Marketing Your Event

Following on from my last blog post, Opening Your Studio to the Public, this post looks at ways to market your Open Studios Event.


If you are taking part in a wider Open Studios Event then most of your marketing will have been done for you. You will be featured in their brochure with information about your studio and where to find you. And, if you are lucky, yours might be the featured artwork for their flyer. All this information should be on their website too with links to your website and a short profile about you. To see an example of this go to York Open Studios. 


BUT you will not be the only artist that the event organisers are promoting so if you want to drive more visitors to your studio door you can tempt them in with a marketing campaign of your own. 

North Yorks Open Studios

What's in it for them?

You may want to offer a little "sweetener" or discount to every person who buys something from you at the event but don't leave it too late to tell them about the offer. If your Open Studio Event has an official flyer or brochure you can attach your own flyer offering a discount or free gift to every visitor - provided they bring the flyer with them.  The discount might be offered on purchases over £50 or £100. Post out or give the flyers out to everyone on your customer database, friends, family and anywhere that you place your paper advertising.


Reaching Wider Audiences
Your event organiser will probably be using Facebook and Twitter to promote the event, updating their blog and even posting in a Linked In group. If you have a Facebook Page make sure that you "like" their page and ask them to "like" yours. Set up a Facebook Event  and invite all your friends, making sure that your avatar image shows you or your art. Post regular updates about the event and add links to the official website.  Check out your event organiser's Twitter, if they are using a hash tag make sure you add it to every tweet you send about the event, this will make yout tweets more prominent.
Electronic marketing is fabulous and costs nothing but time. this type of marketing is possibly more effective than printed information as it can reach a wider audience. If you have a customer email database then setting up an event on Evenbrite and sending out an E-flyer on Mailchimp makes you look highly professional and you can add images too. Evenbrite will send out reminders to your customers a week before the event and even jog their memories a day before the event if they have booked on-line. 

Suffolk Open Studios 2012

Make Yourself Memorable
Even if the visitor didn't make a purchase at your Open Studio Event you will still want to give them the opportunity to keep in touch and find out about your new work in the future. A prominently placed Visitors Book (with a pen) will give the public the opportunity to feed back about your work and studio. If it is accompanied by a sign that says "Do you want to subscribe to our newsletter? Please leave your details" this will remind them to write down their email or postal address. Also, if you haven't started a customer database this may be the time to start one. 
Keep in touch - send a short email or letter thanking them for visiting your studio, or for saying nice things about your work and personally invite them to your next event. But don't overdo it - everyone who signs up to a database has the right to be removed from it too. 


So all that remains is for me to wish you every success at your Open Studios Event. If you found this post helpful or you have anything to add please use the Comments Box. 

Business Plans for Art Businesses Part 1

"Fail to Plan
Plan to Fail"

In a previous post I said that I would be blogging about Business Plans and how to write one. Well, true to my word, here is the first of 3 posts on the subject. I have broken it up into sections to make a tedious task more palatable - after all, who writes business plans for fun?

Why write a Business Plan?
A business plan is a vital tool for any business, whether you are a new arts business or an exisiting business. There are two reasons why you should do this:

• to show potential funders, financial institutions, backers or partners that you have a viable business that is worth investing in


• as an exercise in analysing your business potential, finances, measure your current performance against future performance and, most importantly, high light any flaws or gaps in your business.

Your plan should show the Who, What, Where, How and Why of your business. WHO is involved (you, other businesses, customers/clients) WHAT you are doing and going to do in the future, WHERE you do it, HOW it operates and WHY you do it(and why people need it).
Your Business Plan will consist of information in each of the following headings:

• The Executive Summary (we'll deal with this in the last post)
• A description of your business (the easy part)
• Your Marketing Strategy (the fun part)
• Your team (only relevant if you are not a sole trader)
• Your Operations (where you do it and how you do it)
• Your Financial Forecast (the difficult part).

In my next post I shall be talking about how to write a description of your business - what it should include and how the layout of the business plan should look.

10 Tips for a Successful Arts Business

All self help books have magic number tips such as 10 good tips, 7 bad tips (how not to do something) and 3 rules to live by! So, in the spirit of the self help book here are my top 10 tips to starting a successful arts business.

