Ask ArtSlut ~ How do I start my own gallery?

Hello, My Lovely, Art Slutty Sweethearts! First, let me apologize for being away for so long! I have been on a LONG, strange & fabulous journey, to the Art Bar!!! I’ve been spending the last 9 months making my Art Slutty dreams come true, by opening my dream gallery. It’s really a an arts department store - with a BAR!! It’s been fantastic/exhausting & I’m really, so thrilled with it & NOW, I’m finally back! I have been writing my column the whole time, by the way & you can find the lost ’submissions’ on www.ConchColor.com So, please do check them out! Welcome back & I will look forward to getting your questions & suggestions & SEEING you, at the Art Bar in Sunny, tropical, & fabulous, Key West Florida! Yay! I’m so glad to be home! Anyhooch, I hope you enjoy this week’s column. Here it is:

  Ask Art Slut #26 The Ask Art Slut Advice Column is by Barb Benson GrOb -Artist, Author & Director of the Key West Art Bar. It’s crafty advice for artists & for living life creatively, with excerpts from her book “The ArtSlut’s Guide to Makin’ It ~ As a Visual Artist”. Get YOUR signed copy at the Key West Art Bar  - corner of Margaret & Caroline, in the Flagler Station Bldg… Then, get a glass of wine & read it in the wine bar!
 This week’s question is one we get almost daily & although, I take it as a compliment, answering it can really distract me from doing my work!  The answer is lengthy. So, I’m making this a 2 (maybe, 3) part column. The question is: ‘I always wanted to start my own gallery. How do I do it?’
The 1st part of the answer is: Think about it, first! Statistically, about 80% of galleries fail in the first year. And, in this economy, selling a luxury item in an already saturated market can be tricky. The FL Keys Council of the Arts shows over 60 galleries in KW & nowadays, all kinds of businesses seem to want to moonlight as galleries (so weird – How ‘bout if we start selling mortgages & massages?). Competition’s steep. So, you’ll need more than great paintings to make it. Consider location, target audience, and what’ll make it unique.

Running a gallery is a great job, if you don’t mind working HARD! Just, ‘Prepare yourself’, because a gallery is retail - no more & no less. Every artist & patron, wants, needs & deserves, personal attention & time. You run out of it quickly! Forget about finding time to do your own work! Then, do all the stuff needed to make any business run - marketing, paying bills, acquiring supplies, cleaning, paperwork, contracts, taxes, employees, & shipping. Then, consider the cost of doing business. Beyond startup costs of displays, fixtures, signage, deposits on the building & utilities, realize that the cost per month formula is at least 3x’s your rent - in ANY business. So, if you’re paying $5k/mo rent, your minimum CPM, before profit is $15k - that’s $500/day NET, that you must bring in, to break even. So, at least $1k gross - if you’re open 30 days per month. Then, consider that although people want to ’support the arts’, they often want a ‘discount’. Wonder if they ask for one at the grocery store? Anyway, that’s fine, if you’re selling giclees, or Chinese paintings and can get a huge markup, but if you’re doing a 50/50 split (standard), you’d better sell A LOT of small, or a few LARGE paintings to make that $15k net we talked about. See what I mean? Just think it through, before investing your IRA.

 Next week, I’ll tell you what I think is GREAT about it & some ways that I think I can actually be of service to someone who wants to start a gallery after reading all that. So, please stay tuned!
This week’s artist is local author, Susan Jinbo. She wrote a book that anyone who’s considered running a guesthouse should read: “Diary of a Key West Innkeeper”. & yes, you can pick up a copy at the Art Bar. In think she’s doing a signing with us during the Art Walk, on the 1st Thursday of February. Meanwhile, be sure to come to Wed. Nite/Film Nite, Thurs. Nite/Loungee-aoke, & Friday Nite/Flight Nite, every single week, at the Art Bar, at the corner of Margaret & Caroline St. in the Flagler Station Bldg. …Not a museum, it’s a fine arts department with gifts, movies, performance, & a bar! www.KeyWestArtBar.com 305.304.9001.

Ask ArtSlut Annie