Behind the Scenes: My First In-Person Creative Workshop (In a While!)

Have you ever thought about running your own creative workshop but weren’t sure where to start? I recently hosted my first in-person workshop in a few years, and I’m sharing the behind-the-scenes look at how it all came together—challenges, wins, and all! 🤩

The Idea

If you’ve been following me, you know I love exploring creativity—photography, painting, pottery, you name it. For a long time, I’ve dreamed of starting Natalie’s Art Club, a space to play with different art forms—one per month—not to master any one medium, but to spark joy, curiosity, community and to inspire others to be creative.

While my long-term goal is to take this club online, I decided to test the waters in person first. I booked a local creative space, offered four Saturday sessions per month (whoa!)... and got zero signups. 😅 Looking back, that might have been a little ambitious for the first try.

Ask Your Audience

Marketing 101: ask people what they want! I created a free Google Form survey and set up a table at a local art market—not to sell, but to meet people interested in art. I shared samples of my work, talked to them, and offered a handout with a link to the survey and more about what I offer for art and education.

The response? Small but mighty. A handful of people told me they’d love to learn how to use acrylic paints. Perfect—I could absolutely teach that!

Behind the Scenes Planning

Here’s a quick rundown of what it took to bring the workshop to life:

1. Venue: I’m a teaching member at Creative Community Space(CCS), a beautiful Victorian house turned creative hub. It was the perfect spot.

2. Content: This wasn’t a “paint and sip” experience. It was an exploration about the types of paints, brushes, surfaces, dos and don’ts, and lots of helpful tips for beginners and experienced painters who are unfamiliar with acrylics. I outlined what I would have wanted to know starting out.

3. Pricing: I landed on $50 for a 2-hour class, supplies included, after checking local workshop rates.

4. Payments: I used Kajabi (which is an online platform that I already use for my online photography course) to handle signups and payments. You could also use PayPal or Venmo.

5. Promotion: I created some graphics in Canva and spread the word through email, social media, and help from Vandy, the CCS owner. Survey respondents had shared emails with me, so I could follow up directly.

   Four students signed up by the deadline - yeah! After some quiet launches last year, this felt like a win.
   
   

6. Prep: I gathered supplies and turned my outline into a student handout. ChatGPT helped me refine the material.  Do you use AI? Let me now how you use it—email me here.

The Workshop Day

It snowed (classic New Hampshire spring), but that didn’t stop us. We spent a cozy Saturday morning indoors learning and exploring acrylics.

Overall, it went really well—everyone left inspired and excited. I did pack in a lot of info, though. Next time, I’ll cut down on the talking and allow more time for hands-on painting (30 minutes wasn’t quite enough — an hour would be better!).

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing their excitement, watching them learn tips they could implement and hearing about their own creative journeys. 💖

Final Thoughts

Whether you’ve been to a creative workshop or are thinking about leading one, I hope this behind-the-scenes peek was helpful and inspiring. Got questions or if you're interested in learning more about my (hopeful) future online art club, just let me know. If you’ve hosted or attended a workshop recently, I’d love to hear your story - what worked and what didn't - just email me here!

Bye for now 😎,

Natalie

P.S. These were the graphics that I used for advertising the workshop. Created in Canva. I'm not a graphic designer but I try!