Pinback Button by Button Empire

1. Carpe diem! In the words of Los Campesinos, If it seems like a good idea then it IS a good idea. Start researching how you can turn your art into a business. Get some good business advice from your local Business Link or visit a business consultant.

2. Be honest with yourself. Do you have a product that people will want to buy or are you making art for yourself? a lot of people say they love your work but would they be willing to part with their money to prove this?

3. Be willing to put in the hours. Being self employed is great, you can work when you want and there's no-one else to tell you what to do. Actually, being self employed can be very lonely and more demanding than working 9 to 5. Are you willing to stay late, burning the midnight oil when everyone else is at the pub?

4. Know your sums. Calculate the cost of everything you make, including your hourly rate and then work out your profit. Don't forget to work out your overheads and running costs. Keep accurate records and, if you are not hot with figures, go on a book keeping course. Try and live by the expression "look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves"

5. Know Your Competition. Find out what everyone else is doing - look at their strengths and weaknesses, find out how they market their art, compare their pricing and look at how you can improve your business on THEIR performance.

6. Know Your Customer. Who will your potential customers be? Who will you appeal to? Where do they buy their art? What kinds of galleries/shops do they go to? What are they willing to pay?

7. Have a sure-fire Business Plan. Business plans are boring but, if you need to borrow money or to further your business, then you will need one. And you should WANT one too - a business plan can help you plan for the future, work out the direction you want to take your business in and identify all your strengths and weaknesses. (I will be blogging about business plans soon).

8. Organize. This means sort out your studio and make it an efficient place to work. Sort out your schedule - learn to prioritise your time so that you are not wasting time gazing at art on the internet instead of making it.

9. Networking. It's all very romantic starving in a garret but sometimes you have to come out and meet people. You can network with Twitter and Facebook (easy) but you also need to talk to real people about your work. Visiting galleries and exhibitions is a great way to network - you are your art's ambassador.

10. My Year in Lists. Make lists. Set targets. Stick to them. Lists give you a raison d'etre, goals to work toward. Lists include Your Strengths/Weaknesses, Mailing Lists, List of Tasks, Shopping Lists.

Wishing All Our Followers....

Enjoy the holidays - take a break from your work and put your feet up! Thank you all for your support of Artists in Business - more arts business posts, articles and features to come in 2010!

Zur Designs

Our previous guest writer is from Zur Designs. Here's a little bit about her.

"I have always wanted to design jewelry, learn metal fabrication, and work with gems and semi precious stones. I started with beads and then went to wire sculpture and chain and now am learning how to work in silver and gold. I live in one of the most beautiful places in the country, the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. Nestled in these mountains through all the seasons of the year, inspires me to create pieces that I hope all of you can enjoy. I love, love, love Swarovski Crystals. They add a touch of elegance to any piece. I also like the rough natural stones, and nothing adds a touch a class more than some beautiful potato pearls in any color!"

Find Zur Design on Etsy and Facebook.

Enhancing the Value of Your Facebook Fan Page

Deb Hall of Zur Designs has written this extremely useful article about Facebook. (We met on Twitter - proving that, as a networking tool, Twitter works)!






"The overall goal of a Facebook Fan Page should be to provide added value to your fans. Not only will this ensure that existing fans are active and engaged, it also gives prospective fans a reason for joining your page at a good level of involvement. The level of fan interaction enhances the overall viral nature of your page and ultimately increases your validity as a Facebook user (sometimes defined as social proof). Facebook gives the handmade indie artisan/business owner a chance to be up close and personal to those people interested in their work and to attract new customers as well…it’s word of mouth at the speed of light!



"There are many ways to provide added value for your fans. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:
Offer discounts specifically for Facebook Fans only use the “Send An Update to Fans” feature to broadcast your specials
Set up questions under Discussion Tab for instance, I have places where people can post their Etsy shop URL, their blog web address, their Twitter Channel, and the Facebook Fan Page. It helps fans that are also handmade artisans gain fans and followers and it helps potential customers find a group of very fine merchants to buy quality handmade products
Post your blog entries to your Facebook Fan Page I do this automatically with an application within Facebook called Networked Blogs. This application syncs with my blog and automatically posts to my Facebook Fan Page each time I write a blog post. It’s a real time-saver!
Cross-promote your Facebook Fans who are fellow artisans by either sharing something from your page to your Facebook Profile Wall or sending a favorite item from Etsy to Facebook. Commenting on their posts and clicking the “like” link also helps and makes their fan pages more interactive as well
When you post a new item or make any kind of post to your fan page, try to put it in a form of a question such as “This is a new design I listed today on Etsy, how do you like the color or photo or name of the item?”

