Opening of an art gallery - difficult task, which is intended for people who love art and its world. Most galleries are maintained by continually selling quality art to loyal collectors and their friends, while seeking new clients. The gallery keeps a portion of the proceeds from the sale and the remainder goes to the artist. Gallerists must develop friendly relationships with investors, artists, collectors and the media. This career is suitable for a social, independent and business-minded person who is willing to compete for a place in an already vibrant art market. If you have all these traits, then create a business plan and be prepared to work hard until your gallery becomes profitable. Read on to learn how to manage an art gallery.
Steps
Part 1
Gallery opening- You may decide to open a non-profit gallery and collect donations for charity. You may decide to form a collective gallery with other artists if you also work in this field. You may also decide to open a commercial art gallery that focuses on selling low, mid, or high priced art. This decision needs to be made before you start looking for artists or funding.
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Create a detailed business plan. A business plan is the basis for creating a successful, profitable business over 1-5 years, and should include detailed steps regarding the artists' plan, marketing plan and financial plan.
Seek funding if it is not already available. Your business plan, financial statements, and artist support will serve as a way to convince banks or business partners that you have a profitable plan. If you want to attract business partners, try to choose those who are also involved in the art world and can recommend your gallery to collectors.
Get support for artists. Search for artists by getting advice from other dealers or museum curators, or you can advertise an open call for works for sale. Set your percentage in writing, understanding that, in general, than newer artist in the art world, the higher the percentage of the sale you can receive.
Hire reliable employees. Gallery employees should have an art background, contacts in the art world, and experience in sales, business, or marketing. The ideal employee has a degree in art history or administration and is willing to take on a variety of tasks, especially at the beginning.
Get good insurance and security for your gallery. It is important that you are protected in the event of theft or other damage. Artists often require proof of insurance before agreeing to have their work stored in a gallery.
Part 2
Running a Successful Art Gallery-
Don't quit your day job right away. Many gallerists, especially in big cities, run the gallery while working elsewhere until the gallery becomes profitable. Appoint a reliable knowledgeable worker monitor the gallery when you can't be there, and work hard to transition comfortably into full-time gallery work.
Create a page on the Internet. Modern galleries in order to be successful and acquire new clients you must have a website, an account in in social networks, blogs and email list Email. Invest money in creating an attractive website that lists the artists, some of the artworks, provides information about your location and a contact number.
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Make contacts in the art world. These contacts should be among collectors, artists and funds mass media in the art sector in the city where your gallery will be open and beyond. It can take years (5 to 15) to get through art school, develop a career in the field, and make connections in the museum and gallery environment.
Be fully committed to the art and desire to have art gallery. In modern market conditions, many gallerists believe that you need to love what you do in order to succeed. Art sales are sporadic, with some months producing almost no income and others being very profitable.
Decide what type of art you want to sell and who your potential clients are. For example, modern, abstract, western art, sculptures, photographs, furniture or a mixture various types. The artwork in a gallery should be varied but have an underlying theme to attract people to become repeat customers.
-> Entertainment and hotel business, tourism, catering, beauty, health, medicine
How to open a gallery or art salon
Opening art gallery or art salon- this is very successful and quite profitable idea for your own business.
What you should know and consider when opening your own gallery or art salon? There are several very simple and logical rules for creating such a business.
1. For an organization, it is necessary to have a sufficiently spacious premises, which must meet the requirements for such establishments. Both technical and certain artistic and aesthetic requirements should be taken into account. You should definitely make repairs, carefully consider additional lighting and other similar details.
Of course, it is good if the gallery is located in the city center, where an influx of visitors is guaranteed, but placing an art gallery or salon in a residential area is always a risk.
2. The total area of the premises for organizing an art salon or gallery is usually at least 200 square meters. meters. Of these, approximately 20 sq. meters will occupy the office, showroom – from 80 sq. meters, the storage room for work (storage room) is about another 50 sq. meters, and the remaining 50 sq. meters will be consumed by utility rooms and other technical rooms. In principle, there are smaller galleries that do without storage rooms and an office; when planning such mini-salons, it is very important to correctly distribute the small space available.
3. The next step is the selection of personnel and employees. The main thing here is that they have a good understanding of art, are sociable, sociable, and active.
