How Much Should We Charge for Art Lessons?

[smhbbag]

General question for the PB:

My wife has a degree in art and is beginning to teach it on the side. She's had a number of individual sessions with people pro bono...and now the wife of an elder at our church has asked her to give her 10 yr. old son some lessons (actually, the son requested it ).

The thinking right now is: a single, 1-1.5 hour session per week for 6-8 weeks. My wife would drive 20 minutes across town to do this in their home. According to her lesson plans, the necessary supplies will be about $25 for what the kid is interested in.

Even at $10/hr for, say, 8 total hours, plus gas and supplies cost, it would come to $125 bare minimum. And, financially, that barely even makes it worth her time. But she enjoys it and is willing to do it for that. Would any of you all pay that much?

It's funny. When I look at it as the provider, that seems way too little. But if I imagine myself at the customer, I'd freak out that it was way too high

 

[Scottish Lass]

That's comparable to the enrichment co-op here in town, if that helps.

 

[Edward]

For comparison purposes, you might look at what group classes (not individual instruction) cost through a taxpayer funded parks and recreation department.

Here's one link (PDF)

http://pdf.plano.gov/parks/catalog/Youth.pdf

The single digit number is the number of times the class meets. I see one pastel class, 3 90 minute sessions for $72, a single 90 minute painting class for $30; 4 one hour drawing classes at $52.

Solo lessons ought to be worth measurably more. Based on our market, you are probably undercharging. Your city might be a somewhat lower cost market, but your charges strike me as being on the low side.

Perhaps you could find similar programs over there to try to see what the market rate is.

 

[Scottish Lass]

Edward makes a good point--my info is based on a group, and individual prices are generally higher here, too.

 

[Grace Alone]

We pay $15 for 1.5 hours for group art lessons, and that is me taking her there. For me to give a private art lesson at the person's house, I think $25 is the minimum that would even be worth it when you factor in travel time. I'd charge separately for the materials at that rate. It seems like it would be more worth your wife's time if she could get a couple more students to teach at the same time, and then it would be a little more financially worthwhile.

 

[TimV]

She could do it for that price to start, knowing that it's really not a money maker, but with the intention of getting her name spread around, which should allow her, if all goes well, to start doing group classes down the line, which would be cheaper for the kids and make more for her.

So, she'd be using her training, making someone happy and practicing good business strategy all at the same time. I often do small jobs for little money, and they very often lead to bigger jobs.

And if it didn't work out, she wouldn't have lost anything.

 

[JBaldwin]

I would check around and see what other teachers in the area are doing. You also have to take into consideration years of experience in teaching and success rate. $10 an hour is not enough for a private lesson.

To give you an idea, I live in an low income area. I will be teaching a fiber art class this summer, and I will get $25 p/hr per student plus the cost of supplies, and this is for a group lesson. The other teachers in the program in which I am working are getting between $25 and $40 p/hr per student. Another art program in our area charges $25 p/hr.

Even if you are trying to help someone out, you have to make it worth your trouble. I would charge $20 p/hr, plus the cost of supplies.