The venue workshop starts soon. For all those who can’t make it, you can download the various materials. (If you’re exhibiting multiple artists, I think you’ll find the checklist particularly useful.)
We’re strongly encourage venues showing multiple artists to secure one artist immediately, if you haven’t already. The first one paves the way for securing more artists. Do not wait until the end of July to start securing artists if you are hosting more than four or five.
We continue to get complaints that a couple venues are not being particularly forthright in additional fees. If you are a venue charging an additional fee, please let the artist know up front.
This decision was made a while ago that voters at ArtPrize will not pay a registration fee. Since we’re still sorting through a lot of other details about voting (like, “What’s the best way to prevent fraud that doesn’t make registration wait times ridiculous?) we were going to just announce all of the voting information at once.
However, in the last week we’ve received emails and tweets and everything else asking specifically if we’ll charge a fee for people to register as voters for ArtPrize. The answer: No. (But we will charge you for the T-shirt, which looks pretty sick.)
If you know why this topic is hot this week, let me know. If, for some reason, you don’t know what we’ll be voting on, read this.
UPDATE: If you’re wondering whether or not ArtPrize will somehow charge you per individual vote, the answer is no. We will not charge anyone to register to vote or for casting individual votes. You can vote via text message or on artprize.org. If you choose to vote via text message, you can check with your mobile phone provider to find out how many text messages are included each month under your plan.
Artists
This week, the number of artists who’ve secured venues doubled, many of whom are local. Several have secured space in venues besides UICA and Old Federal, which means other venues are getting in the game.
Out of the 1,141 registered artists, we’re concerned that some will wait until the registration deadline, July 31, to finish their proposal. We’re sending out emails reminding artists that venues are making selections now and they should finish their profile ASAP.
Probable change for next year: Matching begins after registration ends, and registration can start earlier (a luxury we did not have for 2009).
Venues
Talking with quite a few hosts for larger venues, we learned they’re in the process of negotiating Hosting Agreements with multiple artists. A couple venues decided to try charging a fee to show work (Open Concept and Alten Place). Considering we got calls from artists upset over discovering the fee in the venue’s Hosting Agreement, we strongly recommend any venue charging a fee put it on their page and tell the artist BEFORE sending a Hosting Agreement.
Facebook
Our Facebook page spiked on Tuesday to over 4,000 fans and we had our highest traffic day since April (for reasons we haven’t fully figured out, yet).
Search
The most commonly used filtered search for venues: Indoor/Has lighting. For artist search: 2D. Does this mean there’ll be an abundance of painting this year? We’ll see.
Don’t miss on the blog:
Steve Samson offers advice to venues and artists. (He is Exhibitions Manager at UICA and the one who secured the first ten artists for ArtPrize)
The first ten artists to secure a venue, secured the space through Steve Samson, Exhibitions Manager for UICA (UICA is also selecting artists for Old Federal Building). So, he’s the closest thing ArtPrize has to a “veteran” of the process and I thought a quick email interview with Steve would be helpful to artists and venues.
For artists interested in showing at the UICA or Old Federal Building, keep reading. For venues, Steve offers advice about securing artists. Read More »
To artists looking for local resources in help completing a work, Nicolai Czumaj-Bront, an industrial designer at furniture manufacturer HAWORTH, INC, contacted me with a list of his highly recommended fabricators in the area.
The list below is intended to be updated as I hear of other artist resources with a good recommendation. Artists, is there a certain type of fabricator you’re looking for? Let me know.
Thanks Nicolai!
Metro Engineering
Metro is a full service prototype and fabrication shop, including CAD capabilities, CNC machining, casting, painting,
11 skilled craftspeople, project fabrication consulting and have working knowledge of most materials used in the fabrication world.
845 Ottawa NW
Grand Rapids MI 49503
Tel: 616.458.2823
Contact: James Cook
www.metroengineering.net
The Brass Tack House of Upholstery
Specialize in custom upholstery, pattern development, and custom furniture.
436 N Park St NE
Grand Rapids, MI 49525
Tel: 616.363.8531
Contact: Jack
Magnum Powder Coating
Specializes in high quality custom paint coating and finishes.
5500 West River Dr.
Comstock Park MI 49321
Tel: 616.785.3155
Contact: Steve Couturier
www.magnumpowdercoating.com
4740 136th Ave
Holland MI 4924
Tel: 616.399.3400
Contact: Randy Soper
www.superiorcutting.com
UPDATE: Dave Evanos submitted his shop in the comments Custom Powder Coating
“We specialize in sandblasting and powder coating, and have had a great deal of experience finishing custom art work. Also, we charge much less than other local powder coaters.”
1601 Madison Ave SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49507
616-454-9730
Contact: Steve
UPDATE: Alex Myrhorodsky submitted his shop in the comments
We have been doing large format copy work for several years for most of the large galleries in the area. We can photograph any object on to 8 x 10 transparencies and then scan it digitally and then print large format Epson up to 44″ wide any length. Our studio in the Tanglefoot building is large enough to accomodate many unusual requests requiring copy work and giclee printing.
