                                                   ©2025 Lewis Matheney

 ASAP Gallery NYC

I'm Lewis Matheney, a working artist,
primarily as a children's book writer and illustrator.

ASAP stands for Artists Supporting Artists' Priorities,
It is a support group that I started and ran in NYC in the 1990s.
ASAP Gallery is opening for members of the 2025 reboot of ASAP support group.
The gallery is a non-profit 501(c)(3).

The artists in the original group included painters, a photographer, singer-songwriters, a theater set designer, actors in theater, film, and television, a children's book writer and illustrator (me), a textile artist, a playwright, and a video installation artist.

Click here for information about the gallery,
or continue reading below for information on the support group.

In the 90s, ASAP met monthly, and I created a set of worksheets
for all members to express their goals,
and a version of structured planning for tasks to be completed
and goals to be attained in allotted periods of time.

The time allotments were Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Annually, and Long-Term.
The continuous thread throughout all periods of time was the artist's priority or priorities.
Goals and tasks and planning were the structure and foundation for priorities.

WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF PRIORITIES THAT ASAP MEMBERS MIGHT CHOOSE?

Some examples:
If a painter expresses a desire to switch from oil to pastel,
an actor wants to increase the number of auditions they go on,
or a singer-songwriter wants to find a producer for a single,
each of those is a priority.
ASAP members support all other members' priorities.
Some members may have one single priority.
Some will have multiple priorities.

Upon launching ASAP in the 90s,
we discovered together within a few months
that everyone had one common priority:
How to make money as artists.

Pre-internet, getting featured in print magazines and newspapers,
or on local television was essential to an artist being known or seen at all.
Knowing how to write the perfect press release was essential to get any news source to consider featuring you, and creating and hosting events that featured your art form was essential to an artist's success. We simply set about crash-coursing ourselves in writing press releases, creating events that would bring the press - and then the general public - to us.

HOW DID ASAP MEMBERS SHOW OR GIVE SUPPORT TO OTHER ASAP MEMBERS?

I created 7 simple principles to which
we committed during our monthly meetings.
They are the foundation, and therefore, the ways
in which we artists showed mutual support,
especially in our meetings.

1 - Show Up

2 - Practice Active Listening

3 - Think Before You Speak, and
Choose Your Words Wisely

4 - Keep It Positive

5 - No Critiquing

6 - You Know What "Supportive" Feels and Sounds Like,
and You Know What Love Feels and Sounds Like.
Therefore, Be Supportive. Be Loving.

7 - Be Truthful To Yourself First, Then Others.

And Remember:
"Truth May Be Vital, But Without Love, It Is Unbearable."

At the very first meeting, we focused on figuring out what this meant to each of us.
With me (Lewis Matheney) as the creator and facilitator of the group,
I started by explaining why I thought these principles were important.
All of us then discussed it,
and I encouraged everybody to air their feelings about these principles. 
Did they think the principles would work for them?
Did I seem to be speaking truthfully, and from the heart?
Did it make sense to them?

Thankfully, we found ourselves saying yes to all three questions.

From there, we were together as one in creating events,
doing the boots-on-the-ground grassroots work
of things like handing out postcards,
distributing flyers, spreading the word for each other
about all of our events, shows, exhibits, and
pointing everybody to each of our dot coms (pre-social media).

If there was a resume for an ASAP member
in that era, the WORK EXPERIENCE
part of that resume would include the following:

□ Attended Monthly Meetings, and
Gave Support To Fellow Members' Priorities

□ Helped Fellow Members Create Events

□ Dedicated a certain number hours weekly calling
our friends to invite them to other artists' events

□ Attended a certain number of
each other's events and brought friends

□ Went in groups of 2 or 3 to 
arts-concentrated neighborhood
and public parks
and handed out postcards and flyers.
(Note: This was standard in that era, and
 people were very receptive and welcomed this)

□ Networked individually by asking questions
when at places like cafes, bars, hotel lobbies
that were known for showing art and having live performers,
and giving each other that information

□ Built mailing lists together of recipients who were known to support the arts,
along with professional contacts who could further an artist's career.
Kept one central mailing list, and had others separated by art categories.

□ Donated reading material to our ASAP library
that was essential to an artist's career.
Pre-internet, this was where you found that information,
like annually-updated guides with art director's
 contact information at publishing houses, and
their personal preferences for how artists could submit.

□ All artists bartered services for each other.
Just a few examples:

ASAP GALLERY
This new version of ASAP I'm rebooting will now include
a member collaborative ASAP Gallery
for which members pay a tax-deductible membership fee
for ongoing use of space in the gallery,
starting at appr. 4 feet in width for basic membership,
with full gallery ceiling heights of 9 feet. 
There's also space for a very small stage for spoken word nights,
singer/songwriter showcases, and
non-amplified/acoustic performances by musicians.
All in-person meetings will take place at ASAP Gallery.

Click here for information about ASAP Gallery.