring the four-day gathering to their city, and a host venue is then selected by the USk Symposium Team and Executive Board. The event is organized by a team of global and local volunteers in conjunction with a local Urban Sketchers chapter.

The Symposium is a comprehensive educational program.

It allows us to promote diverse learning activities related to location drawing as well as knowledge sharing between professional artists and people seeking to improve their skills. Daily workshops, demos, and lectures are led by a world-class group of local and international artists.

In 2019, the Urban Sketchers Symposium was hosted in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and drew 700+ participants from 47 countries to attend 108 workshops, 37 demos, six lectures and seven sketchwalks. The Symposium sketchwalks were free in 2019 to celebrate our 10th Symposium. The total number of registered Symposium participants and sketchwalk attendees was over 1200!

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WORKSHOPS

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n addition to our Symposium, we also facilitate sketching workshops on a local scale. Our workshops foster educational opportunities for sketching enthusiasts and support artists interested in teaching urban sketching under the USk umbrella. The idea is to bring the USk educational experience to any city where a qualified instructor can lead a workshop. While instructors’ styles may vary, they all share a commitment to drawing on location and helping students tell the stories of where they are. In 2019, USk sponsored >76 workshops – a 76% increase over 2018.

To celebrate our 10th anniversary in 2017, we launched the USk 10x10 Workshop Series. USk chapters all over the world organized series of 10 unique local workshops to engage the community and provide a wealth of learning opportunities. The series was wildly successful, with more than 440 10x10 workshops held on five continents. The program continues today as a way for new instructors to develop their teaching skills and to share knowledge within their regional chapters.

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: CHILDREN AT THE USK PARIS WORKSHOP IN THE PANTHÉON | BRISBANE SKETCHFEST 2019 | PARTICIPANTS AT RITA SABLER’S 10 X 10 WORKSHOPS.

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FOCUS ON COMMUNITY BUILDING WE AIM TO TEACH ON-LOCATION DRAWING SKILLS TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE ALL OVER THE WORLD. WE MAKE OUR INSTRUCTION ACCESSIBLE BOTH THROUGH LARGE GLOBAL EVENTS AND SMALLER LOCAL WORKSHOPS.

A

HARI SHANKAR

lthough Urban Sketchers has a global footprint, it’s at the local level that we have the most impact.

In 2019 USk welcomed one to two new chapters a month to bring urban sketching to more people in more places. To date, Urban Sketchers has 303 chapters on six continents.

The Community Workshop Grant Fund was established in 2018 with the funds raised in the 10k+10k Matching Fund Campaign. This initiative shares Urban Sketchers with those who have not had the opportunity to practice urban sketching, combining our two greatest resources: our enthusiastic USk Chapters with our talented USk instructors. USk chapters worldwide are invited to partner with a local community group (not-for-profit, school, art organization, city agency) to develop and implement a workshop for that group.

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Here is an overview of the proposals that were chosen and have moved the needle further as far as reach of Urban Sketching goes. For in-depth articles on each, please see individual articles in Drawing Attention. The truly diversified geography of the workshops across Asia, Europe and North America gives us great hope of reaching other regions next year.

AUG 31, 2019: Live and Quick Sketch as Healing Therapy for Children in an Orphanage

Demo + 4 workshops on the premises of the reformatory. Low teacher-student ratio was achieved by having concurrent workshops managed by pairs of instructors.

DON BOSCO REFORMATORY HOUSE USK SURABAYA, INDONESIA 9 Instructors & 2 workshop helpers

REACH: 44 children in total | 35 children 6-12 years of age | 9 children <6

PEOPLE: Darman Angir, Shelva Xie, L.K. Bing, Wijaya

NIO NOVA CHRISTIANA

Pangestu, Agustinus Angkoso, Nio Nova Christiana, Oei Lina Kumala, Christian Ticualo, Aloysius Erwin S

In Asia, USK Surabaya led a collaboration with the Don Bosco Reformatory House. The workshop program for kindergarten children was an early introduction to tools and media, letting them experience by touch, by varying strokes and exploring colors with crayons. On the other hand, elementary school children were introduced to watercolors tubes, palette, brushes and watercolor papers. This was their first experience of using watercolor

WATCH A SHORT MOVIE tools. Older children drew from direct observation using the views they saw within the premises of the reformatory house. Some of them were in the corridor viewing garden with some recycled pots. And some of them observed dovesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; nests among trees on the side of the chapel.

These daily objects provided simple geometric shapes for the children to sketch.

