A N O N Y M O U S

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February 2023 edition

Announcements 

New Meetings!: Added to the ARTS Anonymous meeting list is “ArtsSanctuaryNYC” held from 10:00 to 11:30 am ET on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. It has a rotating format and is held via Zoom. See the Meetings page on the ARTS Website for details. In addition, a new meeting is forming for LGBTQ+ members of ARTS. Please email nova.amen2@gmail.com for more information.

ARTS Zoomathon: Coming up on Saturday, February 25. For more information and to sign up to give service, go to the Zoomathon page on the ARTS website. Newcomers are welcome! 

A.R.T.S. Anonymous Conference Charter and Concepts of Service: These can now be found on the ARTS website in a downloadable and printable format, on both the About A.R.T.S. page and the Service Info page. Conference Charter l Concepts of Service.  

Treasurer’s Report: Click here for the January 2023 Treasurer’s Report for Worldwide Services 

Tax-Exempt Statements for 2022 Donations: A.R.T.S. Anonymous, Inc. Is a not-for-profit 501(3) (c) entity, so your financial contributions are tax-exempt. The World Service Office emailed statements to the 138 members who gave to the A.R.T.S. “basket” this year. Thank you! If you feel you did not get your statement and you need it, please contact officemanager@artsanonymous.org 

For 2023: Writings on the Traditions 

While the Twelve Steps of A.R.T.S Anonymous guide us to recover our inspiration and joy in expressing our creativity, the Twelve Traditions guide our focus on our primary purpose in A.R.T.S. Anonymous. What better way to begin this new year of 2023 than with a focus on the Tradition that corresponds with each of the 12 months. Below in this February issue of the newsletter is one member’s personal response to Tradition 2.  

March’s Newsletter welcomes your response to Tradition 3: The only requirement for A.R.T.S. membership is a desire to identify and express our creativity.  

We suggest the following series of questions when writing your response.  

• What does Tradition 3 mean to you? 
• How do you feel about Tradition 3? 
• How may Tradition 3 help your creative expression? 

It will be wonderful to receive your thoughts, feelings, and application of Tradition 3. Please send your response to the editors at newsletter@artsanonymous.org for possible publication.  

Tradition Two – A Personal Response 

Tradition 2: For our group purpose there is by one ultimate authority – a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern. 
 

To me, the beauty of Tradition Two is that it reminds all of us that rather than having to follow the dictates of and act in alignment with the perspective of any one individual who may agree to take on a role of responsibility in the A.R.T.S. program, we are privileged to be guided by a collective consciousness (and group conscience) that gives each of us a voice in deciding how various aspects of the program (e.g., individual meetings) will play out. This is an especially useful construct, since while no one person is in charge of crafting and enacting particular rules and procedures, each of us is given the sovereign right to present and respond to proposals, and to envision a program that meets our needs and evolves as we do. It also reminds those we select to fulfill specific roles that they are entrusted to act with integrity and fairness and, as much as they are able, to understand and put forth our shared values. 

  Click here for the full essay

PrayerPoem: "Avoidance is Temptation" 

                  Avoidance is temptation: 
                  the handiwork of Satan. 

                  You say, “there’s no such thing as demons?” 
                  Then let’s call it Addiction. 

                  Addiction is too harsh a word? 
                  Would you settle for Affliction? 

                  All the while when avoiding 
                  that it’s Avoidance that you’re doing  
 

                                                                      - Poet Brian 

© 2023 by Brian C. 

- Brian C. 