Usually in a state of more or less serious art salon or gallery work as a gallerist, curator, manager, consultant, exhibitor. Gallery owner creates appearance gallery, is responsible for its image, chooses the direction of work, collaborates with artists. The curator is involved in organizing and holding exhibitions; he is the initiator of all these processes. Naturally, this specialist must have an artistic education.
The exhibitor selects the most suitable place for each work, competently and correctly formats exposition. The consultant's task is to communicate with potential clients.
The staff may be reduced or, conversely, increased, depending on the conditions and specifics of the activities of a particular salon or gallery.
4. In order to open an art salon or gallery no special permits are required, only generally accepted papers are needed.
5. As in any other business, when starting an art gallery, you should think about start-up capital. If you already have premises for the future art salon, then at first you can get by with an amount of about 5 - 7 thousand dollars. This money will be used to pay employees for the first month of work, to equip and open the gallery, and to print booklets about upcoming exhibitions.
If, as is usually the case, there is no premises, you will need to rent suitable space. But renting in the city center is a very expensive pleasure. However, if you find a sponsor or open gallery together with local authorities, it will cost much less.
You can connect the gallery to your existing business. For example, you can organize exhibitions in a working store on weekends. By the way, this will be very good advertising.
6. Very important point - choice of artists and their works. You should decide on the direction, technologies (painting, sculpture, graphics, photography, video, media art, installation) and the preferred range of authors.
Here you should rely on several factors: your own preferences, popularity in society, demand. It helps to study business reviews and the opinions of qualified experts who evaluate the work of a particular artist and give them a description.
An artist can be judged by the events in which he took part, where he exhibited, in which museum contemporary art His works are already available. It is very important to choose good work For galleries, because it is assessed not by the level of the strongest, but by the weakest of the authors. This is the specificity of this business.
7. When opening a gallery, you should take care of insurance, as well as general organization safety and security. These cost items can add significant cost to the initial estimate.
8. Profit can be made not only from painting sales and other items displayed in the salon or gallery. A small entrance fee to the gallery is unlikely to scare away art connoisseurs, but it will cut off the extra “non-target” contingent. You can also charge a nominal fee to artists who want to exhibit their work.
So, let's summarize.
Opening an art salon or gallery- This good business an idea that allows you to make a profit by putting your own (if you are an author or collector) and other people's works for sale.
You may have to face some difficulties. They can arise if the business is not thought out to the smallest detail, if there is no starting capital And required premises. However, it is impossible to predict everything and some flaws, as often happens, will have to be eliminated during the work process. And yet, it is very important to resolve all organizational issues in advance in order to gallery opening went with a bang.
There is hardly a more rewarding way to make a living on this planet than running an art gallery. Sitting all day in a quiet room full of beautiful things, greeting visitors with a smile, giving them your attention and receiving attention in return.
What could be more beautiful than being surrounded by objects of art that, perhaps, are highest form human self-expression, collect these objects, preserve them, open the way for them to the big world, and even earn a living from this?
So, if you decide to become an art dealer and open your own gallery, let’s consider several important points for this profession. First and most important, you must have imaginative thinking
. And everything you display or offer for sale should be the result of this vision. Imagine that every piece and every artist that you exhibit in the gallery is a kind of brushstroke in painting, and the picture you create fully represents your unique view of art.
This should be your goal: to present and show the world a cohesive, understandable, coherent collection of works that reflect your worldview and allow visitors to form an individual impression of your gallery. Random, not consistent
exposure, lack of direction, lack of identity indicate that, most likely, your business will not last.
Even if you choose to display art, you cannot do it facelessly or with embarrassment. Therefore, get ready for the fact that you will have to defend your identity and answer to unfriendly
competitors' comments. Knowing how to successfully defend what you sell is at the heart of reputation building and is an important part of the game. You understand that people who want to buy works from you, and not from a neighboring gallery, must have good reasons for this. Collectors value knowledgeable, educated dealers, those who not only understand art, but know how and can clearly argue their position on a particular direction, give expert assessment
events taking place on the market, characterize the work in terms of its relevance, historical value, etc. Your next task (if you still decide to stay in this business) is to create a core client base consisting of regular customers. Regardless of what type of painting you offer for sale, this base consists of people who understand that a quality collection is built over time. long period
time.
