About the Program

The Robert B. McMillen Foundation has been supporting the arts, artists and medical research for the past 20 years. We believe the arts are key to vibrant, thriving communities and we want to do our part to help ensure artists thrive! The idea for MAC Speaks presentations was born from our efforts to build pillars of support under artists and through the feedback we got from the McMillen Artist Community (or the MAC) – our Scholars and Fellows help inform the topics. Two of our non-profit partners, Gallery One in Ellensburg and Allied Arts of Whatcom County in Bellingham, shared these ideals and a collaboration was formed! Together, our combined efforts facilitate conversations presented BY artists, FOR artists.

For presentations with a particular topic or theme we typically invite specific artists or speakers with demonstrated relevant qualifications. However, we also encourage interested artists from our partner organizations to propose presentations on topics of their own choosing, give demos and instruction or give short presentations about their own work and artistic practice.

If interested in proposing a presentation, please review the information below and complete this form. Any questions or concerns can be emailed to Cassandra Town: cassandra@mcmillenfoundation.org

Thank you for being part of the MAC Speaks online Artist Talks and Demos Series. We are excited to work with you!

How It Works

The Artist Talks & Demos take place live online through Zoom Meetings. For Artist’s Talks, artists can share a PowerPoint presentation. Some artists will also give a tour of their studio or have pieces ready to show on camera. Demos happen in the studio or similar location. We will work with you to determine the best way to present the demo. The events are scheduled for 1 hour, with most people giving a 40 to 45 minute talk or demo, and a Q & A session either afterwards, or stopping at pre-arranged points. Foundation staff handles all the moderation, introductions, tech support and logistics of registration. Prior to the event, Foundation staff will set up at least one practice session if you need it. If you are not familiar with Zoom Meetings, Foundation staff will work with you to show you what to do. Foundation staff can also help with slideshows where necessary.

The meetings are automatically recorded but sharing to our Virtual Library after the event happens only with artist’s permission. You can specify if you do not want your talk to be made available after the event.

Fee Structure

Presenters may choose one of the following:

1. To support our artist community, we offer a speaker fee of $100 for the event.
2. Artists can donate their time for the talk/demo for free as we do not charge for the event. This helps us to fulfill our mission to support more artists in the future and provide skill building and networking opportunities to the existing MAC Community – programming FOR artists BY artists.

After the Event

We can supply you with a full list of names and e-mail addresses of attendees for you to use to keep in contact with those who are interested in hearing about your work. If you have declined to make your event available through MAC Speaks Virtual Library, we will not share it anywhere at any time. If you have opted to share your event, we will edit it and add it to our Virtual Library. This Library is a free to artists/the public as an educational resource.