Hello Print Studio Margate: Making It Work training

Hello Print Studio Margate: Making It Work training

AirSpace Gallery are part of a Catalyst funded consortium project 'Making It Work' in Stoke-on-Trent, looking at helping organisations to explore alternative funding streams (other than usual Grants for the Arts etc.)
Within this project, the consortium organisations have been allocated a training budget, which some have spent on conferences, others on practical workshop training, and at AirSpace we have spent some of the money on considering the development of a print strand to our organisation - as there is no open access print space locally for artists, and it is something that we are interested in looking at the viability of.

Through this I was able to take a trip down to the East Kent, to visit Hello Print Studios in Margate, a young organisation based in Resort Studios - who have opened a creative hub in an old furniture warehouse, to undertake some print training, and to see how the Hello Print Studio operates.
I have been interested in the development of the cultural scene in Margate for some time; my family are from the area, and I spent my summers as a teenager with my brother and sister working at the local amusement park, Dreamland, at a time when Margate really was down on its luck. My interest in the contribution that Turner Contemporary, as an important cultural centre, would make to the development of the town has been ongoing; in 2011 I covered the opening of the Gallery for a-n with this review 'YOU ARE HERE' and also, the same year, I organised for AirSpace Studio to spend a week in Margate, via an exhibition about the British Seaside Revival in the context of the opening of the Turner. Details of the show here.

My piece for that show was a participatory performance, dressed as a holiday rep with a wheel of fortune, the piece 'Turner's Fortune' created conversations with the people of Margate around people's thoughts about the gallery and the town.
I have returned to Margate periodically, to visit the Turner, and have seen what looks like the development of a really thriving creative scene - in a town which, when my family lived there, certainly did not have much of a scene to speak of. There are of course, organisations and spaces that were there before Turner, but my interest is in what has happened in Margate in the 4 years since Turner opened - and what sort of a wider impact the development of the creative scene is having on the town - as well as looking to explore the reality for artists living and working in Margate today.
With all this in mind I began my week at Hello Studio, learning printing and talking to artists there and making connections. My main focus would be learning some print skills, with a view to being able to run print workshops at AirSpace. Current works have been focusing on plant ecologies in cities and towns, so I am going to use plant based imagery as source material during the print training.

On day one Nick Morley (the founder of Hello Print and an amazingly talented printmaker) showed me how to prepare a plate for soft ground etching, and instructed me on the sort of plants I could use (in terms of thickness etc) for pressing into the ground for etching.
The zinc etching plate has to be degreased and cleaned before preparing with a hard or soft ground (depending on the print type you want to do.)

Then using fairly new methods for etching, which doesn't involve acids (as the old acid method gave off a lot of fumes - necessitating complicated and expensive extracter fans etc.) The new methods used at Hello Print require a sink (for cleaning off the etchants - but not for disposing of them) and baths for the etchant - which is copper sulphate and salt. It is still poisonous - but doesn't burn your skin, or have the fumes that acid has. With the soft ground etching you can get really beautiful detail, pressing the object into the surface material on the plate before etching it. You can get quite a bit of detail into the plate.

 On the final day, we used the test etching plate from day one, and covered it with the hard ground surface, which can be used to create a different effect - using needles or other tools to scratch away the hard ground.

I liked this effect, as you are able to add additional drawing to the printed impression from the plants, and also add the names of the plants as well. The test print was not terribly successful, but the addition of the hard ground drawing turned it into something potentially more interesting.

If we wanted to do be able to do the etching at AirSpace it would require an initial capital investment to buy the printing press, baths for the etchants and adequate sink space for the chemicals etc. Plus rollers, printing inks, glass surface tops and other tools, as well as space for rolling/preparation of plates etc.
In the middle of the week Nick showed me lino printing - as we have already got at least one full working Adana Print press at AirSpace Gallery, which can be used for small lino printing, as well as an a4 book press, but the beauty of lino printing is that it does not actually require a press at all (although it is useful to have one). Nick showed me how lino printing can be done with wooden spoons, or a Japanese Wooden tool called a baren. Nick has a brilliant blog on all things print, and a great blog here on getting started with lino cutting equipment.

First things first Nick showed me how to hold the tools and then the amazing variety of marks that you can achieve with lino printing - I have done lino printing before at school and college - but had not been interested - mainly due to the terrible tools I have used. The tools were a revelation! Such fine detail can be achieved - so the first thing we did - was just practice making some marks on the lino.

Then we discussed making a print with more than one layer/colour. This is something that seemed completely beyond me, as I am quite bad at figuring things like this out usually, but Nick explained the process really well, and suggested using tracing paper to figure out the different coloured layers.