Gailforces Studio
314 Straight St
Grand Rapids, MI 49504
alexander@gailforces.com
616 776-7678
Although you can’t see it, all the artists are secured for either the UICA or Old Federal Building. (Soon, you’ll see which venue each artist has secured.) Since those two venues share the UICA selection committee, it means we’ve got one venue way ahead of the game, but don’t fret!
VENUE WORKSHOP We’re holding a venue workshop. The Goal: In one session get venue hosts fully equipped to secure artists.
Venue hosts, save the date! Agenda coming next week. (I’ll also upload any materials from the workshop here.)
Wednesday, June 24 – 4:00-6:00pm
Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce
111 Pearl St. NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
If you are a venue or artist waiting to start connecting, we recommend you start now. If you have questions about Matching, read this. Questions about the Hosting Agreement, read this. Questions about insurance, read this.
Broken Record Reminder
Venues put your dimensions and images into your profile, artists fill out your profile and submit work if you haven’t.
Other site fixes, for the curious:
Collaborators appear on artist profile
Avatars appear on the “Manage Connections” page
Non-numeric zip codes are accepted
A warning added for sessions about to time out
Other things you shouldn’t notice, which is how we know they’re fixed
One question a venue and artist will face together is, “Who insures the art?” In the Hosting Agreement template ArtPrize provides, we leave it up to the venue and artist to decide who does the insuring, but it makes the most sense for a venue to insure. Here’s why.
Most venues will already have an insurance policy they can add a rider to. The annual rate for fine arts coverage is normally between $0.15 – $0.50 per $100 of value, depending on the type of art. (Some insurance companies may want a minimum premium and/or a minimum deductible for issuing the rider.) Once ArtPrize is over, the venue can request cancellation of the rider and the refund of any excess premium.
Occasionally, I provide a behind the scenes update of what’s going on in the office. I’ve decided to start calling that update, “The Experiment Chronicles” because the point is to expose what we’re learning along the way with this first event, which we’ve often called “The Experiment.”
Local Artists
It’s been an accurate assumption that local artists have an advantage in finding a venue. They live here, they know the territory and know a lot of property owners who have been involved in past art events. However, it’s been exciting to hear how many local artists are planning a new work. Maybe because they know the city intimately, they are using ArtPrize as a chance to do site specific work.
Sponsors
We’ve been talking with potential sponsors since the ArtPrize announcement. Several have expressed interest is using the opportunity to bring in artists they feel passionate about who are not on artprize.org, which would widen out the variety of work showing. We’re excited to see what happens when these works are mixed with all of the other artists who are coming here in a more DIY fashion.
Venues
We’ve seen the matching process start to organically happen. In the last week many artists completed their profile and reached out to venues. Admittedly, it has not been as smooth as we had hoped, but we’ve been tackling a list of changes to the site to streamline the process. Some changes are already made, some are coming soon and others we’ll have to save for next year because we’ve still got to build the voting mechanism.
One of the ArtPrize venues, UICA, secured two artists this afternoon and their selection committee secured one for The Old Federal Building (the UICA selection committee is handling both venues). These are the first three artists secured for ArtPrize, happening September 23 – October 10, and it’s kind of exciting for us.
Last year he exhibited at the Scope Art Fair Miami, USA; the Louise Alexander Gallery, Porto Cervo, Italy; the Hôtel Royal Monceau, Paris, France; the Heritage Gallery, Moscow, Russia; the Shanghai Art Fair, Shanghai, China and at the Mercedes Center of Contemporary Art, Paris, France; ArtParis, France Read More »
We’ve just released a round of bug fixes for artprize.org.
“I paid the $50 fee but still can’t see the ‘Connect with venue’ button”
This has been a common issue for artists. Check both your profile and work details to make sure all required fields are complete.
A few of you may find that you filled out your profile, but the information is not there. The system did not delete your information. While you filled out your profile page something triggered an error–like if you typed more than 1,000 characters into your bio –and you may have gotten an error message, but it appeared you were able to save the information anyway.
Unfortunately, that information was never saved because of the error. We fixed that page so that, when an error occurs, it’s clear and there is no way to mistake that the information is saved.
“I see myself in a list of artists that secured a venue, but I didn’t secure a venue”
Should be fixed.
Broken Record Reminder
Venues put your dimensions and images into your profile, artists fill out your profile and submit work if you haven’t.
Imagine, if you will, a dating website where a bunch of available bachelors only display a name on their profiles. Does he like walks on the beach or walks through the Nascar pit? Does he wear an ironic mustache or a sincere kippa?
As we fix some of the bugs in the matching process, one thing we cannot fix is how much information artists and venues have put on their profiles–or not put on their profiles, as the case may be.
ARTISTS – Venues are asking to see bios, work statements, images, etc. If your profile is incomplete, venues will pass on you in favor of artists with more information. (Not sure what images to upload? Read this)
VENUES – Artists want dimensions and pictures of your space. You can approximate dimensions. Here is an excellent example of a venue page. (But don’t be a perfectionist. Something is better than nothing.
A huge update was released yesterday to make the Artist/Venue matching process a lot easier and a couple small subsequent updates followed.
Broken Record Reminder
