How does the privately run Cupola Art Gallery stay buoyant and
successful in a socio-economic downturn?
Luke
Thomas Braddock
BA
(Hons) Creative Art Practice
Art
Context 3 - Placement Report
Level
6
Acknowledgements
I wish to express my acknowledgement and
appreciation to managing director, Karen Sherwood and general manager, Graham
Shapley of Cupola Contemporary Art Gallery and Framing Department, for generously
allowing me to experience and work within the staff team. Thank you for their
guidance and persistence to help and assist the needs of the following report.
In addition, a thank you to all
interviewees for there time and patience, without which this report would not
be possible.
Tables
of Contents Page
1: Synopsis……………………………………………………………………………………………...…...4
2: Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………....….5
3: Cupola Art Gallery…………………………………………………………………………………....6
3.1:
A Brief History……………………………………………………………………………….......6
3.2:
Company Management and Staff Roles…………………………………………….….6-8
3.3:
Importance of Gallery Space, Display and Location……………………………...8-9
3.4:
Marketing and Exhibitions……………………………………………………………….....9-11
3.4.1:
Product………………………………………………………………………………...…..10
3.4.2: Price……………………………………………………………………………………....…10
3.4.3: Place…………………………………………………………………………………………10
3.4.4: Promotion………………………………………………………………………….…..…10
3.4.5: Exhibitions………………………………………………………………………………..10-11
3.5: Databases, Records and Finances…………………………………………………….….11-12
4: Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….………12-14
5: Illustrations……………………………………………………………………………………………..15-16
6: Appendices………………………………………………………………………………………….…...16-19
7:
Endnotes………………………………………………………………………………………………….19-21
8: Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………….……21-23
1: Synopsis
This report aims to
understand the fundamental business frameworks within a small arts organisation.
By comparing established knowledge from key contemporary thinkers, art
administrators and art critics, with the knowledge developed whilst working at
Cupola Contemporary Art Gallery/Framing Department, it constructs and evaluates
an opinion based on how it is possible for a privately owned commercial gallery
to stay afloat in a socio-economic downturn.
Through an
analytical approach, the report begins to unpick the key important business attributes
of Cupola. It outlines its’ history and setting, allowing the reader to contextualise
the gallery within the contemporary art scene.
Looking at the administrative
roles and staff hierarchy, the report unfolds the importance of staff
interaction and communication. It considers the formal modernist display of
Cupola in context with Brian O’Doherty’s twentieth-century archetypal White Cube image, and how curatorial aspects,
environmental psychology and location affect audience perception and
interaction with displayed art.
The report examines
the marketing tools - which are essential to Cupola’s success - from regular exhibitions,
to a variety of marketing techniques, focusing upon the term relationship marketing. After outlining
these, the report analyses Cupola’s use of databases and records, to construct
and inform how these contribute to the understanding and appliance of strategic
marketing. It looks at the finances of Cupola, and how both the framing
department and art gallery are able to interact.
Finally, the
report concludes the analysis by reflecting upon the key business components to
running and administrating a successful art gallery, establishing how Cupola is
able to stay resilient in a competitive market.
2: Introduction
What are the
fundamental attributes of a small gallery in a less affluent area which allow
it to stay viable in an economic recession? What are the key business
components that form Cupola’s successful position within the competitive art
market? These questions of inquiry will be answered by pairing the knowledge
that I have developed whilst working in a gallery environment, with that of the
information I have obtained from my desk research.
I will begin my
analysis of Cupola by briefly summarising the company's history and
development. By establishing and outlining the rudimentary management
frameworks within the Gallery and Framing Department; it will become apparent
how both artistic vision and administration are important to the smooth
operations and growth of Cupola’s company. By defining and describing key terms
such as arts management, organic organisation and strategic apex, I will discuss the importance
of business structure and strategy.
Through environmental psychology and the
establishment of modernist display, I will uncover the importance and impact of
Cupola’s Gallery space, display and location.
This report will
explore the key processes and importance of market research; strategic and direct marketing; and targeted media
editorial practice. It will define the term relationship
marketing, in relation to the gallery environment. Whilst
considering the importance of Cupola’s finance, records and databases, I will
look at the advantages and disadvantages of keeping records through Database
Management Systems (DBMS).
Through the
evaluation of my final thoughts, I will conclude what key business attributes
are needed for a commercial art gallery to stay buoyant in a recession.
3: Cupola Art Gallery
3.1: A Brief
History
‘People assume that all galleries are in the posh side of the
city and only for a certain type of clientele’.[i]
Cupola Contemporary Art Gallery - which is not in the “affluent”
side of the city - was founded in August 1991 by fine artist Karen Sherwood.
The Gallery is a small quirky contemporary art gallery, located on Middlewood
Road, Sheffield, in an area that may not usually be associated with the
contemporary art scene. However, with over twenty-one years of experience,
Cupola has proven to succeed as an art business nevertheless.
The gallery offers original artwork to the public. Cupola’s
business has expanded from two units, to four gallery spaces and a separate
picture-framing department. This offers bespoke framing services to the public,
and allowed for more valuable gallery space to be obtained. In an interview in 2011, Sherwood explained
that she wanted people to, ‘celebrate creative individuals’.[ii]
Cupola is somewhere ‘that aims to house the work of over three hundred fine
artists and craft workers across a range of media.’[iii]
The constantly evolving gallery showcases the skills and talents of a wide
array of artists; local, regional, national and international.
