@farmerman,
I think you're confusing "forum" and "group."
We have an art forum:
http://able2know.org/forum/art/
Meanwhile, there will soon be a Philosophy Forum
Group. That's a different thing. (It's confused by the word "forum" in it but that's just to indicate that it's for people who used to frequent Philosophyforum.com. "Group" is the operative word.)
Robert has talked about groups being a general feature, with the Philosophy Forum Group being just one of them taking advantage of that capability, so I imagine you'd be able to go ahead and create an Art Group (and run it however you want) once that capability is set. Not certain. (He might be getting this one group ready but still won't be ready to open up the groups function in general. We'll see.)