Link for the January 2025 Service and Event Calendar 

Link for the February 2024 Service and Event Calendar 

 

Service and Event Calendars are posted on the A.R.T.S. website News page, Service Info page and About A.R.T.S. page. 

 

The Creative Process – A Personal Response 

I am a dollmaker, hand sewer, knitter, painter and writer.  I first attended A.R.T.S. meetings when I was in my 30s (I’m now 62 years young) and then stopped going when I had a dispute with another A.R.T.S. member.  Little did I know that in the future my art avoidance would increase exponentially.  I now wished that I had never allowed anyone or anything to get in between A.R.T.S. and me.  I came crawling back to the program in the summer of 2021.  I was completely unable to create; I couldn’t even pick up a piece of vine charcoal to scribble a line. 

When I returned, I was very nervous at my first phone meeting, but I knew that I belonged.  As soon as I finished sharing, I was filled with incredible shame and ended up in a fetal position on my bed.  I don’t even remember what I talked about. Despite this pain, I continued to dial into as many phone meetings

 

Click to read the complete essay: [Page One]  [Page Two]

Paintings by Connie W. 

      

Special Event: Last Day of the World Service Conference on
Saturday, January 18, 2025 

 

Come one, come all!  

All members who attend will have an equal amount of time to share on two Topics of Discussion: Participation in, and Health of Meetings, and Rotation of Service (including on the Board of Trustees). 

The two Topics of Discussion will be followed by an Open Forum at which all members who are present will have an equal opportunity to express anything they wish to say about A.R.T.S. Anonymous. 

 

The cost of admission is $5. If a member feels they cannot pay, please email conference@artsanonymous.org and ask for help.  

Links for more details and to sign up are below. 

 

 

A.R.T.S. Step Study Workshops

There is a Step Seven Study Workshop on Sunday, January 26,
beginning at 8 am GMT/9 am CET/7 pm AEDT. 

 

Step Ten Study Workshop Rescheduled: Due to various holidays
and the World Service Conference in January 2025,
this series of Step Study workshops will resume with Step Ten on February 14 and 15, 2025. 

 

Recovery in Russia: What an Active Region Can Look Like 

 

There are many parts of the globe from where A.R.T.S. members gather; offering experience, strength and hope, and guiding each other through the program of recovery. The age of online platforms and easily accessible conference lines has made the growth of A.R.T.S. possible in places where such activity would be more of a struggle. The A.R.T.S. membership in Russia has grown into the many hundreds since 2021, representing an estimated half of the membership in A.R.T.S. It is with deep awe and respect that some of us observe how this happens.  

A region like Russia is clearly defined by its language – although there is a huge population of Russian-speakers, it is not universally shared. In today's world, a region might be defined not just by geography, but by language. Perhaps there will be a day when A.R.T.S. has many such active regions around the world as defined by language – in French, in German, in Spanish, in Hebrew, in Greek... 

Perhaps the meeting or the global region you feel most closely aligned with can find inspiration from what the Russian A.R.T.S. members are doing. Forming a region and/or intergroup can help make it possible to carry the message even more effectively – through shared service and resources, workshops and other events, and someday translating and distributing licensed A.R.T.S. Literature. 

These are some of the activities the Russian region is engaged in: 

• Hosting a website that includes a meeting list and other A.R.T.S. resources  

• Maintaining an online chat line for fellowship, sharing art, finding action partners, etc. 

• Developed and held a workshop to train meeting leaders on the Traditions 

• Sharing a Telegram platform for meetings and events 

• Held a Sarafon (Russian Sharathon) 

• Regularly invite speakers from outside Russia, providing translation 

• Translating Conference-approved pamphlets for use during meetings 

• Holding two Open Step Study meetings a week 

• Held several workshops to write contributions for A.R.T.S. Literature, including for the Members Stories book 
   

 

What has Happened so Far? The 2024 3rd Virtual
World Service Conference is Underway 

 

Conference page of the A.R.T.S. Anonymous Website 

 

On Friday, January 10, up to 27 Meeting Delegates, Alternates and Board members gathered, considered, and passed three motions having to do with the Conference.  