February 18 is the first Pre-Conference Meeting in support of the
2023 A.R.T.S. World Service Conference
 

We have an agenda! Members of the Conference Planning Committee and Delegates met on Feb 4th and after reviewing survey results from members and delegates, came up with the following topics: 

• Setting the dates and times for the 2023 World Service Conference 
• Discussing a process for motions that go to the Conference 

• Setting deadlines for submission of motions and the Delegate Packets 
• Decide the dates and frequency of the Pre-Conference meetings 
• Elect a Conference Chair AND: 
• A special one-day meeting of the World Service Conference, sometime in the summer, for the express purpose of approving literature in the form of pamphlets, so we can get it into the hands of the fellowship ASAP 

Dear Members of ARTS Anonymous*

(a letter from the Literature Committee) 

Out of the 2022 World Service Conference the voice of the fellowship expressed a desire for new literature for more members to identify with.  In response to this request, committees are at work to bring together recovery stories. Your story, as a member of A.R.T.S. working the programme, or doing service, wants to be heard. This can only happen with your contributing submissions. Collected submissions brought together in a book may form a larger story about the A.R.T.S. Anonymous program.
 

Below are suggestions or guidelines for your story: 

1) How did you discover A.R.T.S. Anonymous? 

2) How long have you been a member of A.R.T.S. Anonymous? 

3) What was your life and creativity like before A.R.T.S. Anonymous? 

• What, if anything, was missing in your life? 
• What were you looking for? 

4) What happened to you and your creativity as you attended A.R.T.S. Anonymous? 

• How does your Higher Power help you in the process? 
• How are you experiencing the 12 Steps of A.R.T.S. Anonymous? 
• How do you experience 5 Alive? 
• What tools do you find most helpful? 

• How does volunteering to do service in A.R.T.S. Anonymous assist your creativity? 

5) What is your life and creativity like now, in recovery in A.R.T.S. Anonymous? 

• What do you receive in A.R.T.S. Anonymous that you did not expect? 
• What has been your evolution? 
• What was your most important development? 

• What would you like to say to newcomers and/or old-timers? 

6) What else would you like to add? 
 

                                                              - with love from The Literature Committee 

* A.R.T.S. Tradition 3 states: The only requirement for A.R.T.S. membership is a desire to identify and express our creativity 

Upcoming Committee Meetings
 

• Workshop Committee: Thursday February 9, 6 pm ET. Email for details: workshops@artsanonymous.org 
• Literature Committee: Friday February 24, 1:30 pm ET. We are looking for members to help on subcommittees: The Members Stories book, preparing member-written pamphlets for Conference Approval, and updating the Traits, Talents and Tools. Email for details: literature@artsanonymous.org 
• Conference Planning Committee: All members and Delegates are invited to plan the Pre-Conference meetings and the World Service Conference. Email for details: conference@artsanonymous.org 

The Literature Approval Process

Admittedly, it can a bit confusing to think of what it takes to develop Literature for the A.R.T.S. Anonymous program, and have it approved by the World Service Conference. 
 

Conference-approved Literature provides the assurance and security that the message of the A.R.T.S. program is carried to the struggling artist, whether a newcomer or a long-term member. Ideally Literature is developed by a collective voice, and the approval by the membership is a valuable part of that assurance. Literature may be the only way some people can experience the program, and often it is used in meetings as inspiration for discussion. In all cases, it is designed to reflect experience, strength and hope that bolsters and inspires the lives and creativity of us all, while upholding and consistently applying the Steps, Traditions, and Concepts of Service of A.R.T.S. Anonymous. 
 

A Literature Approval Process was passed in 1995 by the World Service Conference, and over the past year the Literature Committee drafted an updated process. The 2022 World Service Conference passed a motion that asked the Literature Committee to work within both versions, and ready an updated Literature Development Process for Conference-Approved Literature process for the 2023 Conference. In both cases, a member or group submits an idea or a manuscript to the Literature Committee, where it is reviewed for potential future development and approval. (Click here for details). 
 

Understandably, we cannot get to every idea every time, and some ideas or manuscripts may take a long time to be reviewed and/or developed. The Literature Committee will seek an author or authors or work with an author to bring the message to its best potential. Necessarily, the Board will be involved for legal and policy reasons, and in the end the goal is to have Literature the is approved by the whole Conference.  
 

Currently the Literature Committee is seeking to develop a book of Members Stories. Please take a look at the notice elsewhere in this newsletter and email your submissions to memberstories@artsanonymous.org. 

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