Policies and Procedures.indd

SHOW VENUE CHAIR The primary duty of the Show Venue Chair is to find outstanding venues for Women Artists of the West Annual Show. In addition, develop relationships with venues/galleries that are not familiar with WAOW by providing information about WAOW’s mission and objectives. The venues considered should be able to: Support the hanging of 100 to 150 pieces of 2D artwork Have space and necessary equipment to exhibit 10-20 pieces of sculpture Take into consideration the locales of the majority of WAOW Artists. Most WAOW artists live in Colorado, California, Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Washington State. If possible, look for venues in these states as there are many members who will be able to help with mounting the show. The venue must be willing to facilitate showing and selling of artist’s work. Many museums for example do not want to mount an exhibit of works for sale. Eg. Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Crystal Springs in Benton, Arkan sas. My procedure is as follows: Use the power of the membership. Contact members via WAOW newsletter and email to ask if they are aware of any venues that might be a good fit. Contact board members via Groups.IO to determine whether they have any leads. Familiarize yourself with WAOW artists who are actively showing and selling their work and view online galler ies where they sell their work to determine if the venue might be a good fit for WAOW. Ask the WAOW gallery artist to provide a soft opening to the gallery. Consider past venues again. Price Tower, McBride, Mary Williams have expressed a willingness to rehost. Visit OPA, AWA, AIS websites to see where they are showing. Often venues are willing to host multiple groups because they have the space to do so. Read Art Magazines to determine what galleries are selling what work. I have found this website a good resource for scouting venues: http://art-collecting.com Contact galleries. I generally find that it is best to do this by email. Many galleries are not familiar with WAOW so it is necessary to give them a fair amount of background information with a link to the website. Mary Ann Cherry produced a video, which is a good link to add. Once you are able to get a verbal confirmation from the gallery/venue that they are willing to host, the president follows up with signing of the contract. Easy Peasy!! Below is an example of an opening email that I would send out. I track all correspondence in a word document. With some venues, it may take many months to years to develop relationships and get a commitment to host.

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