"Facebook offers you an unparalleled opportunity to connect with your fans and
consumers. By maintaining a Facebook Fan Page and using all the available features, you can interact with consumers the same way they interact with friends and colleagues. Maybe some of your friends have already told a couple of their friends about your business but with Facebook they can tell all their friends instantaneously and those friends tell their friends…hence the phrase viral marketing.
"Keys to Successfully Using Your Facebook Fan Page
Personalize Your Business People ordinarily use Facebook to share personal information with friends. The more you accentuate the personal aspects of your business, your products or your designs and the person behind them, the stronger impact they will have on those who view it.
Update Your Fan Page Frequently Facebook is designed around providing new information and updates. So the more frequently you post fresh content, the more often people will return to your fan page.
Utilize the Dynamic Features of the Wall Tab The News Feed on the Wall notifies users what their friends are up to. When someone joins your fan page, News Feed informs their friends and invites them to become fans as well. This is key to spreading the message of your business virally. Additionally, there is a new flexibility on the Wall Tab to show a variety of information on your Wall. You can choose between News Feed and Live Feed Additionally, on the far left of the Wall there is a series of choices: News Feed, Status Updates, Pages, Photos, etc. By clicking the link “More” you can move any of these choices to the top and change the view of your Wall to view any one of these categories. This is a really neat feature!
Enhance Your Page With Applications There are thousands of applications designed by Facebook that you can add to your Page in order to tailor it to your business and industry. For instance if you have an Etsy Shop, you can add the Etsy Shop application. Just click on the button that says “Go To Application”. For those people who use ArtFire, there is a Fan Page that leads you to the application in the same way. Once you become accustomed to Facebook and the applications available, you will find all sorts of fun things you can add to your page! If you have expertise as a developer, you can even create your own!
Consider Using Facebook Ads To Target Your Audience These ads can be targeted to reach the exact audience you want and can be socialized so that users interactions with what they see can be seen by their friends and become as viral as the rest of the elements of the Facebook page. The key to Facebook ads is that you need to be willing to experiment a bit and rely on a solid base of users to give you feedback to formulate your advertising strategy.

One of the greatest reasons to have a Facebook Fan Page is that it is searchable by Facebook and non-Facebook users, much like a traditional website. Personal profiles are not (mainly for your own privacy). Other great reasons are: you can have an unlimited number of fans, it can increase your visibility, and help with branding your business. And let’s face it…in the end it’s all about getting your work seen and your page will be an integral part of your strategy to drive traffic to your site to see your handmade products.

If you are still unsure of how to get started created a fan page, here is a list of some resources that may help you in the process:
Socialbees
Rants and Raves of a New Age Chick
Etsy Storque
Tutorial Blog
Web Upd8
My Facebook Fan Page is: Zur Designs…when yours is up and running and personalized in your own very special way…stop by my page and tell me about it! Good luck! "
Deb.

How much effort will you put into on-line promoting? This week Anna, the person behind Widget the Sock Bunny, shares some of her tips for successful viral marketing. It's well worth the read!

"Viruses are big in the news at the moment and spreading his own online version is Widget Sockbunny – a fuzzy bunny-shaped infection travelling with growing speed around the world.




