An end of year update from SAW
I think it’s fair to say that 2020 has been far from what anyone was expecting. Like many small organizations we were hit pretty hard by travel and gathering restrictions recommended by the CDC in response to coronavirus. The health and safety of our students, faculty and community are of course our biggest priority but it was hard to have our 2019-20 Year-long group disperse early.
Luckily we had planned to transition a lot of our programs online this year so we were well placed to offer new programs for people stuck at home, like our first ever Graphic Novel Development course which brought over 60 people together from across the world to work on their personal graphic novels.
This September we launched our first Online Year-long certificate, a redesign of our in person year-long program. Although learning online isn’t ideal for everyone, it has allowed us the opportunity to widen our student-base and invite a new community of people to SAW.
The wider SAW community has been a great source of energy during this time, rallying to organize weekly virtual meet ups and drawing events. In October that included a 24-hour comic day unlike we’d ever hosted before.
We’ve got big news
You might have already heard the news that Tom has moved away from Gainesville. Never fear, he still very much remains at the helm of SAW, focusing his energy on our online learning opportunities and hoping to return to SAW for our annual week-long and short courses when we can meet together again.
Our in person programs are going to be managed by a team of past students, new faculty and our board of directors. We hope that you’ll accept this invitation to join us at workshops, events and in imagining what SAW can look like going into the future.
We’re pretty excited that these plans for the coming year include relocating to a recently renovated, accessible site a little further south on Main Street. The new location will be shared with the Gainesville Fine Arts Association (GFAA) one of the town's oldest non-profit arts organizations (almost 100 years) and offers a huge opportunity to learn more about how we can give back to the Gainesville community.
It’s going to be a chance to change the face of SAW but our heart will remain the same: soft and gritty, wrapped around a gooey kernel of DIY spirit.
We need help
That having been said, moving is expensive. We’re sending out the bat signal to our past students and broader community for help to cover some costs including:
Paying the rent;
Hiring local movers;
Creating new SAW street signage;
Painting the interior of the new space;
And if we pass our goal for this end-of-year fundraiser we’re hoping to go even further:
Improving our library shelving;
Upgrading our teaching space with new desks;
Providing partial and fully funded scholarships to online and in-person students;
Expanding our teaching staff and subject areas;
Supporting free community programs.
What you can do
We know this has been a hard year for a lot of people. Especially for those of us in the arts. We’re asking you to give if you can. If you’re not in a position to give, we’re hoping you might be willing to share our Go Fund Me via your social media or broader networks.
We’re committed to comics
You all know that SAW has been operating on bare bones for the last 8 years. Tom has been a source of constant energy with support from past students, faculty and the board of directors. I really see this new phase as a chance to honor the sacred thing that he started and realize his vision of a place where people can grow not just their comics practice, but their purpose in this life.
A note from Tom:
This move lets us literally put a sign out on the street, lets us put a beacon out there and light it and say, “This is the space for comics. This is the space to take your whole self and dedicate yourself to comics for a year or an afternoon or a week. This is the place that you can grow into that artistic self you want to be.”
We hope we’ll be seeing you around SAW, whether it’s our new space or virtual community, again soon!