Nick showed me some examples of his linos for printing with, and then some of his multi-layered prints, which were beautiful. Talking about the way that layering the colour can also create more colours - for example using a yellow layer and a blue layer, you will also get a third greenish layer where the two overlap.

Nick gave 3 tips for lino printing (well many more than 3 - but 3 main tips)

1. invest in some good tools and keep them sharp.

2. use fresh lino (it should smell of linseed oil and be pliable to bend a bit).

3. use a non slip mat.

I created a two colour design based on plantain, a common brownfield plant. The drawing was transferred to the lino with carbon paper, and then I began to remove the bits which I wanted white - another tip from Nick is to make sure to use the right tool - if you need to remove a large area - use the large tool - don't use the small tools and dig deeper as the lino will rip (which I discovered). Also, make sure to use the non slip mat, I forgot a couple of times, and slipped and cut myself on the very sharp tools!

Once the layers of lino are cut, we moved onto ink.

Nick showed me how to recognise when there is too much ink on the roller by the sound it makes, and also showed some techniques with using blends of colours on one layer.

Nick showed me how to print the lino on the etching press, but then we focused on the book press - as we have one of these at the gallery - so it would be possible for us to run a lino workshop with quite minimal investment.

I was quite pleased with the results, and so the next day decided to focus on a 3 colour lino (which took me the full day to carve.) 

The 3 colour lino was a drawing of Clover and Mugwort, which represents happiness through industry (according to the Victorian Language of Flowers) which seemed fitting. Spending the week on something so practical was really fulfilling and enjoyable - I found the process of carving the lino gave plenty of time to reflect, and think.

Hello Print hold regular workshops, and also have an open access on a Wednesday - people pay  a nominal amount for the year to be an associate member - so they can use the print room - and then just pay for their day when they are in. Hello Print is part of Resort Studios - whose studio members can also use the print room. 

Resort Studios has around 27 studio holders in a relatively small amount of space - there are a series of 'pods' like sheds in the main space - and then more traditional spaces. Space has been very carefully designed to maximise usage, with mezzanines put into some of the spaces with high ceilings.

While I was there preparations were being made for the launch of the 'Creative Hub' - a new concept, where two previously inaccessible rooms had been made usable through the installation of two staircases - and some other building works - they had worked with some of the studio residents (a group of architects) to design the new creative hub space - which includes a slide. This space houses 12 X desk spaces - some of which will be hot desks. This is a really clever use of the space - and brings extra people (energy) into the building. This is something that I think we should think about at AirSpace - we have many fewer studio holders than Resort - but perhaps we could utilise our space better if we thought carefully about how we use it.

It was really impressive to speak to Nick about the development of Resort and Hello Print, he talked about how quickly the organisation has grown, with development happening on a weekly basis, he said it has been hard to keep up. He also talked about the fact that as the development has happened so quickly at times there is a need for the Directors to reflect on what has happened and really think about the next steps. 

Resort felt like a vibrant and exciting place to be an artist - and what was great was that there seems to be space in the organisation (and the building) for a variety of creative organisations and endeavours to work - alongside Hello Print, there is the development of a Dark Room underway, plus a jewellery studio, and the gallery and project space downstairs are next on the list for development. Resort also gained EU funding to fund a Studio Manager's post for 4 months, their studio manager has organised events, and brought more people into the studio, and will now be looking at making the project space and gallery a sustainable thread within the project.

Resort has over 40 studio/desk holders once full, plus a constant stream of other artists coming through the space. This is making a difference to the local economy - not least because many of the studio holders have moved to Margate. Other businesses are springing up in Cliftonville, close to where the studios are; Fort's Cafe down the road is a fantastic surprise: where I was served Eggs Florentine and Elderflower presse. 

I aim to return to Margate and Cluftonville later in the year to look at some of the other businesses which have opened in the area in the past 4 years (since Turner) and have already made some connections.

One business that has relocated to Margate is home decor and salvage specialist Rag and Bone Man - originally based in Hackney - I spoke to Lizzie one half of the company about why they had relocated and how it was going. 

Nick also took me along to see a new business at the end of the road called Haeckels - opened by a former Resort Director. This beautiful shop began with the founder, collecting seaweed and other coastal plants from the seafront, and making cosmetics and soaps with them.

It has now grown into a beautiful workshop with a wonderful line in GPS perfumes, which document the specific ecology of the East Kent Coast - Dom, the owner told me his process is to visit a location, spend time there looking at the flora there - collect specimens and then use these to create GPS located scents. I love the idea of this.

What all of these creative businesses are doing is looking at the naturally occurring resources of Margate and Cliftonville; whether that be big beautiful disused warehouse spaces, and abundance of fantastic vintage furniture (East Kent has brilliant boot fairs) or seaweed - the success here is in innovators recognising what is readily available, and maximising on its potential. 