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APRIL 2019 - JUNE 2020: Workshop series IN COLLABORATION WITH SECOURS POPULAIRE + USK PARIS, FRANCE 10 volunteers and growing

REACH: 16 children 6-12 yrs | 15 children 6-14 yrs PEOPLE: Marion Rivolier, Brigitte Lannaud-Levy, Mat Let, Tula Moraes, Claire Archenault, Sylvie Lehoux, Elise Robineau, Stéphanie Senez, Sacha, Agnès Letellie

• 4 workshops were given between April - June 2019 at the Panthéon • 4 workshops at Opéra Comique and 3 workshops at Guimet Museum September 2019 Intent is to have 12 workshops until June 2020 ending with an exhibit of the children’s work. http://paris.urbansketchers.org/2019/04/urban-sketchersparis-et-le-secours.html http://paris.urbansketchers.org/2019/05/chronique-desateliers-n2-3-avec-le.html http://paris.urbansketchers.org/2019/10/cest-la-rentreelopera-comique.html

TULA MORAES

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USk Paris wanted to work with children whose parents, weakened by life’s difficulties, do not have the financial means to enroll their children in drawing workshops. They reached out to Secours Populaire (est. 1945), a non-profit association with a mission of acting against poverty and exclusion in France by relying on the spirit of solidarity.

Secours Populaire enriches its essential social and humanitarian projects with cultural ones.

Further, USk Paris found a sustainable way of organizing community programs - by rotating leadership of the workshops amongst the volunteers to start with. They organized workshops in museums during their off hours ensuring that children could access top quality art and explore the world on a sustainable travel budget as well!

We are highlighting a few of the workshops conceived by Marion Rivolier which would make explorers out of the young artists – where their pencils and mind would allow them to weave stories among the museum’s artifacts and statues and get them attuned to observing and studying the old relics. USK Paris will continue to offer workshops which we will feature in Drawing Attention as time passes.

LOCATION 1 | WORKSHOP 1 | KHMER COURT: IN THE HEART OF THE JUNGLE, EXPLORE A KHMER TEMPLE IN CAMBODIA! Children became archaeologists and explorers, walking through the jungle and discovering large statues of deities and pieces of temples. Drawings from this workshop were a mix of off-the-cuff and imagination.

LOCATION 2 | WORKSHOP 2 | ART CHAM VIETNAM: DISCOVER FANTASTIC ANIMALS Like explorers, children searched for animals, discovered them, and drew them in order to understand them.

LOCATION 3 | WORKSHOP 3 | ANCIENT CHINA: EXPRESSION AND MOVEMENTS AMONG THE MERCHANTS OF THE SILK ROAD Through drawings of the exhibits of the long land trips taken on the Silk Road between the 2nd and the 8th century, children deciphered stories - observing the expressions of the guardian kings and merchants, observing exaggeration for emphasis and seeing how sometimes art transforms reality.

USk Paris says, “Organizing drawing workshops in national heritage locations requires a great deal of identification and organization time. At the beginning of September, we visited the Opéra Comique to choose and define the spaces and topics of our workshop. It is a unique opportunity to discover these spaces when not in use by the public. The Favart room with its double rotunda, a testimony to French art from the end of the 19th century, immediately makes us dream with its insane chandelier, inspiring sculptures and paintings. We are particularly careful during our workshops to respect the location, as our previous experiences at the Panthéon attest.”

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AUG 24, 2019: The Joys of Sketching on Location IN COLLABORATION WITH UMAR + USK CHARLOTTE, NC, USA 10 volunteers and growing

REACH: 11 participants PEOPLE: Mike Daikubara, Jenny Sperry

READ MORE

KANA FUNABIKI

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Day-long workshop for people with Intellectual/ Developmental Disabilities https://umarinfo.com/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/ urbansketchers/?post_id=1016204526326038

Mike Daikubara and Jenny Sperry from USK Charlotte, North Carolina, USA arranged for a day-long workshop in collaboration with UMAR, a non-profit organization with a mission to promote community inclusion, independence and growth for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities through residential, employment and cultural enrichment opportunities.

The workshops started with exercises that used only color, followed by an exercise to use only felt pens and then clubbed the 2 skills together. USK volunteers learned how to improve this experience for the participants when they repeat this effort in future - e.g. replacing felt pens with pencils for those participants who may not be able to control pressure on felt tips. The workshop reaffirmed the belief of the organizers that art brings people of all abilities together. If there was any doubt, it was allayed by the feedback Mike and Jenny received the following week, from the coordinator of UMAR saying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;..our participants got so much out of the event. They have all come to me this morning saying that they spent the weekend water

coloring after learning from Mike. If you all are ever interested in doing something like this again we would be more than happy to participate. Thank you.â&#x20AC;?

