Category: Art Business Info For Artists

Advice about British Art Exhibitions

3/4/2019

There's an excellent Facebook Group for those artists who attend art fairs called "Art Fair Buddies". It's used essentially to provide:

practical support to those new to art fairs
feedback from those attending art fairs about how effective it was and the level of support received (or not) from the organisers
news of new art fairs and the closure or cancellation of others

This group is a collection of artists who want to share
information about Art Fairs and the logistics of doing them!
From hotel info to which ones to do.....and everything in between. We will also invite Art fairs to use this group to promote 'calls to artists'!

It often involves long feedback posts when things do NOT go according to plan - or according to expectations based on representations by the organisers.

What follows is one such post by a chap whose Facebook Page is Mark Brighton Art. It's a good example of:

what to do when you feel you've been badly let down by organisers - in terms of failure to deliver what they promised
how to write a letter to organisers to request a refund

The letter BELOW relates to an operation called British Art Exhibitions run by Karl Percival who purports to be an advertising/promotions specialist.

It's followed by an update from Mark - although Mr Percival has not as yet contacted me.

Examples of Instagram images used to market the Macclesfield Art Fair - but where were the local flyers and other advertising?

The email

It is a bit lengthy but here is a copy of the email I have just sent to Karl from British Art Exhibitions about the show in Macclesfield and my request for a refund. He did say at the show that he would give me a refund - so let's see if he does! Mark Brighton Art

Dear Karl

I would like to explain the issues that I had with the recent exhibition in Macclesfield: what my expectations were as opposed to what was delivered.

When I arrived on Friday at around 11.15am, I was fully expecting that display boards would be up and that I could hang my work. I waited for an hour, in which time nothing happened, and then I had to get home. I left detailed instructions with one of the hangers who promised it would be hung for me. If I had known my work wouldn't be hung I could have come back that afternoon and done it myself in time for the preview.

When I arrived at the preview around 5.15pm, I eventually found my art on the floor propped up against a board, as indeed were the works of many of the other artists. I then asked you for a screwdriver and screws and hung it myself. Judging by the state of the room at that point, I didn't believe my work would get hung that evening. This meant that I couldn't use the preview time to network or even talk to fellow artists and visitors.

As I was working to get my pictures up, the artist next door was getting agitated and complained that I was in the way as she tried to show her guests her work.

I then noticed that even work that was already on display had no artist profile or labels attached. We were later told there was a problem with the printer, so price labels were handwritten and still nobody had an artist profile up. Again, if I had known this I could have brought my own. But we were all told that these would be provided as the exhibition was supposed to have a standard look.

I was also told by you that that there was a website on which my own and other artists' work could be displayed. Having looked at The British Art Exhibitions website, there is no mention of exhibiting artists at all. There also appeared to be very little marketing of the event itself to the general public. I have unsuccessfully tried to access this via Macclesfield Town Hall, your own site and that of British Art Exhibitions. None of them had any publicity or advertising regarding the show, so how was anyone supposed to know it was happening? Besides which, there were no fliers, leaflets or posters visible on the run up to the show.

I rang you three times with questions regarding drop off and pick up times and I also emailed as you didn't get back to me on any of my phone queries as was promised.

There are obviously basic organisational issues here: a clear, general email explaining the requirements for the artists - drop off and pick up times and what to expect when you get to the venue. Also, it is polite to keep artists in the loop when they do send you information so that they know that you have it all and they have completed the requisite paperwork successfully. And If you offer to hang an artist's work, make sure you do.

Perhaps, in future, it would be better to charge less for people to exhibit, take some commission but actually do some advertising for the general public, rather than aiming all the marketing at the artist and not the buyer. As an exhibiting artist, it felt as if I had paid my money for very little in return, and this is why I would like a refund, as agreed by you, as what was offered was not delivered. I presume you can refund me via Paypal. If you need any more information from me, please do not hesitate to contact me on this email address.

Many thanks for your help in this matter.

For the record Karl's response was to offer a refund and free exhibiting at other art fairs.

However Mark has not yet received his refund.... (I'm happy to update this when he has).

UPDATE: The response - and a FULL refund for Mark

The following was communicated to me via the Facebook group. It's very good to see that Mark Brighton got a full refund as promised by the organiser.

Mark Brighton Art Good news - I recieved a full refund from Karl yesterday. I threatened to get my bank involved & this seems to have spured him on to actually do something & honour the refund he offered at the show. I urge everyone else who went to do the same.