What works in Margate may not work elsewhere, but elsewhere can learn from the idea of looking at what is available - and building on that.

I had a fantastic, inspirational week in Margate. Thanks to Hello Print for having me, and especially to Nick Morley for the generosity.

Getting towards Making It Work together

The six arts organisations in Making It Work (Airspace Gallery, B Arts, Bitjam, picl, Restoke) have been working together for almost eighteen months now, funded by the Arts Council’s Catalyst programme to develop new sources of earned income. We’ve been to look at how other organisations are working together in Sheffield and completed training programmes that have varied from video editing and web design to running a community bakery.

Now it’s decision time. We spent a day working together with Anamaria Wills from Cidaco on what we might actually do together for private sector partners, other public funders - what our value proposition would be as a consortium.

We looked at the Stoke we wanted to see in ten years time, as that’s really what unites us. Our practice varies widely from a contemporary visual art gallery and a site-specific performance company to a digital innovation agency. Our individual organisations have very different missions and work in very different ways. All of us however share a common vision to make where we work, and where our audiences and partners come from, a better place. 

We worked in small groups to look at what the Stoke that everyone wanted to see would look like - which contained everything from trams and cycle lanes to more jobs and a better built environment. Then we all devised three projects that sought to embody some of these ideas at a strategic level using a CO-STAR development model which CIDACO use. The groups came up with a new circular bus route for visitors and residents in the city, which would connect the five towns of the city without needing to go in to the city centre and out again; a Stoke Embassy to London to sell the city’s creative and economic offer; and a transition programme for Stoke town following the withdrawal of council employees from the civic centre.

What, from B Arts’ perspective at least, we moved forwards on, was understanding that if we have a logic model in place for the consortium we can collaborate strategically without necessarily needing to create joint artistic work. We used a logic model (picked up on ACE’s Cultural Commissioning training) that starts by describing the Strategic Outcome the consortium has - an over-arching aim which, much like a mission, can't be measured. Beneath it  are Contributory Outcomes - these are aims that we can measure progress against, and which are achievable through the Outputs: the activities the programme consists of.

By the end of the day we’d even got as far as a Value Proposition. Ok, we had two:

• Making a new story for Stoke

• Realising the potential of the people and businesses in Stoke

that describe what private sector partners would gain by working with us. It’s taken us some time, but we finally feel that we’ve got a shared sense of purpose that could enable us to properly Make It Work together. Now we have to see if this is attractive to potential partners who would be interested in working with us on making these things happen. If we know what the joint outcomes should be, then what's the joint programme to achieve this?

Making It Work Training - AirSpace Gallery

As part of AirSpace Gallery's training programme for the Catalyst project Making It Work, I took part in a 3-day 1to1 website and web strategy training session with artist Rich White.

The purpose of the training was fairly simple. Rich had been commissioned to redesign and build the Gallery's website. The training was to unpick the build and the strategies behind it, so that we could understand the processes in order to take control of its future working.

As an artist-led space, marketing reach is a thorny problem. The vast percentage of our ACE funding goes on programming, and we fall well below the accepted level of an 18% spend on marketing in order to create audience. So, we have to be creative with our use of  other means to get people through our doors, and to advertise our presence and activity as widely as possible.

Along with traditional hands-on meet and show techniques in our immediate locality, and a concerted use of the "free" resource that social media represents, it has never been more vital to have a functioning, attractive and accessible website for potential visitors to quickly be informed as to an arts organisation's mission and upcoming activity.

The world of websites is constantly shifting and advancing and so, constantly paying an outside source to keep a contemporary relevance can be a drain on financial resources, taking funds away from the more important area of programming. So an ability to understand the processes involved and capability to make the changes ourselves seems an important area in becoming self sufficient in this area.

The sessions with Rich were really instructive. Understanding my rudimentary working knowledge, we went right back to basics, first identifying the core needs that a website needs to fulfil, before building a new website from scratch, explaining code, html language, design and so on.

We talked about simplicity - the need for an audience to quickly understand what the organisation is and what the organisation does. Simplicity, too, in design, so that the site would be easily navigable. The site should be visually attractive, but whistles and bells should be kept to a minimum. We talked about designing the site so that user input was easy too. There is no point in creating a great looking site that takes forever to update, as those man-hours are at a premium with organisations such as ours.

We talked about consistency - a basic design principle which psychologically allows a visitor to the website to quickly understand each subsequent page they visit. It is really important that once a visitor accesses the site, that they are not annoyed by the process of navigating the site to the extent that they quickly leave, so each page should be structured in the same way - individual elements might change - such as different colours to suggest different activity - but largely, each page should look the same - so image size and placement on the page, and similarly text size and position. The fonts used should be kept to as few as possible - preferably a single font - with specific sizes for titles and then for body texts.