 

• The Conference established a Conference Policy and Procedures Committee to develop and make recommendations to the Conference for how it might run itself 

• Consistent with the principle of rotation of service, a term limit of three consecutive annual meetings of the World Service Conference was determined for the position of Conference Chair 

• Revisions were made to the Community Problem-Solving Method to allow for time for comments 

 

On Saturday, January 11 the Conference considered and passed: 

• A procedure for how a motion is submitted and handled, including who may bring a motion, gave the right of decision to the Conference Service and Support Committee for doing the work to prepare motions for the Conference (including working with those who submit motions to develop them as appropriate) how motions are voted on, and the reporting of successfully passed motions.  

• Updates to the Traits, giving an introduction, putting them in the past tense, and providing a uniform set of Traits that are now Conference-approved. 

 

Next Friday January 17, the Conference will consider updates to the Talents, hold elections for the Board of Trustees and Conference Chair and Vice Chair, and hear the Treasurer’s Report and Committee Reports. 

 
The last day of the Conference, Saturday January 18, 2025 (Day 4) is devoted to two Topics of Discussion (“Participation in, and Health of Meetings,” and “Rotation of Service - including on the Board of Trustees”) and an Open Forum. Every A.R.T.S. member present will have time given to them to express their thoughts and feelings on these topics and at the Open Forum. Day 4 of the Conference begins at 10 am PT/11 am MT/1 pm ET/18.00 GMT/19.00 CET/21.00 MSK/5 am AEDT, for a total of 4.5 hours. (Two 2-hour sessions with a 1/2 hour break each day.) The ticket is $5. (Click here, then select the Day 4 only option.) 

  

Service Needed in Support of the Conference as it is happening: Zoom Technical Support People, a “Scribe” for the first part on January 17, Safety. Two to three volunteers for each position would be ideal so that this can be done around people’s schedules and time zones. Please see the Service needed for the Conference page for job descriptions. Email conference@artsanonymous.org to sign up, ask questions, or schedule a training. 
 

 

Just a Little Bit Curious about Serving on the Board of Trustees? 

 

All positions in A.R.T.S. Anonymous are held by trusted servants who volunteer their experience, strength and hope in service, as well as their skills and talents, for the benefit of A.R.T.S. as a whole. Many of us find that personal recovery results when we learn to apply the Twelve Steps, the Twelve Traditions, and the Twelve Concepts of Service in a way that is no longer about us, but about what best serves a larger purpose: the Fellowship as a whole. To assume primary leadership, as the Board does in accordance with the Concepts of Service, the ability to operate within the principles of the Twelve Traditions and Twelve Concepts of Service of A.R.T.S. Anonymous are essential qualifications. We may not all agree. But we agree to actively support the decisions made by the group conscience when serving on the Board.  

 

It can sound daunting. But as fellow members seeking to recover their creative expression, most of us come from a variety of backgrounds and experience in 12-Step recovery programs. As A.R.T.S. rebuilds its foundational strength, seeking to grow in carrying out its primary purpose, it has an opportunity to take much of that experience and have it work for A.R.T.S. Specific amounts of time or experience in A.R.T.S. is not essential to serve on the Board. However, experience and a willingness in applying the Steps, Traditions and Concepts of Service in any Fellowship is. 

 

Please find here a link to the Application to serve on the Board of Trustees of A.R.T.S. Anonymous.  Thank you for your interest and consideration.  

 

 

A.R.T.S. Closing Prayer
 

In closing, I would like to say that no matter how distanced we may feel from our creative sources, no matter how long it has been since we were in touch with our creative spirit, or how feeble may seem our creative impulses, they are reawakening in our Higher Power’s time, through this program and through our actions, no matter how small or how simple, a day at a time. I may not be able to see my own growth, or even to see my creations as beautiful, but I am able to see yours as inspiring and enriching my emotional, spiritual and physical world. We are not recovering merely to hide our light under a bushel; our creative gifts are a gift. To celebrate them, we humbly apply ourselves, sometimes to the work of art, and sometimes to play. May A.R.T.S. Anonymous teach us that our art, celebrated, will benefit and feed our own souls first, and the world’s second, for the world hungers as much for this beauty as for food. We meet here together to feed this deeper hunger.