Once a student has expressed interest in coming on a course with you please direct them to Hannah at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or tel. 0117 330 4973 to arrange accommodation. Likewise if a student contacts us regarding your course we will direct them to you straight away to make sure you have availability for them on the course. Students pay us a deposit to reserve a room and the full payment is made 10 weeks prior to the start of the course according to our Terms and Conditions. We suggest you ask for a tuition deposit as well and then balance is paid to you directly by the student at the 10 week mark as well.
Unfortunately, occasionally this situation does occur. As the Centre carries the major part of the risk in this case we take pains to anticipate this as early as possible so that an alternative course can be scheduled in instead. The best way to avoid a late cancellation (when it is then too late to put a good alternative in place) is to start publicising the course early and then to assess the level of interest. If there seems to be a lack of interest from the main target audience then it is best not to proceed. The tutor would not be liable to compensate the Art Centre and the Art Centre would not liable to compensate the tutor for any losses. The decision should be made as early as possible once the likely uptake has become apparent.
We have a lecture theatre with seating for about 15. We have a new and fairly high quality projector in the lecture theatre (or the Museum) stored in the large cupboard to the left of the door as you enter. If you have an ipad or iphone on which photos are stored for lectures and you wish to connect to the projector it is an Acer H6510BD 1080p Full HD 3D DLP Home Cinema Projector which you can look at on Amazon.co.uk for further information about inputs and outputs etc. It works best with and HDMI input (rather than VGA) for best colour results. As there seems to be a specific connector for each Apple device we advise you to bring your own that is compatible with your Apple device. We have a few at the Centre but cannot guarantee they will work with your specific device. Of course you may have an Android device or another. Not everyone uses Apple. So the same applies.
We have free wifi throughout the Art Centre and accommodation. A printer can be made available. It is a colour laser printer. If students want to print or copy art work or photographs we have to charge per print. Detailed instructions on how to use the printer are at this link.
Please make contact with Caroline Seaward our manager in Italy to make sure all the supplies you need will be available. I can supply her email on request. The general guide to what is available is on our web site here: LINK. Some groups choose to send art supplies over in advance or pre-order specific things to be available for the course.
We can also supply you with a letter from the Civil Aviation Authority with advice on travelling with paints. However be aware that some airlines have their own rules about this and so don't necessarily follow the advice of the CAA.
Once you have discussed with our manager what is and isn't available on site then please write to your group with a materials list to let them know what would be useful for them to bring with them. You can also forward them the CAA letter if that would reassure them.
Check in is not before 4 pm on the arrival day (if travelling independently) and check out is 10 am on the departure day.
Our driver will meet the group at around 4:30 pm at Pisa Airport (or Poggibonsi train station or Firenze SMN station by arrangement). On arrival our manager has to check everyone's passport and register their stay with the local authorities for tourist tax etc. So normally if the group arrives in Casole about 18:30 there will be time to settle into your rooms, get your passport checked with the manager and have a drink on the terrace before dinner at 20:00.
Breakfast is at 9 am on the first day (8:30 am thereafter) to allow a bit of extra rest after travelling. If most of your group is new to the Art Centre then usually Nigel Konstam, the owner of the Centre will take the group on a tour of the village ending with a cup of coffee at one of the local bars. This will give the tutor a bit of extra time to get the studios set up ready for action when the group returns about 11 am.
Tips for the kitchen staff and cleaner are always welcomed! If the group feel they have received good service and been well looked after then if someone could collect a tip in an envelope on the last night this is always much appreciated – but of course entirely voluntary.
If students come to you with complaints about anything at all please pass these on as soon as possible to our manager. She will do all possible to rectify any problems as quickly as possible.
The Martini Kitchen in the Centro and the Annex kitchen are available for students if they want to prepare their own lunches. Lunches can be eaten on the terrace or in the kitchen. Plates should be taken back and washed up in the kitchens they came from. There should be milk provided in the fridges of the guest kitchens for students to make tea and coffee whenever they like. If the milk runs out they can mention this to the staff and more will be provided.