"You will have heard the term ‘Viral Marketing’, it sounds technical but really the concept is a simple one. Viruses spread rapidly from one person to the next, the more people who ‘catch it’, the more people it will spread to. To sell online you need to put out little feelers wherever you can, forever spreading, trying to ‘infect’ as many people as possible, trying to be remembered and talked about, or, if you prefer, catching a vibe of something being passed around.The easiest way to illustrate it is to tell you how I sell my sock bunnies online – using a bunny named Widget.
"Widget did not exist until I discovered a 365 project on Flickr.com. One object, one picture a day for one whole year. I was already selling the sock bunnies online and building up recognition in the craft forums such as Folksy, so I grabbed this marketing opportunity and chose a bunny. I named him Widget and began to take pictures. When I post the days’ images in the photo pool people see them. If they like what they see they can see all my other pictures too. In my profile are links to everything I do including diary blog for these Widget photos – Widget’s Year - and another blog for the other bunnies living at The Warren. I created an environmental concept for them, a warren, nestling in a sunny corner of my original company Half an Acre. Luckily it all seemed to fit! People liked reading about this little world and kept coming back to ‘check in’ on what was going on. Global Bunny travels around the world with her little suitcase sending back news and images, Geocache Bunny comes out on walks with me and my family (geocaching.com). All these pictures are posted into the appropriate Flickr group pools for more and more people to see. Widget even collects ‘sea glass’ so I can add pictures of him with his collection to the Sea glass Lovers group pool! All this is blogged about too. When blogging it is vital to post as often as you can, at least 3 times a week, to generate a ‘happening’ feel.





"When anyone buys a bunny they receive a printed card inviting them to send in stories and pictures to this blog. This makes the blog interesting and tempts the readers to want have their own bunny. Flickr is vital. I get on average around 120 views of my photostream each day. Being ‘seen’ is essential too. I looked for all the groups dealing with socks, bunnies, sewing, rainbows (for Rainbow Bun!), anything vaguely applicable, and joined them. Spreading pictures of Widget and his friends anywhere and everywhere. It is important not to spam. It has to be relevant or you will annoy the very people you want to draw to your shop.
"I gave Widget his own Facebook profile and, ignoring the fact that you need to be a ‘real’ person to register, I then set about ‘friending’ people! I already knew a load from promoting Half an Acre and I sent friend invitations to ‘friends of friends’. I found out that people give pets their own pages and that meant bunnies! I also sent requests to any other ‘sock toys’ out there. To date Widget has just over 300 friends – generated in around 5 months. Every time I post it shows up in the news feeds of all those 300. I made a ‘Send-a-Bunny’ application using pictures of Widget and his pals and send them out to all my new ‘friends’. The whole of Facebook can use that application and therefore see from where it originates. Widget has joined Postcrossing.com. He has his own postcards, with a cute picture on the front and subtle blog link on the back. Next on the list is The Toy Society where I’ll be leaving bunnies in bags around the place with a big label saying ‘Take me home’. Reaching more people and drawing them in to the whole concept. Everything leads back to one central point - my shop on Folksy.





"Give people inspiration, a new idea, something to talk about, smile about and eventually news will spread, the virus feeding itself as it travels. It takes lots of time and dedication but it does work. The bunnies are spreading like ….. bunnies!"

What Makes You Unique?

We all like to think our art is original (and if it's not - WHY are you copying)???

But in order to be able to sell our art we need to sell ourselves - to make ourselves more interesting to the arts market and to potential customers. This is where your USP can help. What's a USP? It's your Unique Selling Point.
Do you know WHAT your USP is? Here's ours - "The Arts Factory is Keighley’s only Contemporary Art Gallery".
Of course, if another gallery sets up in Keighley our USP will be: "The Arts Factory is Keighley’s number 1 Contemporary Art Gallery".
So what are we trying to say? We are telling the world that we are unique but, as contemporary art galleries AREN’T unique by definition, we are unique to Keighley.

How did we arrive at this claim? We did exactly what you are going to do to find your USP – by doing the 2 short exercises below.

But first here's a question. What makes your craft/art unique? Can you say that there is anything unique about what you do? For example: you may make stunning vintage jewellery but what makes your jewellery different from other vintage jewellery makers? It might be the component parts you use or it might be your designs. It may be the type of audience you sell to or it may be the way that you sell. You could be the only vintage jewellery designer who specialises in nautical style jewellery or you could have a particular design-theme to your shop. Once you have identified what your unique selling point (USP) is you can use this to promote yourself, your craft or your on-line shop.

Exercise 1 (Find someone to work with you).Take 5 minutes to describe your craft to another person. Tell that person all about it, how you make it, how you sell it, why people buy it, what makes it different. Ask them to jot down key words or sentences that stand out.Now look at the words on the paper that describe your craft. Which ones stand out as your USP? Write down a few sentences that describe your hand made business. Keep the sentences short and snappy.