Their tastes and understanding develop gradually, and the more their demands increase, the more they gravitate toward respected, reputable dealers and galleries with whom they do business. Study the list of any major collection and you will see that only a few dealers play an important role in its construction. Become one of them. However, knowing the advantages of your direction, do not stop on what has been achieved. By being the most knowledgeable in the art you represent, attract best artists
in this area. Continuously study the market, understand its trends and stay two steps ahead of your competitors. And in exceptional In some cases, form this market yourself.
But wait, that's not all. Successful dealers are always artist-first. If you get recognition from artists, you will get recognition from collectors. The willingness of a good artist to trust your gallery with his work and his
creative career
is the key to your success. If you can't get an interesting artist, you won't be able to offer interesting art products to the market. But here I am getting ahead of myself a little. To achieve this highest recognition - and it will take years, believe me - be firm, focused and confident in the message you send to society. Get known in the art community as a gallery that deals
specific types
art in a certain price range, works with serious artists whose goals and worldview correspond to a given direction. Your level of trust must be in good standing and your reputation impeccable.
People want to know where they are coming, they want to feel stability, and not jump with you from one direction to another, not understanding what else you will come up with next time. Remember that most buyers are confused by frivolous experiments around art, so stay the course as firmly and steadily as possible.
Once again, success does not come instantly. It will take a long time to build a reputation. Show after show, show after show, convince people that you are not only committed to your vision, but that you have the necessary resources (talent, vision, intelligence, finances) to hold that helm. This means that you better have enough funds and an interesting, vibrant exhibition calendar for at least six months, or better yet a year, to stay in this business. Profit may not come as quickly as you expected. If you do not have such a cushion, think seriously before starting such a business; perhaps you should postpone it. From the very first day you will be under close attention, but interest in your activities may fade very quickly. Therefore, you must have confidence that what you are doing is capable of starting a fire and maintaining it. remains committed to your choice. A gallery is not a club of interests, not a get-together for friends, acquaintances, artists and classmates, those who come to drink, talk about life and have no intention of buying anything.
A surprisingly large number of galleries seem to be created from the very beginning out of the desire of the owners to surround themselves with sycophants and satisfy some unrealized ambitions. This will almost inevitably lead to a sad end. In order to prevent such an outcome. You must take care of the outside world, take into account its interests and convince the world that you have something to show and something to say about this, that you are protecting your gallery from turning into a local cheap club and what you are ready to do its a place for the elite.
You must be ready at some stage to outline a clear circle of your clients and weed out all those who talk a lot and beautifully about their love for art, but have no intention of supporting you financially or in any other way. This is the only one way to survive. In the end, you can transfer communication with some footcloth friends who are especially close to you from the gallery to your personal space.
Your next task is to attract the right people. But this does not mean loading. One of the best ways is to speak to everyone in a language they understand. Understand that not everyone wants and is able to understand the subtleties of the secrets of painting and delve into your creative plans. You should be easy and unobtrusive with such buyers.
It is quite possible, over time, when you install strong connection, You will be able to deepen your intellectual communication. Of course, it would be nice for you to show off your erudition and flaunt your knowledge, and even at first it may seem that you are making an impression; in the end, all this intricate terminology will scare off a not very educated guy. Rarely does anyone want to pay for something they know nothing about.
As an art dealer, constantly expand your audience. Offer items for purchase again and again, sooner or later your customers will start calling themselves and making repeat purchases. At the same time, it also happens that at some point your old clients fill out their collections or switch to new directions, be prepared to replace them with those who have just entered the business.
As for the content of conversations, it is undoubtedly better not to use banal empty remarks such as: “Look how beautiful this picture is, how much expression there is in it, isn’t it?”
Talk about your gallery, about your goals, about why this particular direction and not another is worth attention. Discuss the creative credo of your artists, what their art represents, the concepts, and ideals that it embodies. Why you should invest in them, stick to the story successful exhibitions
and sales.
You must understand for yourself and convince anyone that you are selling much more than just beautiful things.
You'll never sell anything if you just say, "I love this, you should love it too."
