Image: Ned Koala and Me at Art Space on The Concourse. Document Photography.
The old traditions of gallery representation and external curation can be expensive and inaccessible. Sometimes artists decide to take everything into their own hands. They find a space to hire and proceed to curate, hang, and even develop a marketing plan to get the word out.
A key to making it work is finding the right space – a venue with sufficient profile and passing foot-traffic is ideal.
Artist Jan Cristaudo has organised two exhibitions of her work at the Incinerator Art Space, run by Willoughby Council. ‘It is a beautiful space. It’s old in our terms, living in Australia. It has a personality of its own,’ she said.
‘It’s like being in a lovely, long-term friend’s house. You feel good there.’
For Cristaudo, the industrial feel of the gallery space complimented her abstract work. ‘I sold very well there,’ she said.
Artist Graham Blondel also had a positive experience hiring another space run by Willoughby Council. Blondel exhibited at Art Space on The Concourse, situated within The Concourse Performing Arts Center in Chatswood. There, he sold 14 pieces and also had a write up in the Sydney Morning Herald.
When it comes to hiring a space and curating your own exhibition, here’s some advice from Cristaudo and Blondel on how to put it all together and get people to your exhibition.
1. Location, location, location
The classic guide to value is as true for a gallery as it is for any other real estate. For Blondel, the high foot traffic on The Concourse was a big plus and the gallery’s proximity to the box office where people purchased tickets encouraged visitation.
‘There are benefits to the nature of the space because of the people who are coming and going…people were wondering past and it’s a parking area as well for the commercial area. When people come out of the lifts they face the gallery, which is beneficial.’
Blondel said he also took the location into consideration when deciding on opening hours.
‘[The Council] are fairly liberal on hours…Because it is a performing arts centre, I stayed open when there were actual performances on during the evening. On a Sunday afternoon, I had eighty people through.’
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Image: Supplied. Incinerator Art Space.
2. Know what resources are available
Some spaces are nothing more than an empty box, others supply everything from hanging systems to support personnel. Blondel recommended getting familiar with the space and finding out what will be available to you.
‘Have an idea of how you are going to organise your exhibit…Make sure you know what is provided in the way of hanging the show because if you get there, and you haven’t had much experience, you might be floored.’
Blondel decided on the compact space of Art Space on The Concourse as it was an easy one to work in. ‘The hanging system, ladders, plinths [were supplied]. The lighting was easy to manage.’
Another plus for Cristaudo was the on-hand support from the curators who manage the hire of the space. ‘When you get there they walk you through it – what you can do, what you can’t do – there’s always someone only a phone call away, which is great.’
3. Seek media coverage
The day before her exhibition officially opened, Cristaudo received a call from the local radio station. ‘They asked if I would do a live interview just prior to the opening.’
The radio appearance received great feedback for the station and got the word out to the local area.
Sending a media release to the right people can work in your favour. As Blondel found out, keep it brief and include a great image. After first receiving no reply from the Sydney Morning Herald, Blondel made some changes. ‘I cut down my media release…changed the image and, thank you very much, they published it,’ he said.
4. Invite people
‘You put all that work into it, you have to have good advertising,’ said Cristaudo.
When hiring either Art Space on The Concourse or the Incinerator, the council markets the exhibition for you. They provide a large marketing network by listing all exhibitions on Willoughby Council web site, Visit Chatswood website, The Concourse website, Art Guide magazine and website, and send exhibition information to local paper North Shore Times as well as include exhibition announcements in bi weekly EDM.
Blondel and Cristaudo also took things into their own hands by creating Facebook events and reaching out to their own mailing lists and networks. Reaching out to existing Instagram fans also meant reaching a wider audience, said Cristaudo.
‘I always advertise in our local magazine here, which seems to work very well for me. Then I also go around to place like the Mosman library – places in the close vicinity – and I drop in invites. I often send e-invites to various galleries and that, just so you can get your name out there and to let people know what’s happening,’ she said.
For more information on hiring gallery spaces through Willoughby Council, visit http://www.willoughby.nsw.gov.
