Reminders!

Just a note so everyone can remember what we talked about today:

• presentation Friday the 4th
• 5:00 presentation (depending on professors)
• meet @ 7 in main hall on Monday

Operations: The Project Summary (draft)

The idea of a pop-up gallery in Appleton is to benefit both the Lawrence University art students who could sell their art and the community who would sell the 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 business closed in the last few months so it was not a big issue to talk to the landowners about borrowing and helping show the space. In addition, the farmers’ market is opening next month, it will be a great advertising chance for the audience to walk in see the art and the property.

However, the insurance was a big 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. An umbrella policy refers to a liability insurance policy that protects the assets and future income of the policyholder above and beyond the standard limits set on their primary policies. It is necessary to cover both the art works and the safety of audience for a gallery which opens to the public. We have sent letters but never heard back from the people who were supposed to be in charge. This is a learning progress and it takes time and energy to negotiate, and this is where we left.

Even though our Appleton’s own pop-up gallery does not come true, but we would like to share what we have prepared with people who would be interested and take on 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 what we need to put up a show from zero. We have a list of rentable spaces for people to walk in and look at, including the all the address information and phone numbers. We have a few advertising ways that are already set up, including a blog, a Facebook page (maybe?), a (potential) website for updates.

Dropping the idea of actually putting up a show has been painful, because we love our idea of creating this 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 connections have become the biggest part of our concern. We hope that one day our idea would come true, that there’s a place for local and students artists to show their works to a bigger population of audience, a place for the landowners who know who they should talk with to present their properties.

What a Nice Guy! :D

Sydney,

thanks for contacting me. interesting project. Utility costs vary based
on the size, time of year, # of floors, type of use, time of year,
insulation etc. The building I represent is 207 West college, an
excellent building to showcase art. It is a restored saddlery shop,
over 100 years old.
The building has been vacant a while and since the prior tenant paid the
utility bills I do not have direct access to bills when it was occupied
two years ago. however it is very easy to get utility costs from WE
Energies (both electric and gas in Appleton)

Just find an occupied building in Appleton that looks like one you'd
like to be in and call WE energies.

Dave Allen

Opportunities - Pt 1, Draft One

Ok, this is not fully complete, but I thought I'd share what I've written so far! I'll write the rest and add it in tomorrow morning before our meeting! :)

Our pop-up gallery would provide many opportunities for everyone in the Appleton community. First of all, it would benefit the storefront owners who are attempting to sell, lease, or rent their properties. Were they to consent to hosting a pop-up gallery in their space, their land would get more foot traffic, and therefore more potential buyers, looking at their property. Another way in which a pop-up gallery would increase the marketability of their space would be the way in which our team presents it; we would clean, dust, and even repaint the space as need be. Having a high class and professional art opening which draws crowds might cause possible buyers to realize the full potential of the space and influence them to close the sale. In addition, any property owner willing to host our gallery would be featured prominently on any advertisement or article we publish in way of thanks. With our gallery, a seller could showcase their storefront’s full potential, increase foot traffic, and, in all probability, successfully sell their land.

Yet the landowners are not the only ones benefiting; the Appleton downtown community would prosper as well. With such a remarkable art gallery which would feature both local artists from the community, as well as Lawrence University students, our gallery would draw crowds from around the Fox Cities area. This, in turn, would create business for the other stores downtown from the individuals who would like to go out to lunch or dinner after viewing the show, or those who would like to continue to explore other unique storefronts on College Avenue.

The artists showing would also be one of the main beneficiaries of such an endeavor, for they would be able to sell their work for a higher commission than if they were to display their art anywhere else in Appleton. Most stores which exhibit art take 50% or more of the final sell price of any given work. Our gallery, however, because it is specifically created to benefit the community and the individual artists, would merely act as a go between: supplying the artist’s information to viewers interested in purchasing their artwork, allowing the artist to earn what they truly deserve.

Utilities

I have just emailed my letter to the storefront owners recommended by Jennifer Stephany to express our interest in this project for next year, as well as ask about the utilities costs for such an endeavor.

I hope there's some interest! *fingers crossed --- again*

Gallery for Next Year?

On the advice of our group and of Mr. Galambos, we are not going to pursue the property recommendations of Mz. Stephany and Appleton downtown -- at least not this term -- because of insurance issues with Lawrence University. However, since we now know there is definitely interest in our plans with the shop owners of College Avenue, the project is certainly a feasible one, and one we could potentially pursue next term if we ever get a response about LU's insurance policies.

So it is time to get started on our feasibility and project summary. We have divided up the work between the four of us. For Sunday lets all bring a rough draft of our respective parts.
Chris: Project Summary of the Pop-up Gallery
Krissy: How we went implementing our plans
Sydney: Assessment of the outcome
Shirley: Feasibility of project