Always be extremely attentive to those with whom you communicate, try to show maximum care throughout your acquaintance. Instead of trying to peddle what you want to sell over and over again, try to get to know your buyer's needs and tastes as closely as possible, give them the information they want to hear, and then leave them to their own thoughts.
There is nothing more annoying than annoying gallery staff who are released to process a client, and they try to hook the client with all sorts of tricks, as if the client is a fool and does not understand what exactly they are doing to him. Of course, you may be interested in playing a maze, but first make sure that your interests are shared. In addition, place all descriptive materials in an accessible place: all articles, essays by art historians and critics, press releases, announcements. Write down the description of the gallery itself and the artists’ statments in simple, accessible language that everyone can understand. This gives people a level of trust, they feel in control, and most importantly, they decide whether they want to know more. Pressure on the buyer at the very beginning means that you will lose loyal customers and will not give you the opportunity to generate
cash flows to stay in business. If we're already talking about finances, let's look at another one.
important aspect Your gallery's survival is keeping art prices reasonable., justify them like a professional: for example, all the works from the last exhibition were sold, or there were acquisitions for the collection, or there was a sale at auction.
In the end, the price can be argued by the fact that this is a painstaking and costly technique, expensive equipment and materials, etc. Those. There must be some specific rational reason for the high cost of work. Just say what it is
fashion direction , and the artist is a newly-minted genius - it’s an understatement to sell a painting at a good price. You can't deal with value like a souvenir dealer or a salesman of expensive entertainment. The buyer of serious art is in most cases a collector and investor, so he will not be satisfied with weak explanations. Only offer thoughtful, agreed-upon prices. Don't do an exhibition where first you sell everything at a price of $8,000 - $12,000, and next time $500 - $1,000. The reaction of regular buyers will not be in favor of the authority of your gallery. Even if the prices were reasonable and you can explain the fine line between different artists
and works
art, this line is not obvious to most buyers.
Moreover, we have already talked to you that you are obliged to maintain one direction in your gallery, one level of artists and attract regular customers, so take seriously the temptation to change something in your pricing policy. People already have certain expectations and you need to be careful with this.
We are not talking about small fluctuations in price, which are easy to explain, but about large discrepancies that can only harm you.
And finally, a few little things to note: Continuously build your mailing list, but don't send announcements too often: one or two announcements per month will be enough to maintain your status as a reputable gallery.. Show up at local museums, cultural organizations, dealer associations and galleries, draw their attention to the events you are hosting, ask for financial and other support when necessary, not all the time, of course, but when appropriate. appear at any and all events, but with some level of regularity. People will notice you again and again and gradually a conversation will begin.
Avoid pressure tactics. Don't constantly try to sell someone something.
If someone is ready to buy, they usually make it clear. Answer people's questions, be attentive to their needs, and let them take things one step at a time.
At the very least, make sure the client is mature before you grab him by the throat.
If a critic or reviewer expresses thoughts that don't excite you, let them. Never remove them from your mailing list, respond to criticism with back-criticism, or close your gallery doors to them. This is just stupid. You can’t try to change people or take away their right to their opinion. And in any case, the press always has the last word , no matter how you puff yourself up. If you take something to public court, be prepared to receive mixed reviews. If it consoles you, outside readers rarely remember which gallery was discussed in the last review, and your customers, on the contrary, will receive an additional incentive to look at you again
and make sure
that you are in good shape and in a great mood. And remember - the worst thing they can write about you is not to write anything. And in conclusion. Be an honest dealer. Never distort and don't embellish excessive information about artists
and works,
which you are selling. The last thing a buyer would want is to find out, especially one who has just started his business, trusting your professionalism, listening to your opinion, bought from you something completely different from what you described. This will have a bad impact not only on your reputation, but also on the business of all the galleries in the world, because now they have lost at least one collector, and even a couple of his friends.
Therefore, do your beautiful work honestly, have fun, enjoying all the benefits of being a gallery owner, and this alone is enough to say - my business is quite successful.
Article from Artbusiness.com http://www.artbusiness.com/osoqcreatran.html
The Atelier Karas gallery opened in 1995. The idea of creating a gallery originated in his family, a family of artists, back in 1986, then the premises for the future gallery appeared. The Artists' Union provided Evgeniy's parents with an entire floor for a creative workshop: the total area of the room was approximately 200 sq.m. “I wanted to create some space for “scrolling” interesting creative ideas, cultural environment for communication between like-minded people, a platform for beautiful life”, recalls Evgeniy Karas.