We talked about the importance of the home page - website visitors need to be "hooked" as early as possible, so the homepage takes on great importance. For instance, the use of a simple slideshow - of maybe only 4 or 5 linked images can immediately broadcast the breadth of the website - as a trailer - which can encourage the visitor to delve more deeply in to the rest of the website. The information here should be kept to the introductory, with greater depth revealed once the visitor clicks through.

Once designed and mapped, and equipped with the visual content with which to staff the site, comes the build. To be honest, teaching a novice a brand new language - html - in 2 days is an onerous and impossible task, but Rich took me through the basics, pointing me to several online resources for tutorials, or basic commands which I could cut and paste in to our website to play around with - how to change fonts, insert links, change page structures etc. Crucially, though I gained an understanding of the "map" - how each page refers and responds to each other page. Changing one piece of information in the CSS (design) folder will change that information throughout the site unless you know how to define the parameters.

So in the course of the sessions we covered channels and fields, templates, bootstrapping, the importance of closing code through use of brackets and much more. In truth, after the sessions, could I build my own fully functioning website on my own, with no guidance? Probably not. But I gained an invaluable working knowledge of how the website works, and in particular how the AirSpace Gallery website works, and left with a variety of tools, both in terms of function and design, with which to ensure that our organisation can keep our public facing appearance relevant and attractive in the internet age - crucial to our future self-sufficiency.

The Do Lectures

Last weekend I had the privilege to attend 'The Do lectures Wales' (http://www.thedolectures.com/) - an intimate event described as being akin to the perhaps more familiar TED talks. Throughout the weekend there were talks from 20 diverse and engaging speakers but for me, and everyone else I'd spoken to, it was just as much about the conversations between talks amongst the equally inspiring guests.

Responding to their given brief of 'do a talk you've never given before', speakers ranged from Gavin - senior creative producer at Aardman Studios who claimed to have built his career not on experience but on his enthusiasm and lust for life alone; to Massoud who'd designed a cheap wind powered land mine detonation device in response to his father being killed by a land mine; to Nick a 'MuseumHack' tour guide passionate about showing people 'the artifact he'd most like to steal' or leading his group in impromptu physical exercise as a pick me up (look out for his talk if you want to see how to engage an audience!); to Hunter who was in the early stages of gathering records of peoples' dreams through an app to build up a database of global dream patterns, and it was talks such as this one that led to discussion on ethics between guests while tucking into the many amazing, locally sourced and well prepared meals we were fed.

The whole experience was quite emotional at times, not in a 'you're the only barrier to your own success conference' kind of way but through balanced, reasoned and non judgemental discussions between talks and the accumulation of lots of small personal realisations. This is where I found out for example about EMDR (eye movement desensitisation & reprocessing) a method of helping people deal with psychological trauma without having to relive them; and that there's a town in Spain (large enough to have its own health service and education system) that's run as a co-operative and was apparently the only recession immune town in the country!

Being at the event itself certainly left me with a different feeling than than that of watching a TED talk online, in fact one chap I met was doing a PHD on the very subject of 'Do online' vs 'Do in the flesh' (also a common subject in general throughout the weekend) none the less, videos of all the talks throughout the weekend will be posted online within the next few weeks and, at a strict 20 mins each, are ALL well worth watching: http://www.thedolectures.com/

So, what have I taken away from the event? When it comes to raising funds for our organisations, make the process relevant to all involved! And on a personal level: ask for help; listen to advice; go easy on folk; go easy on yourself; you know what you need to do; get on with it!

If anyone wants to find out more about my experiences at the event or you'd like more info on specific points I've talked about, feel free to email me: paul@restoke.org.uk

Paul

Restoke

Don't Dissipate!

We were fortunate recently to spend an hour over lunch in Manchester with Jim Forrester, the Executive Director of Manchester International Festival; chair of the new cinema and theatre capital project HOME; and one of the key individuals behind the success of Imperial War Museum North. We discussed what we were up to as five organisations working together on Making It Work in Stoke, and he reflected on why the Manchester International Festival had enjoyed the success it had over the past decade. 

First a narrow focus, in MIF’s case commissioning new work, created a strong identity that they could develop and trade on. MIF has become a very clear and strong headline brand that crucially stakeholders beyond the arts - the local authority and business, can understand and support.

When he looked at our activities, with B Arts as an example, he observed that we did lots and that some of this dissipated our efforts. Dissipation was a key word. We would find it very helpful to narrow our focus and try and define what it is we do in very clear terms. Building awareness about the organisation’s role over and above the individual festivals as moments in time has been very important.

