Sunday, June 6, 2010

Monday is Our Big Day!

Our Friday presentation went really well-- thanks to all who came to show their support! I can't wait to work with you in the future...

However, if you'd like to see more or if you missed our Friday presentation, please come to our presentation tomorrow in the Memorial Union Building at 8:30. It's early, but I promise it will be worth your time. We'll be going into more detail about our work and what we have done!

Monday, May 31, 2010

Operations: the project summary (final edition)

The idea of a pop-up gallery in Appleton is to benefit both the Lawrence University art students and local artists who could sell their art and the community members who would like to sell their space. It gives opportunities for presenting the rentable space and for increasing interest in students and local artists’ art works.

We first started to look for properties in the Appleton downtown area. There were a lot of businesses which closed in the last few months so it was not a problem to talk to the landowners about lending their space for our show. In addition, the farmers’ market is opening next month, so it would be a great advertising opportunity for the audience to see both the art and the property.

However, securing insurance has been the biggest problem we have met so far. We have been trying to talk to Lawrence University for an umbrella policy to cover the insurance of the property that we might decide to use in a later time, but we have not yet heard back from them. An umbrella policy refers to a liability insurance policy that protects the assets and future income of the policyholder above the standards of their primary policies. It is necessary to insure both the artworks as well as the safety of audience for a gallery which is open to the public. We have sent the necessary letters but never heard back from Lawrence University about what they would be willing to cover. Gary gave Sydney the contact information for Jennifer Stephany, the director of Appleton downtown. Sydney wrote a letter asking if she were interested in our endeavor and told her that we had a letter for interested storefront owners. Within 24 hours, Jennifer replied with a list of landowners who she thinks might be interested in our project. We followed up with these new contacts immediately, the response we got was from Dave Allen, who owns the property of 207 West college Ave. However, we did not have enough time to carry out our plans, but we hope to continue our project next term. This is a learning progress and it takes time and energy to negotiate, and this is where we left off.

Even though our dream of Appleton’s own pop-up gallery has not come true, we would like to share what we have prepared with people who would be interested in taking on this project in the future. We have finished a couple of very thorough budget statements, with the potential exhibition time lines from one week to one month. We have a shopping list ready of everything we need to curate a show from nothing. We have a list of rentable spaces for consideration, which includes all the address information and phone numbers of their owners. We have a few methods of advertising that are already set up, including a blog, a Facebook page and a potential website for updates.

Dropping the idea of actually putting up a show has been painful because we love our idea of creating a pop-up gallery for the Lawrence students and the community. However, it takes more than what we expected, negotiating with landowners and trying to find insurance have become our biggest concern. We hope that one day our dream will be realized: that there will one day be a place for local and students artists to show their works to the larger community, as well as a place for landowners to present their properties and secure a sale.

it is HAPPENING!!!

meeting time reminders:

June 2, 4:30 p.m. presentation practice
place: MEMO 119

June 3, 8 a.m. final meet for the last minute questions
place: WCC cafe

June 3, 10 a.m. presentation in class
place: MEMO 119

June 4, 5 p.m. presentation to faculties
place: wriston seminar room

We Now Have a Facebook Page!





Yay!!! Click here if you'd like to join our incredibly awesome group!

Presentation!

We're going to meet at 4:30 in our classroom to practice our presentation! Don't forget!

Operations: the project summary (Revised)

The idea of a pop-up gallery in Appleton is to benefit both the Lawrence University art students and local artists who could sell their art and the community members who would like to sell their space. It gives opportunities for presenting the rentable space and for increasing interest in students and local artists’ art works.

We first started to look for properties in the Appleton downtown area. There were a lot of businesses which closed in the last few months so it was not a problem to talk to the landowners about lending their space for our show. In addition, the farmers’ market is opening next month, so it would be a great advertising opportunity for the audience to see both the art and the property.

However, securing insurance has been the biggest problem we have met so far. We have been trying to talk to Lawrence University for an umbrella policy to cover the insurance of the property that we might decide to use in a later time, but we have not yet heard back from them. An umbrella policy refers to a liability insurance policy that protects the assets and future income of the policyholder above the standards of their primary policies. It is necessary to insure both the artworks as well as the safety of audience for a gallery which is open to the public. We have sent the necessary letters but never heard back from Lawrence University about what they would be willing to cover. This is a learning progress and it takes time and energy to negotiate, and this is where we left off. 

Even though our dream of Appleton’s own pop-up gallery has not come true, we would like to share what we have prepared with people who would be interested in taking on this project in the future. We have finished a couple of very thorough budget statements, with the potential exhibition time lines from one week to one month. We have a shopping list ready of everything we need to curate a show from nothing. We have a list of rentable spaces for consideration, which includes all the address information and phone numbers of their owners. We have a few methods of advertising that are already set up, including a blog, a Facebook page (maybe?) and a (potential?) website for updates.

Dropping the idea of actually putting up a show has been painful because we love our idea of creating a pop-up gallery for the Lawrence students and the community. However, it takes more than what we expected, negotiating with landowners and trying to find insurance have become our biggest concern. We hope that one day our dream will be realized: that there will one day be a place for local and students artists to show their works to the larger community, as well as a place for landowners to present their properties and secure a sale.

Friday, May 28, 2010

My Response to Dave

Dave,

Thank you for your quick response; I'll call WE today!

Actually, of all the buildings on College Avenue, yours is always the one I stop to look at. It is so amazing! If your property hasn't sold or been leased by next Fall, is there any way you might be interested in hosting a pop-up gallery? It would only be for a limited amount of time (or until you sell/lease the space), and of course we would leave everything better than we found it. With any luck, the increased foot traffic would help you close a deal!

I would ask about this Summer, but the biggest challenge our team is facing is liability insurance. We have been trying to secure it through Lawrence University, but I think because it's the end of the year (graduation, reunion weekend, etc), the department must be really busy. However, I'm hoping to have it all sorted out by the Fall.

If you're interested, maybe we could meet up for coffee so I could tell you about our plans! Plus, I'd really love to hear more about the history of your building (I love the horse head on top!)

Thank you so much for your time,
Sydney