Mark Brighton Art hi Katherine - I have just had a message from Karl who has read your piece. Unfortunately he has taken exception & wants a few things corrected. I have now recieved a full refund from Karl so it would be fair to point this out to your readers. He is also querying the suggestion that he is only in it for profit - he says he has taken legal advice. I imagine this is just bluster but I would appreciate it if you could add a correction of sorts to your article. Many thanks Mark

I'm not sure what Mr Percival wants corrected as to date all I have done is highlighted a letter sent to him by somebody who attended one of his Fairs and the response from the same individual with respect to the refund given.

As I have indicated I am happy to correct anything which is factually incorrect.

However I would point out that Mark's comments were n0t isolated in connection with this particular fair. Others wrote about having the same experience - and I've made a note of their comments too. I only ever write these sort of posts when it is evident that a number of artists have been let down.

BEWARE business models where the artists provide the income

One of the things artists need to beware of are business models used by entrepreneurs where the entire income stream is delivered by the artists and not by the success or otherwise of their sales. (It can make you look at art galleries in a whole new light!)

For many years, there have been websites which supposedly provided a place for artists to sell their art. In fact the business model for the website is entirely predicated on making money from artists. Such websites on the whole do not serve artists well in terms of selling art. - because the owners make few efforts to help them. Instead they make money for the owners from the fees the artists pay to get their art online.

The exact same business model can be used for art fairs.

Artists can draw conclusions about art fairs from

the level of effort and finance employed by organisers to make them successful.
recommendations from other artists as to how well marketed they were and how well they did in terms of sales (i.e. did they attract the right sort of people)
comments from those who signed up for fairs in terms of their actual experience

What artists do NOT need are art fairs which involve:

organisers who run art fairs on a shoe-string
poor planning in advance
poor marketing (or none at all) to the public (i.e. customers)
poor preparation and execution of services on the day
under-resourced relative to the demands of setting up

If you are thinking about booking an art fair stand with British Art Fairs (who organised the Macclesfield Art Fair - see above)
I RECOMMEND that you:

attend one of their art fairs/exhibitions first to check out the level of professionalism and standard of presentation and operations; and
talk to artists (when they're not talking to punters) about how well supported they feel and whether or not they would recommend British Art Fairs to other artists.

Or join Art Fair Buddies and find out about the art fairs that people do think are worth attending.

TIP: If you pay an art fair organiser by credit card or PayPal and organisers do not deliver what is promised then you can also seek reimbursement from your card service or PayPal.

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How well do you comply with data protection law?

31/10/2018

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The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) in the UK has produced a new checklist about data protection law for small business owners and sole traders.

INFORMATION FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS AND SMALL TRADERS

In the recent past, ICO has tended to share information about rules and guidelines on data protection and privacy in such a way that it suggested a general lack of awareness by the ICO of the special needs of those who are small businesses or small traders - such as artists. I suspect they received a lot of cries for help from this quarter when GDPR was implemented earlier this year - as all guidance at one point was constructed assuming organisations had people who did this for them!

The main problem for those who are running EVERY aspect of their business is to find out the answers to "what they don't know they don't know " i.e. it's difficult to know you should be doing something about some new aspect of law if you don't even know it exists!

Hence the checklist is a welcome way in which the ICO is becoming a bit more attuned to the needs of sole traders - and people like artists.

This is the link to How well do you comply with data protection law: an assessment for small business owners and sole traders

This is what ICO have to say about what happens when you use the checklist.

Use our checklist to improve your understanding of data protection and find out what you need to do to make sure you are keeping people’s personal data secure. Once you have completed the checklist a short report will be created suggesting some practical actions you can take and providing links to additional guidance you could read that will help you improve your data protection knowledge and compliance.

The checklist is part of the overall set of checklists which have been developed by ICO as part of the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation which became operative in May 2o18.

Do let me know how you get on if you use it.

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More information on this website

On this website UK artists - and all those artists dealing with clients and art collectors in the European Union - can also read about:

General Data Protection Regulation for Artists and Art Organisations
Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations - as part of e-Commerce for Artists

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Paul Klein on How to Succeed as an Artist

21/10/2018

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This video is well worth watching by those trying to succeed as artists.

Paul Klein has been involved in the art world and with artists for over 40 years. He used to run a gallery. He now focuses on teaching an online professional course for artists - and he works as mentor to TED Fellows.