The creation of the “space” began with a major renovation. The building needed not just repairs, but restoration. But even after the room acquired its proper appearance, it did not immediately become “a space for “scrolling” creative ideas.”
Until 1995, “there was a process of accumulation of knowledge in the field of contemporary art.” The future gallery owner sought to understand what was happening in fine arts Ukraine, Russia, Europe, America. He also began to carefully examine artistic directions, infrastructure, parties, names, ratings. It was decided to exhibit works only Ukrainian artists. The gallery staff began to form a database: they collected information about the artists, photographs of their works, and art historical texts. And in 1995 they began to invite artists to participate in exhibition programs.
When the time came to open a gallery, Evgeniy Karas had everything he needed: first, a large and inexpensive space, second, ideas for future exhibitions, third, a database of artists and their works, fourth, competent like-minded people.
How to open the gallery: frames
The gallery “Atelier Karas” employs only five people: gallery owner - manager, curator, press secretary, consultant and exhibitor.
The success of the entire enterprise depends entirely on the gallery owner: on his taste, his position. It is he who sets the tone and shapes the image of the gallery. He decides what art is acceptable for his gallery and what is not. Which authors should he work with and which should he not? He also sets the “bar” for the gallery. A gallery owner does not have to be an artist. The main thing is to understand fine art and love it. By the way, some universities in Ukraine train art managers. For example, the Kiev Art Academy and the Kiev University of Culture.
Evgeniy Karas assigns the second most important role to the curator. The curator initiates, organizes and conducts exhibitions. A curator needs an artistic education.
The exhibitor decides where to place this or that work so that it does not “get lost” in the general mass, so that it does not “overwhelm” other works, so that the exposition is as adequate as possible to the concept of the exhibition. That is, organizing an exhibition is an entire art; often a skillfully executed exhibition gives paintings a “new sound”.
As for consultants (who work with visitors and potential buyers) and press secretary (working with the media), Evgeniy Karas hired graduates of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy for these positions. He claims that not a single university is able to compete with graduates of the Faculty of Cultural Studies of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy. Soon the gallery will have a programmer who will deal only with Internet resources created and supervised by the gallery.
Staff members galleries receive on average
from $200 to $500 per month.
How to open a gallery: documents
According to Evgeniy Karas, to open a contemporary art gallery, you do not need to obtain any permits other than generally accepted ones. And no one purposefully checks galleries, since the activities of galleries are not regulated by law: there is no such concept of specific cultural activity as a “gallery” in our laws.
How to open a gallery: works
“Gallery Karas” positions itself as a gallery of contemporary fundamental art. That is, the art of traditional technologies is shown here: painting, graphics, sculpture and photography. And only in rare cases - installation, media and video art.
At Evgeny Karas own system assessments of artists, which, however, does not pretend to be objective. He asks the opinion of experts, who are reputable artists in professional circles; the author is judged by the events in which he participated. Most high level international recognition of the artist - participation in prestigious international festivals, for example at the Venice Biennale.
Big role It also plays into where the author exhibited. If the artist calls famous museums, for example the Ludwig Museum, the Stedlik Museum, etc., which means it can confirm its high international status. According to the gallery owner, there are no more than 30 such artists in Ukraine. He named only a few names: Makov, Savadov, Tistol, Roytburd, Gnilitsky, Zhivotkov, Silvashi and others.
According to the gallery owner, “a gallery, like any art project, is judged not by the strongest, but by the weakest artist or project. And it’s not as difficult to raise the “bar” as it is to not lower it.”
In order not to “go down”, the Atelier Karas gallery regularly conducts research, the purpose of which is to assess and predict the artistic situation, to determine the best artists in the country according to experts. The system is simple: they interview 15 experts (gallery owners, art managers), asking them to name the 50 most interesting artists. As a rule, their opinions coincide by 80%. Then, out of the indicated 50, they are asked to mark the 10 strongest: coincidence - 20%. This is how the internal rating is formed.
His gallery systematically works with more than 30 artists. True, every year it reserves space for the works of one or two new authors. On average, it holds 10-15 exhibitions a year.