He was clear that local authority was key to bringing in other supporters such as businesses and individuals. The local authority already had the contacts and the Chief Executive or a similar figure was crucial to making the introductions.

Reporting was crucial to publicising and winning over stakeholders, MIF uses the Cambridge model of economic impact. Investing in marketing has backed up all of the above, and resourcing this properly at between 10 and 20% of turnover has been vital to MIF. 

He urged us to define try and define how Stoke likes to think, what the problems might be and what the Stoke solution might be to these. What can the arts do then? They can transform capacity and aspiration. That’s what we have to sell, in a distinctively Stoke manner that works for us.

Peckham Arts - an AirSpace Gallery Research Visit, Day 1

On the surface, it might seem an odd choice of location for a research visit by an arts organisation in the regions in to how to make the arts and arts organisations pay for its/themselves. We often think of that London as an alien enclave, with invisible insurmountable fortifications and all of the crucial and necessary conditions and opportunities an artist/organisation needs in order to thrive - tellingly at the perceived expense of those of us operating outside.

Yet, on another level, London has its drawbacks. There is the small fish-big pond issue, a surfeit of practitioners and venues, chasing an ever dwindling public pot, and the fact that, when boiled down to its geographical basics, it can be seen as a conglomeration of small, self-governing towns nwhich add together to make a sum as great as its constituent parts. Maybe a gargantuan version of Stoke-on-Trent?

My visit centred on the borough of Southwark and particularly the "town" of Peckham as a case study and initially looked at talking to a variety of practitioners and venues - starting with a fledgling artist run space, a community-facing and previously publicly funded gallery, and an artist - entrepreneur who has operated in Peckham pre and post arts-led gentrification.

DAY ONE

The Annual Open at Cafe Gallery

On my way to  visit Vulpes Vulpes (VV), walking through Soutwark Park I happened across 2 of the park's very own gallery - Cafe Gallery and Dilston Grove -  I entered the Cafe Gallery expecting twee
hobby art, but what I found was a professional gallery, undoubtedly community focussed, showing the well respected and renowned Bermondsey Artists Group's (BAG) annual Open.

BAG is an artist-led initiative supporting CGP London and creating opportunities for artists who live, work or study in Southwark.
For £20 you get
Invitations to exhibit in Bermondsey Artists’ Group shows, Participation in an active artist group, The right to vote at the Annual General Meeting, Discounted submission rate at the Annual Open Exhibition, Greatly valued support to CGP London.

Exhibition at Dilston Grove

CGP is an artist led initiative providing exhibitions of contemporary art, at two venues in Southwark Park. Cafe Gallery is a modern purpose- built space comprising three interlinked 'white room' spaces and a patio garden. Dilston Grove is a Grade II Listed building providing a cavernous raw space for large scale installations and performance, a reception area and learning space. Southwark Park is London's oldest Metropolitan park and boasts a lake, bandstand, tennis courts, wildlife walk, bowling green, children's playground and cafe.

Since their foundation by the Bermondsey Artists' Group in 1984, community integration and inclusiveness has been central to the values of CGP London. We believe in the benefit of creative expression and positive contact with the arts. During this time, a fully evolved learning programme has developed, to encompass shifting demographics, the interests of local people and the changing ways that artists work with audiences. The Bermondsey Artists' Group is a registered educational charity (No.1073851).

Learning - 
 - there is a way to self support through well run and attractive membership schemes
 - an open exhibition is a good, but time consuming way, to make money/finance exhibitions
 - both of these offer a way of developing an audience, which may then lead to future private funding possibilities.
- becoming a charity offers specific funding opportunities - particularly , they are often able to raise funds from the public, grant-making trusts and local government more easily than non-charitable bodies;


From Southwark Park I made the short walk to Southwark Park Road and Blue Anchor Lane, the home of Vulpes Vulpes' brand new gallery space. Now safely secured following a successful crowdfunding campaign, the premises offer a street facing traditional, almost corporate gallery space, with the added wonder and awe of a huge railway archway accessed through the rear of the front gallery space - really the best of both worlds.

Vulpes Vulpes started in 2009, by four artists, Carla Wright, Anna Chrystal Stephens, Laurie Storie and Hadiru Mahdi, as an artist collective, studios and project space in East London – hosting exhibitions, performances and educational workshops, after a series of initial varied incarnations, which included squatting a series of different buildings in an attempt to find ways of living and working as artists in London. At this point they were individually renting studio spaces.

In 2009 they pooled their studio rents and rented a warehouse together, offering enough room to live and have a gallery and studios. The 7000 square metres victorian tramshed was rented on a short term lease from a property developer and divided the space into 10 sculpture studios, which covered their rents.

