PWAS Board Elections Coming This Fall
Every two years at the Prince William Art Society, known as PWAS, the 2 year term for the PWAS Board of Directors comes to a close. Member elections take place and the outgoing Board is replaced by the incoming Board. With PWAS having started back in 1971, that cycle has made for a long list of people stepping up to volunteer for this nonprofit art organization. Let's take a look at what and who we need to help find our new Board.
I voted!
Nominating Committee
Great people with great ideas and a willingness to serve help make up not only the Board of Directors (BoD) for every nonprofit, but for any committee within that group as well. A Nominating Committee is a sub-committee to the BoD that helps to identify and nominate the persons best suited for each position on the Board. The PWAS Board elections will occur later this year, at the PWAS November meeting on November 24, 2025 with the new Board being seated in January 2026 and run until the end of 2027. This being the beginning of May, its a GREAT time to serve on this committee and begin the search!
Positions to Fill for the Board/Vote on:
President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Member at Large
PWCAC Liason
Each of these Board Members having voting rights within the Prince William Art Society, setting goals, mission, policy; they are all making decisions about the ultimate success of the art organization. Not all may be leaving, some may desire to continue their roles but the positions will still need to be voted on.
Consider becoming a Nom Com member to help find people that would fill each of the very necessary Board positions. This committee can be a few people or not more than 5 and you will be researching and recruiting your potential PWAS Board members from the PWAS Members!
For the Nominating Committee, you will develop a team of PWAS people that will serve over the next few months or so with the goal of finding
those hidden gems within the membership that have the skill sets, the
willingness, are active, are respected, have strong decision making skills and its always good to have some great diplomatic skills.
You will need to get familiar with the PWAS By-Laws, especially if they have been updated in recent months. Basically, the Nom Com will prepare the Election Process to be ready in November. We have previously used this time to do some polling with the PWAS members to get ideas from them about art topics they are interested in as well.
And WHO do you contact if you want to be ON the Nominating Committee? Your current Member at Large, Tom Payne. See https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/board
About the PWAS Board
Several of the current 2024-2025 PWAS Board members have served in their position or in multiple positions, for more than this 2 year cycle, and thank goodness for that. This Board has stepped up and developed some wonderful partnerships and opportunities that have really gotten PWAS better known throughout the area and opened up more areas for PWAS members to share their art, learn more about art, and have FUN with art. And definitely a lot of research has been done with the goal of trying to find our next gallery space.
But as most of them have said, it is time for some new blood, some fresh faces, perhaps those with new and exciting, energetic personalities to take the potential 2026-2027 Board into Prince William County's art culture future. Nothing happens without someone volunteering their time.
I may not have this quote exactly right, but I think you'll get the gist of it... from our current Interim PWAS President, Sandra McClelland Lewin and it goes along these lines..."If you want to make a change, put yourself in a position so that you can be there to help put those changes in place." It may not be word for word, but doesn't it make sense?
I have some previous Blog Posts about the PWAS Board Positions, Elections, Committee Stuff, Benefits. All worth having a look at.
PWAS Group: Something to Think About
Get Involved With Your Local Art Group
NonProfit Art Group Committees
What I Would Like to See at PWAS
Getting Involved With Your Local Art Group, Benefits to Volunteering
Board Shadowing, Be a Board Stalker
The best thing though, if you are considering a Board position (or a Committee) is that you have time to learn about the position from the persons currently IN those positions. And those Board members are more than willing to answer questions, explain the agenda items, share the contacts, any of the things you need to know. There is time to get a foot in the door and think about how you can volunteer.
The outgoing Board members will be back in the general pop of PWAS in 2026 and will still be available to answer questions along the way too. You don't have to do it on your own!
Have your potential nominees do a trial run by shadowing the potential position they may be considering!
The Prince William Art Society is 54 years old. I'm not sure about you folks, my fellow PWAS'rs, but the benefits of being part of this art group have far exceeded my expectations in not only what I have learned, but the friendships made. And for getting me as an artist in Northern Virginia, the ability to put my art 'out there'.
Volunteer to be a part of the Nominating Committee today! And grab a friend to help!
Author: Donna Liguria
Artistry Spin Blogmaster and an artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, her Donna's Esty site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.
Local Art: The Prince William Art Society is a 50+-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia. Visit us at any of our local art shows or join us for our monthly meetings - held on the 4th Monday of the month at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Dr, Woodbridge, VA at 7:30pm
Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership
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