37 Main Street, St Marys TAS 7215
Provides study and gallery space, art classes and exhibitions to the local St Marys community.
We are a social enterprise because Gone Rustic offers a place for people to develop skills in textiles at
various levels. People who visit are also able to talk in confidence as well as access social networking
opportunities that are not otherwise available. There is no other such opportunity in this rural area.
Rita's background is in working in neighbourhood houses, community radio station as well as having a strong
personal interest in the arts. She has a passion for rural communities. Rita has lived in rural communities all
of her life, both in Canada and Australia. She understands well the extra challenge that comes with living in
rural communities. Above all, Rita wants to be able to assist rural people to achieve their potential as well as
providing opportunities that may not otherwise be available in a rural area. Gone Rustic enables a
combination of all these interests in one place.
Our start-up story: Rita has had Gone Rustic as a registered business name long before it started as a
social enterprise. Until she established Gone Rustic in St Mary‟s, Rita was selling her arts through other
businesses.
In 2003 Rita was asked to take a class at St Mary‟s which enabled a path into education. She knew she
wanted to continue with education in some form, and she wanted to continue her passion for arts. She
decided to find a place for Gone Rustic to live. After getting a $500 donation from family to start the
business, along with some free advertising in the local newspaper via the community page, the journey had
begun.
After looking into available spaces, Rita decided it was too expensive to buy something that was suitable and
began renting a space. In April 2004 Rita and her husband bought the property where Gone Rustic is now
located. After renovations (mainly completed by Rita‟s husband, Ian), it was a suitable space where Rita and Ian could live as well as a place where exhibitions could be showcased and art classes could be held.
None of this journey was achievable without Rita‟s very supportive husband, Ian, and perhaps the buffer of
his teaching job which ensured a regular income when business income was low. Several close friends were
supportive who provided lots of help in various ways. Rita also attended awards events and interstate
exhibitions to showcase works of art which increased the awareness of Gone Rustic outside of St Mary‟s.
What is missing to support you? The biggest assistance to Gone Rustic would be finance. As Gone Rustic is not incorporated, there are limited opportunities to source any extra funding. Recently Rita has engaged a partnership with Greater Esk Tourism to get a grant. However, in any partnership the original idea can be changed (and sometimes lost) and control over the implementation can also decrease. It has been important to both Rita and Ian to understand tax issues and use this information wisely to offset against Ian's employment. Without this information and the ability to offset, Gone Rustic is not able to survive
as a social enterprise.
Where we are now? To continue as a social enterprise, Gone Rustic has had to diversify. This has included
increasing client numbers from tourists, the community and classes. It has also required expanding the range of art works on sale – locally made, Tasmanian made, Rita's own works as well as other works of other people. Gone Rustic regularly hosts exhibitions where artists can be featured. Rita also ensures that she tours other exhibitions to see what else is on offer both intrastate and interstate. Gone Rustic also sources collectible items and sells these both online and at the premises.To support the business of Gone Rustic, Rita and Ian also sell sheds and kit homes. This has had an indirect effect on the community because there has been an increase in building which is seen positively as growth in the community in general. Currently Rita is
assessing the future plans for Gone Rustic. There may be a need to streamline the business, but it is
important that this is done whilst achieving an income. There may be a need to sell the current premises, but
it is very difficult to find another space to achieve the goals of the business. There is a definite need to
ensure Rita and Ian can have time off from the business, as this allows them to re-assess where the business
is heading.
Why our work matters: Gone Rustic creates many benefits, including:
- working together to achieve potential
- boosting the self-esteem of people within the community
- a place to spend time with people
- it is a place to support people and the community through art.
The hardest thing has been:
- for Rita to learn to pace herself
- to limit worrying about covering costs
- to justify "throwing away" good money (from Ian's employment) after bad (business)
- to negotiate payment plans for paying accounts when the business income is too low to cover living and business costs.
The most important thing we have learned:
- be pro-active with finances (rather than leaving bills unpaid with no communication with the company) - this requires excellent communication skills
- Rita has had to learn how to look after the business accounts (with no training and little confidence to start with) - Ian now checks the accounts for errors, and tax returns are done online, but this was a steep learning curve to begin with
- some things work, some things don‟t
- there are more people interested in what Gone Rustic has to offer, but finances limit whether people will take up the opportunities
- review regularly and
- diversify.
Our dream: Rita's dream is to do more art, in whatever form that might take. It enables her to express
feelings on a range of issues, and for other people to do the same. Rita would also like to see people get
further training through Gone Rustic and a link to a training provider which can provide them with a
qualification. This will enable people to further pursue their artistic skills.
Rita has also been invited to teach interstate as well as judge in exhibitions. This would be a great area to
expand into. Rita has also written some articles in newspapers and magazines, and would like to pursue this
further as it is a great way to explain the importance of art and a business such as Gone Rustic.
Rita Summers, Gone Rustic
OUR ADDRESS: 37 Main Street, St Marys TAS 7215
EMAIL: gonerustic@yahoo.com.au
WEB: www.gonerustic.com PHONE: (03) 6372 2724