Exercise 2 (Work on your own) Take 5 minutes to break down the sentences to make ONE slogan. Highlight those key words and make a statement. Are you stuck for adjectives to describe your hand made business? You don’t have to describe the craft to create a USP statement. Take a look at the USPs of commercial corporations instead. I’ve made a short list but you will probably know plenty more.“I’m lovin’ it” “Every little helps” “Try something new today” “The drive of your life” “Just do it”

So instead of describing your business as: “the best hand made satchels made with top quality leather and hand tooled with care” think about a short sentence of a few words that can describe why I would want to buy your satchel. For example: “Must-Have Leather Satchels”. Sorry, it’s a bit weak – just thought of it off the top of my head. My personal USP is “Unique. Contemporary. Quality” and I believe that this describes my glass, although I sometimes think it should say “Unique. Quirky. Quality”. I don’t need to say hand made or fused glass because hopefully, my shop name should cover that information. (Anecdotally, I used to have a business called Terrace House Designs, selling silk painting supplies, but I got fed up with customers calling to talk to Terrance House)!
Finally, what are you going to do with your USP? Well, you can use it as a statement on your letter heads, compliments slips, business cards, shop announcement, website or create it as a logo.In my next post I will be looking at the competitiveness of selling on-line. If you have any further suggestions, comments or ideas about USPs please post below.

Do-It-Yourself Zines

In a previous post Leanne Woods talked about how she created an on-line zine using Issuu.com and you can also make zines the "old-fashioned" way.



What is a zine? It's a hand written, typed or photocopied magazine, usually associated with 'underground' arts, music or political groups. I remembr when (yes, a reminiscence now) when the UK music press chose to ignore the emerging punk rock scene and the only way we could find out about gigs and bands was via zines. These were handed out and passed around for free. The best of these was Mark P's "Sniffin' Glue".

Why make a zine? Zines are time-consuming to create so you won't want to make them very often but they are useful as a marketing tool. You can send your zines out for free or you may want to charge for them. You can also sell advertising space in them to cover your costs.

Who will read my zine? Before you start to design a zine think about who you are targetting. If you try to make your zine all things to all people then no-one will be interested. Ask yourself - what do you want your zine to do?

• tell people about your art
• publicise other artists in your zine
• make a "how to" creative zine
• show off your graphic and illustration skills

How will I design my zine? This depends mostly on who your reader will be, the content of your zine and your creative style. Your zine can be a simple folded and stapled booklet, a sheet of paper folded neatly into quarters, an accordian folding book or a stitched pamphlet. Remember that making a professional-looking book is time consuming and not so much fun when you get to the fiftieth one!

This is how we created ours. Our first zine (see above) was created by one of our gallery volunteers, Joel. We needed a marketing strategy to encourage more young visitors to the gallery and we decided that a zne would be the ideal way to do this. Our first task was to DECIDE ON THE CONTENT. We listed all the activities that the gallery delivers that would appeal to young people including our work with young offenders and a forthcoming exhibition, Game Over. We wrote the articles for Joel, gave him access to images of the gallery and asked him to produce an eight page, A5 size zine.

The most time consuming part for Joel was DESIGNING THE LAYOUT. A zine needs to look busy with lots of visuals and writing. As our zine was created from collaged images with drawings before being photocopied, it needed to be visually striking. Joel st about with scissors, scalpel, glue, pens and pencils to make an eye-catching zine.

As a marketing publication the zine needed to IDENTIFY ITS PURPOSE as It is a zine about the gallery for young people. We asked Joel to put our logo and website on every page of the zine (the rule of marketing - you need to see something at least 7 times to remember it, you only need to be told once). We also needed to cover the cost of photocopying the zine and, as we intended to make it a free publication, we offered ADVERTISING SPACE to local "young" businesses. Covering the costs meant that we could give the zine away for free.

Finally - a word about COLOUR. Unless you have a very strong graphic design for the cover you will probably need a shot of colour to make it more marketable. But colour printing is expensive and hand-colouring is time consuming. We solved the problem by photocopying the frnt and back page onto brightly coloured paper - red, yellow, orange and peach.

