We recently connected with Lauren Merrill and have shared our conversation below.

Lauren, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Folks often look at a successful business and imagine it was an overnight success, but from what we’ve seen this is often far from the truth. We’d love to hear your scaling up story – walk us through how you grew over time – what were some of the big things you had to do to grow and what was that scaling up journey like?

When I first opened Alpine Arts Center I didn’t start off small like some studios do, possibly in a basement or a garage, just teaching a few classes a week. I knew that our community needed an arts center and that I wanted to go all in. I rented a large 2800 square foot studio, formulated a business plan, contracted art teachers to assist in the teaching and immediately hit the ground running. With no support staff, I did my best to juggle our programming, marketing, and financials while teaching many of our weekly classes. It was an exciting and a challenging time!

I quickly learned a few important business lessons. First, we needed to invest in a Point of Sale (POS) system to keep track of everything, as I had previously been using spreadsheets and things were getting complex. Second, scheduling contracted teachers was time consuming and we needed a regular team of artists on staff. And third, marketing and getting the word out about our programs was much harder than I anticipated. There were a lot of little mistakes along the way, but slowly we evolved and put systems in place.

A pivotal point was when we got our liquor license to serve wine and beer. Our programs went from 10 attendees to 40 students coming in for painting and wine classes! At the same time, we branched out and started to do programs and events outside of our studio space at local hotels, schools, and community gatherings. Things began to flourish and the days and nights were jam packed, but it often left me doing supply orders at 3am. Being more selective with our programs would have helped, but I was hesitant to say no to anything that came our way! Everything was thriving except that I was struggling, as many business owners do during periods of growth. Looking back, I should have been more deliberate with our program selections and scaled up more gradually.

Our next big move was a relocation. It was a hard decision because we had such a great studio setup, however we were off the beaten path and customers would never stumble upon us. I found a location in Riverwalk, a very cute shopping area a few blocks away, and was able to get loans to purchase the space. The move was a challenge as we had collected 7 years of art supplies, recycled materials, and equipment. It was also tricky to navigate our new day-to-day in a more public area where customers would wander in constantly. It was great and at the same time required adjustments so we could get our work done. It has now been almost 5 years in our new location and we’ve developed new areas of revenue with a retail store and gallery art sales, a line of local coloring books, and more. We are still working on strategies to manage a busy schedule and working on slowing our scale up so it is more strategic moving forward!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I grew up on Long Island, New York, and art was my passion all throughout my childhood. I distinctly remember sitting at the dinner table with my family, talking about “what I wanted to do when I grew up” and coming up with the idea to open an arts center someday. Four years later, I graduated from The University of Michigan, School of Art and Design, and moved to Colorado to pursue an art career. It began with teaching and progressed into opening Alpine Arts Center in Vail (Edwards).

Alpine Arts Center strives to provide artistic inspiration that touches people’s lives and positively influences our community and beyond. We offer art classes, camps, drop-in studio use, exhibits, public events, team building, and outreach programs to students of all ages. Our retail section of the studio showcases local artists and we also carry art supplies and locally made gifts.

Being a part of Alpine Arts Center and its evolution has been an incredible experience. I love seeing the studio buzzing with energy and creativity. No two days are alike, and it keeps things exciting and constantly evolving! Seeing students find their artistic talents and creativity is what motivates me every day. Our team of art teachers are exceptional and they will inspire growth in students of all ages and abilities.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

Having multiple revenue streams is a great way to supplement sales during slow times, especially in our tourist community where off season can be tricky for many businesses. Our retail store now drives business to our art programs, and vice versa. It helps us get customers in the door who might be anxious about signing up for an art class but who are comfortable shopping for locally made gifts. After they have shopped around for a few minutes, our customers see that our art classes going on right next to them look fun and much less intimidating. We also sell products made in house, which is a great way for us to make a profit from samples our art teachers make during our classes!

Have you ever had to pivot?

Like many businesses, we had to pivot during the pandemic. When we were totally shut down, we quickly began making to-go kits for our projects and started teaching classes virtually. The virtual programs were a huge hit and they have allowed us to reach a much broader audience. Even now that things have reopened, we have a new skillset and can teach corporate events and team building art programs to people all over the world. It is a fun, new way to bring people together through art!

Contact Info:

• Website: alpineartscenter.org
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/alpine_arts_center/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alpineartscenter