From the initial point of being solely studio providers, they progressed to offering Gallery and exhibition opportunities - looking to produce these shows in a self-sufficient way - lots of recycling materials. A show would often only cost £50 to produce. Artists weren't paid, as the opportunity to exhibit was so attractive.

Learning - exhibitions can happen very cheaply with creative and strategic thinking.

Moving from these premises into slightly smaller, more expensive space, they continued to explore the efficacy of the live/work model, but without the option now of Gallery space, started to work on off-site projects, which would be self-funded through activities such as Open Exhibitions. These would typically see around 250 submissions and charging £7 per submission.

As well as some funds, the opens provided a good training ground through looking at and discussing works, whilst raising their awareness of other artists' works and prevalent trends. It was thought that this might help with future shows in enhancing their network.


Learning - Holding an open can raise funds, and be a fruitful self-sufficient way to operate. It also helps enhance networks and increase visibility and a sense of relevance in an organisation's situation and location.

For a variety of reasons which included, tiring of the caretaking and administering involved in being studio providers, and no longer being able to provide good quality reasonably-priced studios, and not making an art living for themselves, they moved to their present gallery only location. 

Their plans around funding remain focussed on self sufficiency and innovation. They want the space to pay for itself, like the old live-work spaces, so a plan to rent it out, for photoshoots,  film location and music videos. Also, a series of fundraising events, and maybe a shop - but there is an understanding that this won't be straightforward and will have to happen alongside either a series of individual project Arts Council funding bids or a larger program based funding bid. They also wanted to create a situation where each of the four members shares the running of the space equally, and gets paid for their share - at least 1 paid day each per week.

Learning - 

Overall, it seems that through being providers of studios and arts opportunities over a number of years, in a non-funded environment, has created a sort of innovation training, and an expectation that arts activity can happen to a certain extent, in a non centrally funded way. However, it is instructive to understand that ultimately, despite this collective's outstanding abilities and innovative thinking, along with the vast majority of non-commercial arts organisations, it has been necessary to turn to Arts Council bids and crowd-funding as the main income sources.

From here it was on to Peckham High street and Peckham Space, which since the time of my visit has now become Peckham Platform.

TBC

Merchandising, is it a dirty word?

making it work Hilary B arts

My "go and see" was, to look at the world of selling art, how do artists,

in the widest sense, do that?

To begin with I thought about the words that are used, and why do they strike terror, disdain, contempt, in some artists?

Don't we want our work to be seen, don't we want to make a living?

Merchandise, merchandising

Engage in the business of a merchant

Selling goods or ideas, especially in a retail situation

Momento

A reminder of past events

Keepsake

A small item kept in memory of the person who originally owned it, or gave it.

Souvenir

A thing that is kept as a reminder of a person, a place or event

Oh I see nothing here about quality, changing the world, enriching peoples lives, challenging peoples views. But hang on, we do want people to remember our work, stay connected, especially when as B arts does we create ephemeral work, site specific theatre that only lasts in the memory, digital or real, so if they went away with something, or could buy something later, or in advance, that would seem to be OK?

“The benefits of selling art as products are huge as it effectively gets your art out there and increases your potential audience around the world. It only takes one collector who purchased an art tie to go on to purchase a large original at several thousand pounds for the whole project to make sense, and this does happen."

I can see how this applies to 2D art. How could this apply to site specific theatre, well we could work with images/photographs/designs from our shows and put them on ties!?

Some comments from artists who sells stuff.....

“The pitfalls only appear if your lose control of the product range. So, for example, if a company produces 50,000 cards (as The Eden Project did of my work) and then fails to sell them, that stock could end up in a bargain bucket, dragging down your market value. To avoid this ‘dead stock’ situation, most companies are now using the art-ondemand technique. It means less profit per item but no dead stock and therefore better profit  margins.

“The cost to us as artists to license using Zazzle is only time. There are no setup or running costs and we are now free to concentrate on developing projects using the technology.”

“I sell T-shirts and other products through my website and also created an online T-shirt shop (www.art4shirts.com). Over the years I have added more and more designs, and now have several sections to which my painting site links.

“I produced my first online T-shirts when I put my Japanese print collection online (www.surimono.com). I was looking for a way to market the site and use the fantastic images I had collected over the years. I opened an account with www.cafepress.com, and they gave me a free online shop where I could add images to their products. It is very simple to open and operate: open a free account, upload an image and then apply it to the Cafépress products. You can print on everything from T-shirts, calendars, postcards, bags, clocks, aprons and button badges to fridge magnets. Cafépress does all the work – take the order online, print the item, post the item and put the profit markup into your account.”