Making good art is a necessary but not sufficient condition for becoming a successful artist.

He considers there are three necessary preconditions for being a successful artist

Be Distinctive - do not resemble other people. Be yourself and find what makes your work distinctive
Become Engaged - it's not all about the art, you have to get out of your studio Associate with those who are better than yourself. Make opportunities for your art to get seen and for more eyeballs to see your work.
Make Good Art - everything is subjective. People respond in an emotional visceral way to your art.

He identifies a mantra I have heard from a number of people - and frequently repeat to artists I've met in the last decade or so.

50% of an artist's efforts should be outside of making art - that means 30-70 of an artist's time should be on making an artist's career.

Sometimes artists can benefit enormously by having

a business partner,
a long term business strategy - and
by applying creativity to their career.

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TIPS: Business Cards for Artists

5/6/2018

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What's the best way of an artist creating a good impression with a business card?
What size should it be and what do you need on a business card?

The Business Cards for Artists page on this website provides a summary of:

why you need a business card as an artist
what are the essential items of information for an artist's business card
what are the optional extras
why the look and feel really matters for an artist
the options around size of a business card - which vary by country!

I've also includes links to articles which make suggestions around design
Plus some options for suppliers of business cards.

As an artist, do you have any recommendations about:

content and design
a recommended supplier where you live? (Note: only recommendations by artists will be published)

Read more about Marketing for Artists

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NEW: The Best Art Business Books for Artists

4/4/2018

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The Best Art Business Books for Artists is the new home for information from another site I developed with the same name. It's a work in progress at present but now has enough content to make it worth highlighting and my other site is about to be closed down.

Initial categories cover:

Short Art Business Guides - for a quick read
Starting Out - for those who aspire to an art career
How to have a career and make money as an artist
How to sell your art
Understanding Art Galleries
Copyright
Art in Transit
The Artists' Resale Right
Art Legacy Planning

Interestingly most of the books on the new page are EITHER new OR new editions of books that have been around for a while.

So much has changed in the past few years. In particular the emphasis on business online is now much more important.

I'm finding that I really need to look long and hard at content as I do the transfer - and I'm needing to buy new editions of books I've loved in the past.

Plus I know than a few authors have recognised the need to update and have new editions in the pipeline.

For example, a couple of days ago I was contacted by Caroll Michels - author of How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist (a book I really rate!) - about the NEW edition of her book which is published later this month. This has got a LOT of new content to reflect the changes in the workings of the art market and the new challenges for all artists - even established ones. For example:

the use of social media and website development as marketing and publicity tools – what works and what doesn’t work;
the confusions between the “art-buying public” and the “consumer market”;
neighbourhood gentrification and the growing challenges of securing a reasonably priced work/live space; and
the pros and cons of the new business models for artist career development.

So I hope you'll join me in my investigation of what's currently on offer and the best books about the art business for artists which offer both great content and good value for money!

There's a lot more to come and this page will be continuously updated over the next few months - and years!

Subscribe to Art Business Info. for Artists - NEWS by Email
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Your subscription is only activated after you verify the link in the email you will receive

Tell me about YOUR favourite art business books!

I'm also interested to hear about what new art business books you've been buying and getting value from.

If you'd like to share your recommendations with fellow artists just leave a comment on this blog post - or contact me and give me a recommendation.

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Art Business Info: NEWS

Advice about British Art Exhibitions

The email

UPDATE: The response - and a FULL refund for Mark

BEWARE business models where the artists provide the income

How well do you comply with data protection law?

More information on this website

Paul Klein on How to Succeed as an Artist

TIPS: Business Cards for Artists

NEW: The Best Art Business Books for Artists

Tell me about YOUR favourite art business books!

Art Business Info. News for Artists

Visitors so far

Author

Archives

Categories

Art Business Info: NEWS

Advice about British Art Exhibitions

The email​

UPDATE: The response - and a FULL refund for Mark​

BEWARE business models where the artists provide the income​

How well do you comply with data protection law?

More information on this website

Paul Klein on How to Succeed as an Artist

TIPS: Business Cards for Artists

NEW: The Best Art Business Books for Artists

Tell me about YOUR favourite art business books!

Art Business Info. News for Artists

Visitors so far

Author

Archives

Categories

The email

UPDATE: The response - and a FULL refund for Mark

BEWARE business models where the artists provide the income