How we draw-together

These are the things we ask of everyone who comes to a session. They’re short on purpose. The whole idea is to turn up, sit down and make some art alongside other people. The rules only exist so that stays pleasant for everybody.

The basics

Sessions are free and, where possible, held fortnightly at the same time each fortnight.

They last 2 hours - a 10 minute introduction and a chance to get ready, a 45 minute first session, a 10 minute break, and a 45 minute second session, with a 10 minute roundup at the end so everyone can view each others’ work (and the muse can snap photos of the work for the website).

Sessions are for adults aged 18 and over. We don’t admit children, whether or not they’re with an adult. We take you at your word when you sign up and there’s no ID check at the door, but if the patron or muse think you are under 18 they may ask, privately, to see something confirming your age.

It is not a class - nobody is teaching, and there’s no standard to meet. Some people may have drawn for years, some may just be starting out.

Booking your seat

Seats are limited, so you have to register and book in advance - you cannot just turn up on the day. If a session is full you can join the waiting list, and we’ll email you if a seat frees up. This will generally be no later than 6 hours before the start of the session.

If you can’t make it, please cancel. You can do this up to six hours before the start of the session - it only takes one click, and it means someone else can have your spot. Not turning up means that spot goes empty when someone else may have wanted to come along.

Miss a session without cancelling and we’ll drop you a note. Miss a second and we’ll say so more plainly. Miss a third within a few months and booking is paused for two months. That counts across every studio, not one at a time - the seat is just as empty wherever it was.

It isn’t a punishment, and it isn’t a ban. It’s how we keep seats moving when there’s a waiting list behind them. If something’s going on, tell the patron or email us and we’ll sort it out.

How we treat each other

The short version: be kind, and give other people the room to enjoy themselves.

The patron (or the session’s muse) may ask you to leave if you are:

• harassing others, or behaving in a discriminatory way
• being threatening or violent
• drunk or under the influence to the point of disruption
• carrying on with something after being asked to stop
• or behaving in any other way that, in the patron or the muse’s judgement, is preventing others from enjoying the session

On alcohol specifically: if the session is held in a pub or bar, then having a drink is entirely fine, and patronising the establishment is a way for us to give back to them for providing us with the space. So, having a drink is entirely fine. Being drunk enough to spoil the session for other people is not.

If you’re asked to leave

The patron or the session’s muse can ask you to leave a session there and then. They don’t have to consult anyone first. They’re responsible for the session and sometimes a decision has to be made on the spot. They will always report it to us afterwards.

Being asked to leave one session doesn’t automatically bar you from future ones. If a patron thinks someone shouldn’t come back, they raise it with us, and we make that decision, not them. We’ll invite you to tell us your side of it first. While we’re looking into it, your ability to book future sessions may be put on hold.

Photographs

Ask before you photograph anyone, or anyone’s work. That covers people, and it covers the drawing on the easel next to you. Someone might be perfectly happy to be in a photo and still not want a half-finished piece captured.

Photograph your own work as much as you like. At the end of a session there’s time set aside for the muse to photograph everyone’s work, which is then shared, anonymously, on the session’s page on this website. Your work will also be added to your personal gallery automatically so you can see how you’re progressing over time.

We don’t upload photographs to this website that show people. What the muse photographs is the work, not the room and not the people in it.

When we show a session’s work publicly, on this site or anywhere else, we show it without saying who made what. The work goes up as the output of an evening, not as a set of named pieces.

Drawing each other

Some sessions may involve drawing the people in the room: twenty minutes on whoever’s sitting opposite you, that sort of thing. That only ever happens with consent. If you’d rather not be drawn, say so. You don’t need a reason, nobody will mind, and the person drawing will simply draw somebody else.

We may occasionally run a life drawing session with a model. Models are always over 18, and always clothed. There is no nudity at any drawtogether session.

Access and getting in

We’re a volunteer group using borrowed and hired rooms, so we’re limited by the venues available to us. Some may be excellent. Some may be up a flight of stairs in a pub with no lift. Some may be outside.

What we can promise is that we’ll be straight with you about it. Every studio page lists what we know about the venue: step-free access, toilets, hearing loop, parking, and whether any walking is involved (and if so how much), so you can decide before you set off rather than finding out at the door.

If you have access needs, get in touch with the patron in advance. We can’t install a lift, but there’s a lot we can do with a bit of notice: a chair by the door, a table with more room around it, a spot with better light, or investigating potential alternative venues.

If something goes wrong

In the first instance, raise it with the patron running your studio. They’re listed on the studio’s page and they’re the right person for most things: the room was too cold, someone was making you uncomfortable, the session didn’t run as described.

If your concern is about the patron themselves, or it’s serious enough that you’d rather not raise it locally, email us directly at safeguarding@draw-together.co.uk. That reaches us, not the patron.

If you’re worried about someone’s immediate safety, please call the emergency services first, and tell us afterwards.