What bugs you?

Does anything on this page hinder or even irritate you?

I would love to know. Nothing is unimportant, too small or too big.

If there is something I can fix, I will certainly do it.

Please let me know right away

How to survive the era of the art fair

My business card has been asking a similar question since I started in consultancy. I adjusted it to 'era' to mirror the thriving success of this phenomenon. What remained unchanged, are the extreme reactions the question generates.

 

Come on, you can’t be serious!

As soon as they discover the question, gallery owners start staring at me with disbelief and react sometimes with pure aggressiveness. I remember an art dealer who even shouted “Survive!? Survive!? You must be completely out of sync. We've sold out our booth twice during our last fair!”

 

The question obviously hits a sensitive chord

Overreacting is normal when there is so much at play. Competition is fierce, challenges and frustrations grow bigger by the year. With art fairs dominating the art world, being accepted or refused participation can be like heaven or hell. More so when repeated refusals impact a gallery’s business plan or even its survival.

 

More and more art dealers feel they are facing a dead end

With visits and sales in galleries in decline, art dealers turn their efforts mainly on art fairs. They appear the only channel left offering exceptional sales opportunities.

Yet, no one seems able to predict the results of an art fair. Asked off the record the percentage of galleries facing disappointing sales often exceeds the success stories or even those reaching break-even.

Confronted with these inconsistencies, many art dealers start feeling like they have to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea. How to survive if the one 'outlet' that seems left represent such risks? Isn't there some other escape?

 

Remember, you are in business for the long term

No doubt, art fairs can generate punctual sales. Sure, galleries invest a lot in preparation to make their participation a success. They call, mail, send previews, and offer free tickets to their existing contact base. Not one gallery goes unprepared.

Yet, everybody will confirm that focusing on punctual events is risky. Even if the short term looks brilliant, your core mission is to ensure your gallery's growth in the long term. Considering art fairs a magic gateway to secure your gallery's future and growth 'by realizing sales beyond the most daring expectations' time after time, is burning one essential step.

 

Education comes first, sales second

The one liner was a seasoned NY art dealer’s answer when asked why he was so successful in business. He wasn't thinking short term, immediate return or focusing on punctual sales.

He invested in 'educating' during his whole career.

Not just 'educating' art enthusiasts or seasoned collectors, but also peers about his gallery and roster, art professionals and specialized media about his program.

True, it's difficult not to think short term with the whole art world in a digital rush. Yet, his approach is even more valid now with competition growing bigger by the year.

 

Times are different

Collectors, art professionals, artists, media ... they all satisfy themselves by looking up gallery sites rather than visiting the galleries.

No need to stress the role of your gallery's site. Not one art dealer still doubts its importance. In the past, visitors came to the gallery to 'educate' themselves. For the art dealer is was an excellent opportunity to get in closer contact, forge relationships, etc.

The web has opened new communication channels, but also created a serious gap. And few galleries seem able to fill this gap accurately.

 

Do you give your web visitors the opportunity to 'educate' themselves?

An effective web presence represents much more than just the one-way portfolio format adopted by most galleries. It's no longer sufficient to 'present' artists, to 'document' their works with some images and a curriculum. Or to update a site by announcing the next exhibition.

 

Visitors want more. They want to learn

They want to learn about your gallery, your roster and your program. Your gallery's site offers all the features you need. It can become a perfect tool to leverage your growth and work on your gallery’s long term success by 'educating' your visitors.

 

Wow... this reads like a whole program

And a challenge of sorts too! It demands a lot of efforts and adjusting to point out a long term vision into a digital environment.

Yet, it's all there: the possibility for precise audience targeting, for pinning down what information art professionals expect from your gallery's site , for nurturing and deepening relationships with prospects and collectors by interacting more closely.

 

The most important step?

A 100 percent mind shift, away from the one-way portfolio site, to adopt a completely different approach in growing and using your web presence.

Once you introduce this shift and start interacting actively with your web visitors and 'educating' them, you soon will realize that a lot of the 'exceptional opportunities' offered by art fairs are at your disposal 24/7. Not punctually, but continuously. Not locally, but internationally.

Moreover this approach will offer you even more opportunities to escape the inconsistencies of these events: no uncertainties such as selection committees, no application needed, no exorbitant costs, no risks when art fair plans or strategies are jeopardized.

 

I want to add one extra thought

'Educating' also means educating yourself about the web and its opportunities. Follow up new initiatives, weight them, see how they evolve, adopt some of the innovations on your gallery's site.

Most on-line initiatives in the art world are still in their infancy. But when art fairs start setting up parallel online components for the duration of the event while other initiatives launch even purely virtual art fairs, it's more than a sign of the times.
It's because even art fair organizers feel that sooner than later their survival will be taken over by the web too.