8 Essential Tips to Make the Most of Your Artists Open Studios
There is something about being in the artists’ home or, just as personal, their studio space that generates the best conversations.
I recently took part in the first Open Studios/ Art trail event held in our local area, called Art Around the Walls, welcoming visitors to my new garden studio over the weekend of the 1st and 2nd of July.
I have always been a huge fan of art trails and relish the opportunity to view art and meet artists in a more approachable setting. There is something about being in the artists’ home or, just as personal, their studio space that generates the best conversations.
Overall the weekend was a huge success, both in terms of sales and visitor numbers, with a steady stream of people across the weekend. So here are my essential tips to make the most of your event.
Promote Promote Promote
Despite our event being very well organised and promoted by a local gallery, Navistitch, I still took it upon myself to promote the event as much as possible in the weeks leading up, sending out a save the date to family and friends, doing a leaflet drop to our neighbours and of course sharing across social media. You really can’t promote too much on socials. It may feel repetitive or verging on the point of annoying but you’d be surprised how people miss things unless they see it again and again.
Make it stand out
On this note, you also want to make it as easy as possible for people to find you on the day. We made an A-frame board for the path outside with balloons, bunting and additional signs to help visitors find their way.
2. Getting into the Swing of it…
Anticipating that the first hour might be on the slow side we invited family to arrive first which ensured that I wasn’t sitting around nervously twiddling my thumbs. Not only did they help replace a few stubborn balloons that decided to pop early, but they were also the perfect audience to ‘warm up’ talking about my work.
3. Save my Pretty White Walls
Full credit for this tip goes to Alice Sheridan whom I visited at the Chiswick Artist’s at Home event a few weeks prior. I knew that I wanted my title cards and prices clearly visible on the wall underneath each piece as appose to a printed price list but Alice kindly recommended using clear plastic strips to attach to the back of my work and then to the back of the card hanging just below to avoid getting unwanted blue-tack or tape marks on my freshly painted walls. This tip worked a treat! I cut up a clear A4 document holder, the kind you find in any stationery store, which I’ve kept to reuse again.
4. Let Them Eat Cake
I had bite-sized squares of two cakes to offer visitors as they arrived which were a very welcomed treat. I found that offering cake was helpful both to use as an ice-breaker to get people talking…and also to give me a quick, easy-to-reach snack in those quieter moments. It’s tiring work so any little hit of sugar will help keep you going.
5. Hitting the Price Point Sweet Spot
As most people will tell you for Open Studio events, you really want to consider having a range of price points available, possibly even a greater emphasis on smaller works. I personally didn’t want to go down the route of selling cards on this occasion but I did decide to offer life drawings for £20 which sold very well, even better than expected, so this is something I’d like to have more of for next time.
6. Technology Don’t Fail Me Now
I decided to go with a SumUp Air card reader for my payment device, which I would highly recommend for events like this. I tested it out a few times in the week leading up, again a must as there were some updates to run, and felt confident using it on the day however one big lesson I had was to write down your SumUp password! The app had the unfortunate timing of logging me out just as I needed to put through a payment and trust me it is not easy to remember your passwords when you have a customer patiently waiting beside you (did it have a number, special character, capitals??? gah…that moment left me a bit frazzled I have to admit).
7. Noted!
A trusty pocket notebook or piece of paper folded into your pocket will be gold for you after the event. I tracked my visitor numbers for each day, names of neighbours I hadn’t met yet and most importantly what work certain people were most interested in, so that I could follow up later. While I also had a mailing list sign up sheet which helped to get visitor names, jotting down your own personal notes too will help to remember whos who.
8. Phew….and Breathe
And last but by no means least, take the day after off. Trust me, you’ll thank me later. Open Studios are exhausting so you’ll need some time to recover. Book the day off work, arrange for some childcare and make no plans at all other than to lounge at home in your pajamas. If the event has gone well you’ll be surprised how much admin you may have to get through and it’s also a great time to review the event and make some notes for next year.
That’s it folks! Wishing you the best of luck with your own Open Studio events.