All this sounds interesting, but it's very clear that it needs a time commitment from someone, either the artist themselves, or perhaps in MIW case a person who could work for a group of artists/companies?

So then I went off on a go and see on the Internet, where else do artists sell their work?

Etsy Tons of independent shops selling, art, craft, vintage. Under the "art" category;

Art Zines, Collage & Mixed Media, Custom Portraits, Decorative Arts, Drawing & Illustration, Figurines & Art Objects, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Prints & Posters, Sculpture. There are no membership fees with Etsy. It costs $0.20 to list an item for 4 months, or until it sells. Once you sell your item they collect a 3.5% fee on the sale price.

Fees for listings and transactions are accrued on your monthly Etsy bill. At the end of each month they add up all your fees, and email your monthly statement to you. You must pay your bill by the 15th of the next month using either the credit card on file or PayPal.

Etsy has a reputation for being craft orientated, and designer focussed, but has huge numbers of buyers internationally, get ready for knowing about packaging and posting costs, and trips to the post office, or even your own man with a van service, there are planting wanting your business.

I looked next at postcards since it seemed an easy way in to the world of merchandising as pre publicity and cheaper point of sale at an event. There are more sites moo.com I us them as an example. It just needs time and a source of photos and a good eye for what people would buy. And to put the costs into your project budget in advance.

moo.com       

Postcards

10            £6.59 (£5.49 excl. VAT)       Deluxe £23.99 (£19.99 excl. VAT)

20            £13.18 (£10.98 excl. VAT).               £47.98 (£39.98 excl. VAT)

50            £26.39 (£21.99 excl. VAT).               £95.99  (£79.99 excl. VAT)

100            £43.99. (£36.66 excl. VAT)               £138.00 (£115.00 excl VAT) spec offer in Jan

Can buy short runs, so no dead stock issues, quick turn around, can buy packs of cards with different images.

People who go to music gigs always tel, you that T shirts are a good thing to sell. So I looked at the issue back stock. (If anyone would like a Stoke100 Tshirt B arts has a box of them, orange XLarge, we now give them away!!!)

T shirts  a variety of sites/companies offer this service....

Tshirtdrop's print on demand service, makes T-shirt outsourcing easy.

If you are a new or established T-shirt designer and are looking to outsource your garment printing needs, then our print on demand service is the one for you.

The process is simple :

You sell a T-shirt or garment design through your website, eBay, Zazzle or other site.

Send Tshirtdrop the order information, via our dedicated Print on Demand email address.

Sit back and relax whilst we; Pick the required garment, Print the design, Pack the garment, Post directly to your customer.

You receive an email confirming your order has been completed.

We invoice you our standard flat rate charge per garment.

All orders come through to our print queue and are printed on demand.

So whether you need 1 Print per month or 500 Prints we treat your order with the same importance as any other.

It was quite hard to get to the actual cost for a T shirt without ordering one, anyone got a Making It Work design in they would like to tryout?

Now I went off into to world of merchandising proper, things you can get printed with your design on, typically at the low end of this are pens, that say B arts working for change, office Knicks Knacks that scud around and get given away free as a way of getting your website and logo out there. However there are some other items you get designs rather than promotional stuff printed on, perhaps an image from a show I'm thinking?

Zazzle

Slightly posh version of custom print items and all sorts of things, iPad cases, cards, T-shirts, etc etc

CafePress

As above, but it's a mixture of Etsy and Zazzle.  

Then I wandered off into the world of 2D art, which could again be images from a show, event.

Artfinder

Is a marketplace for people to discover and buy affordable original art online, from independant galleries and artists.

They market the site via twitter and Facebook and have an iPhone app.

They call themselves a global marketplace, have over 13,000 followers on fbook,

The selling points that you the buyer are supporting the artist and nurturing new talent.

They have a free returns policy, and you can buy gift cards, they divide art up into many, many categories all to enable the buyer to find what they are looking for.

Artists receive up to 70% of the fee for the work.

This is what ArtFinder says....

If you are an artist and want to improve your chances of being accepted by Artfinder, here are three easy recommendations:

1) Your story is almost as important as the quality of your art.  A good story sells, and collectors love to know that the artist is thoughtful, passionate, committed, or maybe crazy, whatever is their preference.

2) You manage your own store on Artfinder, and your storefront is created from the images of your art. By submitting high quality images you show that you care about quality, and are able to put together a quality presentation.

3) Selling online is about showing your best side. All artist produce works in their portfolio from time to time that are less strong. That's okay. But show us that you understand that it's about quality, not quantity. Bad quality work will detract from your good work. Know when an artwork is not ready for prime time.