We have had this sentiment repeated to us in Paris as well. As we build our community outreach programs, we cannot resist thanking the community for funding these programs, for allowing our USK stalwarts to reach out further and farther, and to bring exploration and inclusion via drawing to people from more walks of life than we routinely reach.

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FINANCIALS IN 2019 THREE GRANTS WERE ISSUED SUPPORTING THE WORK OF URBAN SKETCHING WITH UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE SPECIFIC WORK THAT WAS DONE PLEASE SEE INFORMATION ABOVE ON COMMUNITY WORKSHOP GRANT PROGRAMS. COMMUNITY WORKSHOP GRANT PROGRAM DISBURSED THREE GRANTS TOTALING $2770.32. THE 2019 YEAR END GIVING CAMPAIGN, LED BY KRIS MORDECAI, SUCCESSFULLY ROUNDED OUT THE YEAR FOR URBAN SKETCHERS. THE CAMPAIGN RAISED $5829.54.

ANGEL GERMAN SIMARRO

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INCOME STATEMENT DONATIONS 6,614.70 SPONSORSHIPS 59,487.65 PROGRAM REVENUE 243,658.62 OTHER OPERATING INCOME 5,722.19 TOTAL INCOME $ 315,483.16

EXPENSES CONTRACT PERSONNEL EXPENSES (BOOKKEEPER & DA) OPERATING EXPENSES OPERATING EXPENSES-BOARD PROGRAMMING EXPENSES COMMUNITY GRANTS EXPENSES

BANK FEES & FUNDRAISING EXPENSES TOTAL EXPENSES NET INCOME:

-9,000.00 -15,947.19 -15,199.58 -197,954.76 -2,770.32 -2,131.03 $ -243,002.88 $ 72,480.28

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DONORS & SPONSORS DONORS

Patricia Acton Richard Aitken Elizabeth Alley Faye Anderson Javier Ariza Anne-Marie Armstrong Eileen Bernasconi Stephanie Bower Alessandro Brito Sinclair Browning Gabriel Campanario Mollie Carter Nathalia Cavalcante Suma CM Lisbeth Cort Mike Daikubara Marilia De Castro Lima Varella Marie-Helene Delhaye Tammie Dickerson Judith Dollar Debra L. Dout Nancy S. Goldberg Eileen P. Goldenberg Rachel Grossman Susan Jackson Karen John Donna Johnson Judy Kistler-Robinson 24 2019 ANNUAL REPORT

Susan Knapp Tina Koyama Rohit Kulkarni Natali Kusknareva Tessa Anne Macdermot Mike Maher Don Marsh Florence May Robert Moore Linda Moore Kris Mordecai Jm Murphy Eric Ngan Eve Octtavino Christi Patterson Charles Piper Judith Plummer Dumaria Pohan Ulrike Poltz Rowena Poole Lynn Potter Wells Vivien Rebsdat Irene Reinhold James Richards Christina Rodizza Maribel Rojo Byron Rushing Amber Sausen Richard Seidel

Alane Simons Rob Sketcherman Judith Spijk Elizabeth Steel Sharon A. Stone-Stover Charles Stull Ralph Thompson Zoi Tokoutsi Chantal Vincent Kent Walker Paul Wang Lis Watkins Neil Whitehead Sasala Wickramasinghe Jane Wingfield Williams Resources Sara Winn Gail Wong April Wu Madhuri Yadlapati

SYMPOSIUM SPONSORS Blick Art Supplies Brevillier Urban & Sachs Caran d’Ache SA Charlie’s Urban Sketch Factory Clairefontaine-Rhodia Colart

Da Vinci Daniel Smith Derwent Faber-Castell Golden Artist Colors Goldenberg Designs Hahnemühle Johannes Gerstäcker Verlag GmbH Kremer Pigmente Laloran Leuchtturm 1917 Nevskaya Penup Renesans Roman Szmal Rosemary & Co Artist Brushes Royal Talens Schmincke Seawhite of Brighton Semikolon Sennelier SMLT Stillman and Birn Strathmore Paper The Quarto Group The Sketch Deck Van Beek Art Supplies Viviva Colorsheets Wallace Seymour Zebra Pens

SUPPORT OUR MISSION HELP US BRING URBAN SKETCHERS TO EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE. • BECOME A SPONSOR – MATCHING GIFT – SPONSOR INSTRUCTOR FOR A WORKSHOP • START OR HELP LEAD A CHAPTER • VOLUNTEER YOUR TIME • GIVE THROUGH AMAZON SMILE CONNECT WITH URBAN SKETCHERS: W

URBAN SKETCHERS URBANSKETCHERS.ORG P.O. BOX 95724. SEATTLE, WA 98145 USA

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BARBARA LUEL

© 2020 Urban Sketchers www.urbansketchers.org