Artists needed

[Carlo Islar]

Christian News and Artist Group (CNAG) are almost ready to open our gallery.

We would very much like to be contacted by some artists interested in an exhibition at our fantastic gallery. Only thing we demand is that your art is decent, not offensive against any ones faith or race.

The conditions will be either a split sale 50/50, or you pay us 6L per prim a month, for the prims you are using. If you choose to pay to be with us, we will not take any commission of your sales. We will be advertising to attract costumers to the gallery.

Should you be interested, please contact Carlo Islar, in world, for an appointment, so I can see your art. And we can discuss the details.

[Toysoldier Thor]

Hey Carlo,

Read your post / request.

I thought I might provide a few points regarding the "Art Gallery" community inworld of SecondLife.  From your offering and terms I have to assume this is the first art gallery you have built and run within SL.  Am I correct?

As one of the countless artists in SL and one who has been invited to exhibited my art in more art galleries than I can count over the past 2 years (I will estimate about 20), I would think you might be challenged to find many artists that would be interested in your terms unless they are a very new artist and have not been able to get galleries to invite them and as such are willing to pay to be in a gallery.

First thing to know is that I would guess there are well over a 1000 Art Galleries in SL.  Last I remember, the virtual art gallery  tour / hopping system that my own personal art gallery is part of had around 500 listed art galleries itself over a year ago.  But basicly, it should be known that your art gallery is competing to be noticed among a very large community of art galleries.

Many galleries I have pariticpated in - even many are are established and known with reasonable weekly traffic - run their Galleries simply for the love of promoting art and do not charge anything.  They encourage artists to show their works by not charging.

Other galleries that do not charge are those that are very new to the SL Grid and are trying to get known.  Since they have no reputation and no one knows them at all, their traffic is very low.  As such, these galleries use established artists that draw crowds as a way to get their gallery known.

Several other galleries - i.e. those with a very strong experience Curator and/or strong backing from a RL sponsor like a University or a well establish SL fashion designer or player in the large SL Art Community - do charge Artists for exhibiting.  They invite Artists but under their their understood fee structure.  The most common (i.e. almost always) fee structure is a % of the sale.  The highest I have ever experienced is 20%.  I would guess there might be a few that charge 40% but I have yet to encounter that AND I have exhibited in many of SL's most popular galleries with amazing traffic and a following of "art Collectors" that have a good history of actually BUYING art.

50% commissions for a brand new gallery that has no reputation in the SL art community and no proven traffic or followers is just - well - out of wack with its competition.  The only artists you might attract with that high commission will be new / desperate artists or those artists that have zero interest is making any revenue from their artworks.

I have not encountered any gallery that charged a flat fee of any kind.  If I did I would avoid it since making sales of art in SL is very very tough.  There are a lot of art lovers in SL but only a small percent of them will back up their love by purchasing the art they run into and love.  Also, because there are so many art galleries competing for the attention of the art lovers and because most art galleries do not have the experienced Curators to setup, run, and promote a gallery, the traffic at most art galleries is often very low. 

As such, it would be a high risk for any artist to spend a flat fee to exhibit art at a galleries under those conditions.  You would have to first prove you have actual solid larger traffic flows.  Even the most well established art galleries have modist traffic unless they are hosting and heavily promoting several large events - with traffic attracting live music artists.

I might be wrong and maybe you are very well established and have some very strong connections with the SL art community and have some secret innovative ways to draw a lot of Art Buying traffic, but I suspect by your thread posting asking for artists that you are relatively new to the community.

I am not posting this to dismiss your business model or to scare you.  I am just providing insight on the art gallery business in SL. 

Suggestion if you are new and just starting to get established....  Keep your commission % low at least until you become popular enough that you wont scare artists away from the higher commissions - I suggest 10% at first.  You should look for and try to encourage some of the more popular artists to show their works if they would be interested.  Many of the popular artists tend to get overwhelmed by requests to show their art (I have had 4 since october).  They get burned out and therefore they often decline newer unknown galleries even if they are invited with no commissions.  Finally, get into all the aspects of the SL Art Community.  It is large but there is a smaller hard core community among this huge community that are very active.  Networking among them and attending their exhibits is of huge value.

Good Luck to you !

[Carlo Islar]

Thank you very much for your thoughts regarding our gallery.

Yes, I am new in this business, but also have a LOT of contacts in SL due to a lot of different jobs I have had in my time here.

The gallery is placed on a sim with pretty good traffic and some shops with quality products. And the gallery is an eye catcher.

I am glad you share your thoughts about commission with me, as my business partner and I have been discussing the rates. One of the reason I have set the commission rate high, is that I plan to use 1,000-2,000L a week at advertising the first few months, until we get ourselves a name. Further more I have joined a "few" art groups.

If you have the time, I would like to meet you inworld to discuss more, as I want to learn?