I find the first recommendation very thought provoking, it is what all good sales gurus tell you, what is your story? It is the hardest thing for a hard working arts company to turn around and tell their own story, well it seems that way from here at B Arts. Which makes me think that we would need to put some time, effort and thought into this, but as they say may reap some dividends.

Then I went off and looked around at what people are doing  here.

I visited the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Newcastle Borough Museum and Art Gallery. They all have shops attached, and my heart sank, the home of heritage tat, but with some hidden art work in there which probably doesn't sell since there is so little of it.

Although to be fair to Newcastle it is the stuff you see first when you go in through the door, and it has a modern feel.

Maybe in funky Birmingham or Manchester  there is something different? Sounds like a shopping opportunity.

Grand Union (Birmingham)

Have an online shop as part of their website, they sell artists multiples, prints, photographs, soundtracks, called Editions.

I have a visit planned! More on that...later.

Here are some images that expand my thinking.

Where to stock your museum, gallery shop.

Those words are what I fear will happen when we sell our work, it just means we have to sell it and not put it in the hands of marketing companies.

Susan always say, take stuff out of your note sketchbooks and sell it.

So how would we do that? Anyone fancy this on their phone cover?

Could this be a card, just needs a cheeky phrase?

This years Christmas card from B arts?

A new tea towel anyone?

New curtain design?

Now I see that this is just the start. There are no hard figures in here,how much do artists make from selling their work, what do you make from T shirts, multiples, cards etc.

Maybe this could be part of our next phase, for MIW consortium to  try some of this?

Some further thoughts on our attitudes to merchandising/marketing....

AUSTERITY, I think it's infectious, it closes down our aspirations, closes down our available resources, cramps our style, things have to go in the face of rising costs and reduced income, the easy option is merchandising/marketing

PERCEIVED POVERTY, I think there is a general assumption that N Staffs is poor, that the middle classes are the people who buy stuff, the middle class in N Staffs is small, so don't bother trying to sell stuff. A vicious closing down of aspirations.

LACK OF RISK TAKING, in a works where everything  is restricted then risk taking is not top dog, yet what have we got to lose?

REDUCTION IN ARTS BUDGETS, companies are attempting to over deliver top quality arts on a reduced budget, so there develops a tendency to ignore areas of the budget which may be perceived as peripherals, marketing, training.

MARKETING BUDGETS, they are easily taken out, and therefore the time is lost to develop this area, leading to a reduction of the possible income form different sources.

DEPENDING ON KNOWN CIRCLES OF AUDIENCES, at times of shortage, of time, people, money, we rely on the known, the people we already know and can easily contact.

A definite recipe for NO GROWTH, no growth in possible audiences for the work and reducing the market for it.

NO ACKNOWLEDGING OF GLOBAL AUDIENCE FOR THE WORK, within the structures of austerity the company may feel that it has no place in a global market, perhaps a false economy.

3 Learning points

Put time into your project plan for identifying, producing, the merchandising in advance

Do the selling yourself, the artist is the best person to do this

Buy in targeted help, eg writing blurb, or something you don't can't do.

Hilary H.

Creative Businesses in Sheffield - some reflections

The Making It Work consortium went on a group visit to the Catalyst consortium in Sheffield in January. There’s a post below that outlines who we met and what happened on the day, so I’m giving a more personal perspective.

The first thing we learnt was that collaboration depends on making time to work together. In meeting two of the partners (Site Gallery and Yorkshire Artspace), one of the things that they were experiencing was the difficulty in carving out time to work on the consortium programme together.

Secondly, that Sheffield has built an infrastructure of spaces, activity and people consistently over several decades. What is now the Cultural Industries Quarter provides new and established organisations with an identity, networks and support as well as being part of a significant economic sector within the city.  In Sheffield the Quarter also has an identity beyond the city, and even has some currency as a visitor attraction in its own right. This has given us much food for thought for our involvement in initiatives around the Stoke Cultural Quarter.

The visit made me aware of how Stoke lacks middle-scale independent organisations such as Site, Music In The Round and Yorkshire Artspace. These, stretched as they are, do have capacity to support emergent artists and organisations. Without similar scale organisations in Stoke (all of the larger organisations are part of the local authority or commercial) it is the networks we are building that can create similar capacity in Stoke.

Art Sheffield was a fascinating model, a consortium project in Sheffield that delivered enough value back to those investing time in developing it – such as listings services and a real focus for the participating organisations in reaching new audiences.

Finally, when faced with agendas that all seem vital – such as setting up membership schemes, crowdfunding, targeting potential patrons, capital projects – the Executive Director of Site Gallery held onto something that resonated with us all:

What is the most important thing to do for this business?

Trevelyan Wright, B-Arts