We provide a transfer back to Pisa Airport (or Poggibonsi train station) departing after breakfast around 9:30 am. The journey to Pisa is about 1.5 hours and half an hour to Poggibonsi.
We usually write to the group the day after they return from their holidays to find out if they had a good time and if they had any feedback about the course or the stay. We will always pass on comments to the tutor where these relate to the tutor. If there is anything we haven't covered in this letter please do ask and Hannah or Caroline will be happy to help.
Our web site has a lot more information and photos to give you an idea what it is like. Please do call me if you would like to talk about anything. My number is 0117 330 4973 and my mobile is 07981700396.
Best regards,
Hannah Konstam Toomer
HP Printing from mobile devices
Both Apple Airprint, and HP print services for android work with the printer 'as advertised' out of the box,You can learn how to print using these service here,
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201387
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/ads/mobility/android-wireless-network-printing.html
Note: for apple airprint users, the printer must be with in line of site for airprint to work.Note: for android users: HP print services is pre-installed on most android (>4.4) devices if it is not installed it is on Play store. Most higher end Samsung (galaxy) devices come with Samsung print services plugin instead. There is a how to print with the Samsung print services plugin from the following URL
https://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c05211221
It is possible to have both the Samsung and HP print services installed, if so select the print service to be used via the share icon instead of the 'Print' menu option, as always please make sure your device is up to date with the latest plugin version.
The HP All-in-One Printer Remote app The HP M277dw is an all in one printer, scanner and HP have an app for their all in one printers, allowing the scanner to be used from mobile devices. The 'HP All-in-One Printer Remote' app is available from the google Play store, apple itunes, and the Microsoft store so you can even print from the newer Microsoft surface and other windows S device. Note: the hyphens are important when searching or you will get fakes!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hp.printercontrol&hl=en_GB
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/hp-all-in-one-printer-remote/id469284907?mt=8
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/store/p/hp-all-in-one-printer-remote/9wzdncrfhwlhA
how to set up, print, and use the scanner from the HP AiO app is at the following URL
https://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c03561640
Note: During set up the printer may not be detected, if the printer is in sleep mode you will to touch the power button once to wake up the printer prior to setting up. Do not press the button more than once or it will just turn off.
The HP AiO Printer app, and service is accessed accessed either via the share icon or from it's own icon. Please make sure you select tray 2 to print from unless you want manually feed paper and block the printer until a sheet is fed in.
Paper types and trays
We supply HP laser colour paper (designed for colour laser printers), which performs very well for most every day colour and photo printing. We have a small amount of the (4x) more expensive 120 g glossy paper appropriate for the printer. Please do not use papers heavier than 150 g with the printer as the risk of jamming is greatly increased with heavier papers especially in the single feed tray. The printer is an enterprise/office printer not a commercial photo printer!
Our supplied paper types are
HP CHP350 Color Laser Paper 100 g/m2 matt
HP CG964A Professional Glossy Laser Paper A4 (210 x 297 mm) 120 g/m2
The printer has 2 paper trays, a manual feed Paper tray 1, with single sheet loading, and a magazine in tray 2, when printing please make sure you choose tray 2, unless you want to feed the paper your self and stop every on else from printing until you do.
Boarding passes:
Black and White/grayscale, black cartridge only printing, please load normal printer/copier paper in tray prior to printing your boarding passes and select Black & white under your printer services colour options. Please do not print in colour as this wastes ink on useless adverts
BIGGEST Printing tip ever:
When you look at a photo on a mobile device you have the benefit of a back light which is a bit like the old slide (dia) projectors giving the appearance of more vivid colours. A printer page does NOT have a back-light, unless you hold it up, and printing on paper by default makes the printed image appear much darker and plain wrong. Use the source apps (e.g. gallery/photorole) to change contrast and brightness controls to 'liven' up the image prior to printing and DO NOT save the changes unless you really want to keep the changes.