It is better to locate the gallery in the city center. An ideal room can be considered with a total area of 200 sq.m: exhibition hall - 50-80 sq.m, office - 15-20 sq.m, work storage room - 30-50 sq.m and technical premises (for storing equipment and etc.) - 50 sq.m.
You can start a gallery business with $1.5 thousand, but this is only if you have premises. $1.5 thousand will go towards staff salaries for the first month, a buffet on the occasion of the opening and booklets about the exhibition. Renting a space in the city center will of course be very expensive. But you can come to an agreement with the local authorities to organize a joint gallery. Or you can add a gallery to an already existing business: for example, a banker can organize exhibitions in the bank lobby.
Based on materials from the Business newspaper
It is fashionable to be interested in art now. More and more connoisseurs are appearing among young people various directions creativity. Art is changing, new types and directions are emerging, but this is an area that will always be in demand.
Many creative people Those who are interested in art and want to connect their business with “beautiful” are thinking about how to open an art gallery. As with any type of business, before opening a gallery you should consider important points organization of activities.
Selecting a room
For an art gallery you need a fairly large room - at least 200 square meters. If you have the opportunity to occupy a larger room, it will only be better. After all, in this area you need to place an exhibition hall (the largest part of the room will be used for it), a warehouse for storing works that have not yet been presented, an office and utility rooms.
Pay attention to how specifications premises, as well as aesthetic ones. If you find a room without an acceptable renovation, be sure to do it, since the art gallery should look perfect from an artistic and aesthetic point of view. All conditions must be created in the room in order to organize a lot of lighting.
An important point is the organization of a security system in the gallery. Security and alarm systems must be more than reliable.
Gallery location
Before opening an art gallery, you need to think about where people will be able to visit it. maximum amount of people. Of course, it needs to be placed where there is a constant flow of people - in the city center, or (if there are any) in the cultural areas of the city, where some establishments aimed at creativity and art are already located. Opening a gallery on the outskirts of the city or in residential areas is inappropriate. There will be very few clients, and therefore no profit either.
Recruitment
Basic qualities of employees art gallery– communication skills, activity, interest in artistic arts and the ability to understand it.
An art gallery does not require a large number of employees. Basically, the staff consists of a manager, gallerist, exhibitor, curator, and sometimes also a consultant. The gallery owner's responsibilities include negotiating with artists, creating and maintaining the image of the establishment. The curator organizes and conducts copyright or thematic exhibitions, although sometimes the gallerist and curator are united in the person of one employee.
An art education is a prerequisite. Because no matter how much a person loves art, without the proper art education he will not be able to make the gallery work the way it should be.
The exhibitor is responsible for the correct and most convenient location for each painting inside the gallery.
Initial Investment
You can’t do this without start-up capital. Of course, the amount of investment will vary depending on the specifics and scale of the business. However, if you do not take into account the rental of premises, then an amount of 5-7 thousand dollars may well be enough for the first time of work (equipping the gallery, initial salaries for employees, printing advertising booklets).
Artists' Choice
The factor that determines the success of your gallery is the choice of artists. Distinctive feature of this business is that the opinion about the gallery will be formed not on the basis of the strongest artist, but on the basis of the weakest. First of all, you need to decide on the concept of the gallery and decide which works will be exhibited in it. It could be photography, graphics, installation or anything else. There is no need to concentrate on any one direction, because you can create thematic exhibitions in different genres.
When choosing artists whose work you want to display in your gallery, be guided by your own taste and expert opinion. On various Internet resources about art, they express their opinions regarding this or that artist and leave reviews of their works.
It is also worth paying attention to the events that your chosen artist has attended and the exhibitions in which he has already taken part. Naturally, the more popular and prestigious they are, the higher the demand for this artist will be.
Sources of profit
Selling paintings is not the only way you can make a profit. You can charge a small fee to enter the gallery. If a person is really interested in art, he will not regret the amount, which will not affect his daily budget in any way. And in this way the entire unwanted contingent will be immediately cut off, but this will only benefit you. You can take a small fee from beginning artists who want to have an exhibition in your gallery, and also organize various thematic competitions of works, participation in which also requires a certain monetary contribution.