If you would like a free copy of the first Keighley Arts Fatory zine please contact me using the email box at the bottom of the page. There will be a charge of 50p for the postage and we accept Paypal.

Here are some more zines for you to check out:

Worn Fashion Journal

Make Your Own

Art for a Democratic Society

Colouring Outside the Lines

Metalsmith Anne Malone of CocoandChia talks about her apprenticeship and subsequent work as a fine jeweller.



I learned to work with metals by apprenticing to four amazing jewelers. Each person had their own style and their own specialties. As an apprentice you work for very little money, do a lot of the dirty work and get a lot of experience along the way. I also worked in jewelry repair. This taught me a lot about how things are made, where things are likely to break, how many people have to have rings cut off (!) and that jewelry almost always has sentiment attached to it.

Being a metalsmith is my second try at earning a living. I worked for years in offices as a book keeper and administrative jobs. Along the way I realized that I was bored to distraction and would end up doing it forever unless I made some changes and took some risks. Now I work full time for a fabulous high end jeweler in New York. I make their jewelry – they tell me what they want, supply the materials and it is in galleries around the world. I particularly love high karat yellow gold and gemstones. My personal favorites are the little boxes that you see some of on Etsy. I don’t think they will ever sell there as the amount of time and energy to make them puts the price pretty high. I love to make intricate small containers with hinges and hidden compartments and precious gems.



Honestly, I have not found my niche on etsy. My work sells in galleries and it is important to keep the same pricing on etsy as it is elsewhere. Etsy is a great website in my opinion. I’m happy that people love handmade. The listing price is low, the site is easy to get used to and the commission is reasonable. Most of the gifts that I have bought in the last few years have come from there. I understand why lots of pairs of $15 earrings sell on etsy.

I know my strengths and my weaknesses. At the very least this is a good starting point. I am not a salesperson. I am a terrible planner. I have at least 20 projects that are finished ninety percent of the way. I’m very meticulous in my work. I often imagine any of the jewelers I have worked for critiquing a piece and I make sure that everything is as technically excellent, beautiful and secure as possible. My work is certainly not an impulse purchase. I have hopes that people will see my work on etsy, appreciate the craftsmanship and materials and make a decision to buy after some thought. As I’ve grown up a bit the things I buy for myself reflect that I know what I want when I see it, that I am willing to spend money on great craftsmanship and that I’d rather have one really nice thing than ten OK things. I’m always searching for the perfect pair of blue jeans!

In five years time I’d be quite happy to be doing what I am doing right now. It would be great to have more exposure online and in galleries. I’ll keep on making things. I know that I am lucky to be employed as a jeweler in this economy and that there are thousands of people who would love to have my job. I get to be at home with my dog and take long walks in the afternoons and sometimes naps! A super added bonus would be to have my own studio … I dream of my very own space in an artist’s collective.

Follow The Trend

Louise from Blue Ginger Clothing in Keighley makes most of her own clothes and also imports them from the Far East so it makes sense for her to study the latest trends in fashion and it is important for her business to know what will be popular next season.

This is something that you can also apply to your arts business by studying trends, not only in your chosen field of art, but in fashion, colour and surface pattern too. Believe it or not, predicting the latest trends in consumer taste is big business and there are companies who make their living business to advise industries "what is hot and what is not".
Louise's style of clothing has found a niche in the current growth of vintage fashion with prints popular in the sixties, seventies and eighties and bold patterns too. Vintage is VERY popular today including jewellery, accessories, hair styles, wallpaper and even art. (In my day it was called kitsch). Of course, nostalgia is not just a current trend as we have been down the nostalgic route before in the 1960's and 1970's when Victoriana was all the rage. The doyenne of this trend was the wonderful Laura Ashley, who tapped into the craze for nostalgia with her english country house style mixed with cottage garden. Laura Ashley redesigned an entire Victorian era by using soft colours, chintz and floral prints. She was influenced by everything that was good about Victorian design including Edwin Lutyens, William Morris and the Arts and Craft Movement and updated it to make it more practical. Her design style was a reaction to the plastic materials that had been introduced since the 1950's and I like to think that our current interest in vintage is a reaction to some of the unimaginative crap that we see on the high street.
When interviewed before her tragic death in 1985, Laura Ashley spoke about how she started her business by printing tea towels on her kitchen table and made the entire business seem like it was more to do with luck. I very much doubt that - may be she WAS fortunate to be in the right place at the right time but she also knew how to give people what they wanted and she knew about contemporary taste. The Laura Ashley brand was built on determination, hard work and the business knowledge of Sir Bernard Ashley. Laura Ashley Design has had a huge influence on many of today's designers such as Genevieve Lethu (my favourite) and Cath Kidston and there is a lot we can still learn today from this great British designer.

