Oh, no! My class has been canceled!

It doesn't occur frequently, but it recently happened to a friend: his workshop at Arrowmont was canceled nearly a month before its scheduled start date because of insufficient student registration. He was very disappointed in the situation,because he really wanted to learn the skills taught by the instructor who was not teaching any more workshops this year.

My friend was able to schedule another class at Arrowmont that sounded vaguely interesting but he recounted an incident that got us thinking about filling classes rather than canceling them. A week or so ago he saw a buddy in the barber shop and the conversation came around to the canceled class. "Nuts!" said the buddy. "I wish I'd known about that class; I would have signed up for it and my son would have been interested, too!"

So instead of canceling unfilled classes maybe Arrowmont should enlist the aid of media-savvy volunteers to spread the news of classes with vacancies to local people and prospective students at a distance as well.

First of all a page on the Arrowmont website could list unfilled classes starting in the next four weeks, with a link to that list on the website's front page. The list could be updated as frequently as necessary as vacancies decrease. There is a blog written by Arrowmont Artists in Residence; why not have an Arrowmont blog for news - the writing could be shared by several staff members or volunteers who post five days a week. A blog post can frequently be written more quickly than updating the website every day.

Arrowmont offers discounts on tuition to residents of Blount, Cocke, Jefferson, Knox and Sevier Counties; each county boasts at least one newspaper that publishes in print and online. How about sending a weekly media release to each area newspaper listing classes with vacancies?

Many craft and art supply companies send an online newsletter to subscribers once a week on a specific day; readers could subscribe on the front page of the Arrowmont website to receive news of class vacancies, special events, promotions at the Artist Outfitters Store - whatever is going on at the school currently. A volunteer could publish the newsletter with information shared by staff members.

And OMG! Don't forget Twitter and Facebook - volunteers who are active in these media could use them to highlight those classes that need students.

Instructors work hard to prepare lesson plans for a week's worth of classes, schedule the time to be at Arrowmont and hate to have a class cancel. Students take vacation from work, prepare (and pay!) for travel to and from the school, frequently need specific skills to complete a project or start a new one. And Arrowmont loses the revenue from a class that is canceled. I think with some work by staff and volunteers that Arrowmont could vastly reduce the disappointments of a canceled workshop.