Help us support your local artists // @ Foundry

FOUNDRY. You have probably heard of us - maybe you have visited us, once or twice. Maybe you come to see us in-store regularly. Maybe you’ve seen us at a market, or our various pop-up shops (from East Gippsland allllll the way to Melbourne). Maybe - you’re one of our wonderful & beloved artists! No matter how you have come to know Foundry - we are so glad you’re here, now, reading our gentle plea for your support.

With the cost of living rising so swiftly, we are finding it difficult to face our ongoing expenses. We are asking for the support of our community; for financial donations that can help us continue to keep Foundry operating. For the rest of 2024 - but hopefully, for well into the future.

Foundry supports over 80+ local artists, makers & creators. We do this on a shoestring budget of around $30,000/year - this historically has covered all our running expenses. This $30,000 is derived from the commission we keep from retail sales. But the really exciting thing we do is use that meagre kitty to run a business that in turn regularly earns over $120,000 annually FOR OUR LOCAL ARTISTS. There are really no strings! Approximately 75-80% of our turnover goes directly to the makers themselves, on a monthly basis. (See chart at the bottom of this page, if numbers are your thing). This is incredible & we are so proud of ourselves - and so grateful for all our shoppers & supporters. This is our passion. 

Over the past 9.5 years, we have paid out approximately $700,000 to East Gippsland locals. Straight into their pockets. Phew. It’s a LOT. And we know that if we cease to exist - the knock-on economic effect on our community would be immense. 

Here is a little refresher about WHO we are & WHAT we do:

• Foundry is an artist collective - a retail shop & a hallway gallery, stocking the wares of makers, artists & creatives from all over our region;

• Foundry is a non-profit organisation, co-operated, managed & run ENTIRELY by volunteers (to note: during 2023, we were able to pay for a staff member to manage our exhibition space. Paying people for their time is paramount to us, & is our first function when it's possible);

• We exist for the good of our local community; creatives of all varieties, living & working on GunaiKurnai country;

• We have been in operation for almost 10 years (!!!), with the current iteration of a collective model existing for 8 years;

• We are a certified social enterprise with Social Traders;

• We are fully funded by the small commission (10-30%) we retain from our retail sales. We have never received operational funding, nor received financial support from any council, organisation or body to operate. It is all us, all the time. 

• Foundry is managed by three co-operators (Jes John, Jill Hermans & Zenzi Clark)  who undertake all work to run Foundry on an entirely volunteer basis. We need to reiterate - we are unpaid. This includes: artist liaison, communications, stock procurement, artist mentorship, retail displays & visual merchandising, volunteer management, record keeping for sales & the like, exhibition instals - the list is really, truly, endless;

• We have recently streamlined our business structure by expanding to include a committee of management.

We don’t make a profit from sales. We don’t take money from the artists for ourselves. There are no shareholders or fat cats & there never has been. The only people who profit from Foundry are the artists themselves. There is no financial incentive for us, as co-operators, to run Foundry. It is all pure love - for the arts, for our community, for our artists & friends. 

We ask you to please consider whether Foundry has impacted your life, personally. And - if there’s anything you could contribute to keep Foundry operating, to keep us creating the impact we are known & love for. 

Help us help our beloved arts community & keep Foundry around for the future of Bairnsdale & beyond <3

Image by our very own Nella, of Ninety Mile Photography.