Fashion forecasting and shopping trends is something you can apply to your arts business too. Take some time to study the current trends and also check out the predictions for next season. You can apply "seasons" to your work by changing your influences whilst retaining the style of your art. Changing your work seasonally will help you to keep it fresh and will also help you to decide what sells and what doesn't. Here are a couple of web sites to get you started.
Print & Pattern
Fashion TrendSetter
Trend Stop

Individual Fashion Retail

This week we have an article from Louise who owns a bricks and mortar shop, Blue Ginger. she talks about hand made clothing and we will be exploring trends in the arts business in a further article.
"I have always been interested in art and design but was never sure which path to take. After finishing my A levelsand a foundation in art and design, I chose a Craft course at Cumbria Institute of the Arts. The course covered a wide range of crafts such as embroidery, print, ceramics and weave. Due to the fact I was still a little clueless as to what I wanted to do in life this degree was brilliant as I was given the opportunity to try so many different areas before finally choosing my final subject, Ceramics!!
I left Cumbria in 2004 and fell in to various jobs nothing to do with art and decided to do a bit of travelling. I stayed with parents in Singapore for 4 months trying to work out what career path I should take, Whilst doing this I did a teaching course on precious metal clay, very interesting and I hope to use it in the future.
On arriving back in the UK decided I wanted to give it a go at setting up my own business making my own jewellery and ceramics. I contacted Airedale Business Enterprise in West Yorkshire, UK, for help who suggested The Prince’s Trust. Airedale Business Enterprise helped me with my business plan and I had interview with Princes Trust panel to put forward my ideas. They gave me a loan to set up a workshop, but only for the jewellery. I thought this was brilliant and got to work straight away making jewellery and selling at craft fairs and jewellery parties
I decided to set up the shop Blue Ginger as it has always been a dream. I thought it would be ideal to have a workshop and place to sell in one. As before I went to Airedale Business Enterprise for help, I can strongly recommend local business agencies, all help and advice is free and as I have continued in business they are still helping.
After a year in the planning I opened Blue Ginger in July 2008. I source jewellery and clothing from the Far East, and also handmade work from the U.K with my own handmade jewellery, clothing and accessories, there is a good mix for all ages and tastes.
I really love working for myself as I spend lots of time making always having a project on the go, this is a real benefit because the shop can be lonely sometimes working on my own you can go hours without having any interaction with any one, however because I have an area in the shop where I can work on my jewellery and clothing I become engrossed in the work and hardly notice. The only other downside of having the shop would just be the stress of not knowing what is round the corner, because there is always a risk with business and you have to always be thinking of new ideas to get people in the shop and also keep them interested.
The one piece of advice for someone who is thinking of going in to business is to just go for it, if you have the passion and skills there is no harm in giving it a try. Yes, it is hard work but if you do make it the rewards will be so worthwhile.
For the future I hope to continue with the shop and try to make it a success, I am also setting up jewellery classes from the shop and hopefully precious metal clay courses. I would also like to go back to university to do a fashion degree, I love making clothes at the shop and would like to learn more about the construction of clothing."
Louise Fyffe.
Blue Ginger
Royal Arcade Low Street Keighley
West Yorkshire
UK

Do YOU Have What It Takes?

Being a self employed artist sounds as if it is the ideal job but do you have what it takes to be a successful arts business? In a previous post our guest interviewee, Patti Ursel, said the following:
"Being self employed has its benefits and negatives and surprisingly it can be the same thing. Setting your own working hours can be a big benefit but because you can set your own hours everyone else finds ways to pull you away from your schedule. Its so easy to say yes to a coffee or shopping date when you don't have to ask a boss for permission to leave.
Being able to work until 3 am instead of a 9 to 5 seems like a treat until you MUST work until 3 am because you have a deadline.One of the hardest aspects of working out of your home is the lack of immediate feedback and interaction".

