How much to charge?

[simple living mama]

I'm starting up a weekend art studio for kids and during this economic hard time, I don't think it's going to fly unless I make it affordable but of course the art center hiring me needs to make money to cover their expenses. I'm at a loss of how to do this.

I was thinking of charging a set amount of $5 a kid and if their parent sits and creates than they can pay the same. To serve the low income base I was thinking about having one day a month of donation only. I know how to run a successful studio as I've been doing it for the last 11 years at our farmers market and affordable housing but these have been payed for by them and now I'm in a situation where I have bring in money. Not fun as I just want to make it free for all the kids because of my passion for kids needing art in their lives. But that's not my reality at this time so I'm asking for suggestions here.
Thank you mama's and the odd father.

[toriaj]

That sounds comparable to a similar shop in my area. I don't go to it because of the fee, but if there was a donation day I might. Then if I was really impressed with the place I might end up going back on a pay day, or having some kind of an event there. I think you're on the right track

[worthy]

For my family (four kids) we rarely do activities where it would cost more than $20-25 for our family, and that would have to be for a satisfying length of time (I'm not sure if you're doing a time cap?). With four kids and me, I might pay $5/kid, but not $10.

I am a big fan of "family price caps" because it doesn't become a hardship for larger families due to their size. Some events, even if priced reasonably per person, become cost-prohibitive very fast. Around here, music events are typically $15/adult and $10/child - out of our range - that would be $70 per event for our family! So we're priced out. Formal classes around here cost $15/class/kid and we have kept classes extremely minimal because of it (just two kids, taking a group music class in lieu of instrument lessons, which would have been even more expensive).

So I like that you are planning to keep it as affordable as possible, but at the same time, you should do your best to estimate how much $$ the art center needs from this venture and how much materials will cost, and then you can base your bottom-line figure fairly on that.

Also I think parents should always be free if they are working WITH their kids, because otherwise you may get parents who are uncomfortable lending a hand to help out if they think it will cost them more.

I love the idea of a "donation day" and I agree that it would both open up the opportunity to low-income folks and possibly get you more business from other folks who want to try before they commit.

Good luck! It sounds lovely.

[redvlagrl]

I would be happy to pay $8-10 for my child. I would not expect to be creating something myself, but helping DD. Most things around here - swimming, group music classes etc seem to be around that amount.

Regarding the donation day, I would make some sort of minimum. In Australia, our $1 and $2 coins are gold so often you see "gold coin donation" events. I suppose int he states it could be a "bill" donation? You don't want someone coming and giving a dime and taking advantage of you. Believe me, this does happen. You might also like to advertise that it is by donation but the regular price is $5 or whatever so people know what the value is. They would be more likely to contribute closer to what you need.

But please don't sell yourself short and make sure you're getting enough to cover costs AND pay yourself. Your skills and passion are worth it. You can always offer "scholarships" to families who have trouble paying - that way it will be valued and not seen as a handout.

[mommariffic]

I am going to completely agree with poster above! DO NOT sell yourself short!

If parents are just helping kids, I think $8-10 per PERSON is acceptable. This way if parents want to create their own fine, they pay. If they are going to help Susie Q they can just pay for their kid. If people have trouble paying the price than offer a scholarship or a discount rate...and maybe host special "family" events where people can pay a $20 flat fee and this way someone with an incredibly large family can come out comfortably.

[Peony]

Hi there neighbor! You must tell me the details when you get them all sorted out. I would gladly pay $5.00 a child, 8 would be pushing it, I *would* pay $10.00 once in a great while but it wouldn't do something I would do often at that price.

[simple living mama]

All great advice here. I especially like the advice Worthy gave ...

((Also I think parents should always be free if they are working WITH their kids, because otherwise you may get parents who are uncomfortable lending a hand to help out if they think it will cost them more.))

Never thought about that but that could be a problem so thanks for bringing that up.

Lots to think about here and a bit of homework to see how I can pull this off to make it work for both our Art Center, myself and families incomes.

I like the idea of the family cap as well when it comes to large families. That can get expensive so fast.
Thank you so much everyone. I look forward to reading these again as I start to plan this all out. Your advice is truly invaluable!

[stormborn]

That would be a bargain to me! Especially when I factor in the cost of art supplies. At $5 we would probably go at least 2x/ month, depending on scheduling.
You might consider weekday sessions as well if you're catering to homeschoolers as I think you mentioned on your other thread? IME we have limited time on weekends for lessons because that's the only time for dd1 to do activities with her public schooled friends; Sat. especially seems to be always full of Bday parties, etc.

Is this concept fairly common? I'm wondering if there's a similar setup here that I just don't know about.

[ChetMC]

$5 per kid

I'm cheap. I would have been happy to pay $5 for that when we only had one child.

Now that we have four kids, we definitely take advantage of places with price caps for families more often and tend to use places where there is a per kid price less.

I can't justify $20 or $25 for for thirty minutes of entertainment.