How do you assess whether you have the ability, stamina and discipline to be a successful self employed artist?
Take an objective look at yourself, your art/craft and your business. Ask yourself the following personal questions:
• Can I make enough art on demand without getting bored?
• Would people buy my style of work?
• What's the competition like?
• Is my work good enough to sell?
• How fast can I get a range ready to sell?
• What are the costs of making my product?
• Will my “other” life stop me from becoming successful?

How honest have you been with yourself? let's say you make teddy bears:
- it's fun making the first ten - will it still be fun when you have made your 100th?
- Do people want jointed teddy bears or are people now buying more sock toys and kawaii?
- Who else is out there making teddy bears and soft toys?
- What is the quality of my work? Is the quality of my 100th teddy bear as good as my first?
- Am I prepared to work late into the night to meet a deadline?
- Do I know how much it costs in materials, time and equipment (and possibly overheads) to make one teddy bear? how much does it cost to make twenty?
- Where would I rather be - making teddy bears or down the pub with my friends/visitng family/taking the children to the park? (This one is about life/work balance and other commitments).
Have you seen the UK TV show Dragon's Den? (Shark Tank USA) This show spells out the most obvious glaring mistakes that people make in business and that is: most people fail to secure backing from the dragons because they either don’t know their business inside out or they have unrealistic financial targets.
But that's not us, is it folks, because we KNOW the who, what, where, how and why of our business and we know how to manage it. We know when to crank up that work ethos and when to wind down and make time for ourselves/family - don't we?

In a future blog we will be discussing business partnerships - Made in Heaven or a fast road to Business Hell?

Our guest interviewee (see previous post) is Patti Ursel of Getglassy. Here is a small selection of Patti's original fused glass creations (she also works as a stained glass artist and lampworker).
" I create using glass as my main medium - stained glass, fused glass and lampwork. I love working with warm glass, with the torch and the kiln melting the glass into beautiful treasures.I am also a graphic artist. I also oil paint and dabble in photography. I have been knitting, crocheting, and sewing since I was very young. There aren't many crafts I haven't tried."




Find Patti's glass here
Getglassy on Etsy
Getglassy on Artfire
Getglassy.com
Getglassy blog

Making the Right Impression

Tips about presenting yourself as a serious artist.




You have arranged to bring your work to a gallery, either in person or delivered by courier, but have you thought about how it will be packaged?
At Keighley Arts Factory we have seen artists bring their precious art in a plastic shopping bag and we have received work from couriers that has been "thrown" into an empty box too. Even jewelry and small items have arrived in paper envelopes! Two issues arise from this:
* How will a gallery value your work if you don't value it?
* How can you protect your art in transit?

Framed art work, placed in plastic bags, will knock against other surfaces and, particularly if you choose soft wood, will dent and knock the frames. We would prefer to see art protected in bubble wrap or blankets. If your frames ARE soft wood then add cardboard or bubble wrap "corners". When you choose quality, hard wood frames that have been professionally made, then this kind of damage is greatly reduced. You should choose a reputable courier and pack all your art yourself. Make sure that your boxes are fully lined with bubble wrap, blankets or air filled plastic cushions. Don't allow framed work to touch other framed work - keep a padded barrier between each piece. Wrap the box well with parcel tape, label it "This side up" and ensure it is visibly labelled where it's going and where it is from. Also, don't forget to call the gallery with the name and contact number of the courier and the day it is due for delivery.
Your art is your ambassador - if your work looks poorly presented and protected then the gallery you are working with won't make the effort needed to sell your work. If your art looks well framed and undamaged then it will project the image that a gallery is attempting to create.

Keighley Arts Factory

Artists in Business mean Business!

Why would artists need to know about business? Surely our role is to create beautiful or challenging objects and not "dirty" ourselves with marketing, selling and promotion. Well, unless you are successful enough to have an agent and accountant or you are happy enough to live in a garrett creating art for YOU then artists need to know about the business of art.
Artists in Business is aimed at all self employed artists and artisans whether you are a WAHM, social network seller, sell via a website, own a B & M shop, just completed your art education, returning to the arts after a break or have been selling your work for a lifetime.