3.2: Company
Management and Staff Roles
The key variables
within an arts organisation such as Cupola contrive of several qualities,
including: ‘innovation,
creativity, customer service, quality, productivity and performance’.[iv] These variables are formed through an arts management role, and implementation of strategic apex, a term that charts the
significant leader of the hierarchy of staff (see Fig 1 and 2).
The term ‘arts
management’[v]
emerged in the 1960’s, which began to acknowledge the importance of the senior
roles within an arts organisation. Sherwood, managing director of Cupola,
describes her role as vital for the, ‘motivation and energy of the business’[vi],
her administrative role is substantial to the financial success of the gallery.
Dr. Derrick Chong, author and senior lecturer in arts management, agrees that ‘A
managing role is financially fundamental in our current economic climate’.[vii]
It is through
management tools such as ‘Strategic Planning’[viii]
- where a staff team are organised and focused on one primary purpose in order
to achieve objectives - which lead to art businesses such as Cupola flourishing
in the current economic climate. This was particularly present in Cupola’s
framing department’s strict time management systems, which allowed staff to
effectively communicate in order to meet deadlines for private and public work.[ix]
Although a clear
strategic apex is present in Cupola, Sherwood believes that all staff should
have ‘a voice’[x] within the company and is
‘opposed to a strongly hierarchical management system’.[xi]
I believe sharing equal responsibilities, but keeping a strong leadership role
within the business, allows for the essential development of strong staff
interaction and communication.[xii]
Art critic Michael
A. Fopp describes small organisations such as Cupola as Organic Organisations. These tend to be galleries in which there is
‘a minimum division of duties’, and theoretically ‘each person in the
organisation contributes to the best of his/her ability’.[xiii]
At Cupola it is particularly effective that the current staff structure allows
for ‘functional teamwork’[xiv],
ensuring decisions are made by those expert in them. This allows for continual
flow of systems and homogeneity, improving time management, productivity and
production.
Dr. Chong
describes volunteers as, ‘a form of un-paid staff crucial to the sustainability
of arts organisations’.[xv]
At Cupola, volunteers are essential in the structure and running of the
gallery. They help maintain the gallery’s smooth operations, allowing Sherwood
the freedom to manage and administer more important roles and decisions.[xvi]
3.3: Importance
of Gallery Space, Display and Location
Environmental Psychology is a key
underlining term when discussing the creative space of Cupola. It acknowledges
the interplay of human interactions with the environment,[xvii]
an interdisciplinary branch that explores how common characteristics and
personality traits define how individuals interact with a gallery surrounding.
Cupola is a model for a well designed and managed gallery, which considers
aspects of environmental psychology. This is achieved by manipulating the
gallery to meet the demands of the target market, allowing the audience a
freedom of perception and interaction through spatial awareness.[xviii]
Through the
gallery’s formal contemporary display, we can acknowledge the archetypal
twentieth-century “white cube” image that is apparent in the design of Cupola’s
environment. Art critic, Brian O’Doherty (1976) was the first to use the term The White Cube. It was soon adopted by
the majority of modernist galleries, and has ever expanded into the
twenty-first centaury means of display. O’Doherty describes this setting as: “Sustaining
a curiously ambivalent existence between vigorous presence and complete
invisibility”,[xix] suggesting Cupola’s
space both adds to the art but provides a neutral context.
Cupola has a
modernist gallery environment, however it has its own characteristics. It
appears that the gallery space of Cupola is administered by the fundamental
roles of the director (see Fig 2), who bring a socially
constructed inclination and preference to the environment. This gives the
gallery a certain individuality, charm and atmosphere, which draws in the
public. O’Doherty agrees that: “art galleries are controlled by trustees,
directors and curators who bring their own socially determined tastes and
priorities”.[xx]
Through simple
curatorial aspects, such as the placement of artworks and lighting in relation
to the surroundings, affect how art is perceived. It is important that these
choices are determined with the awareness of environmental psychology, in order
to maximise the commerciality and communication to an audience.
The location of
the gallery is essential in achieving success. Typical locations would be in
the affluent side of the city, most accessible to potential art buyers and
collectors. Cupola’s success, despite its unusual location, is widely down to
the business being long established. This means the business has grown,
expanded and accumulated contacts and market knowledge.
3.4: Marketing
and Exhibitions
Effective
marketing is essential to the survival of Cupola. It is based around the ‘four
P’s – product, price, place and promotion.’[xxi]
3.4.1: Product
As I experienced
at Cupola, it is important that this space is regularly updated with artwork.
The rich and expansive supply of stock allows the director of the gallery a
contingency and autonomic choice of display.[xxii]
This experimental and versatile method of exhibiting is proactive, keeping the
gallery current in the contemporary market.[xxiii]
3.4.2: Price
Cupola’s commission rate is fifty
per-cent. Price is determined through the artist’s price and then doubled (see 3.5 for a more
detailed breakdown).
3.4.3: Place
By identifying a
place in which a gallery is able to target a specific population, will form a
basis to which the business can become established (see 3.3 for a more detailed analysis of Cupola’s
location).
3.4.4:
Promotion
There are many
effective marketing techniques that will keep the business thriving: market research (inc. database and
feedback), direct marketing (mailing
lists and advertising) and media
editorial practice (press releases). However, I feel it is important when
discussing Cupola's marketing strategy to focus upon relationship marketing - the
importance of forming a rapport with customers[xxiv]
- as an essential tool. Such marketing methods can only really be achieved
through a shop-floor environment, where the public is easily accessible to the
surroundings.
I feel a market-led approach to an art business is both
an imaginative and creative process. This allows managers - such as Sherwood -
to use entrepreneurial marketing, innovative ideas and processes through
strategic marketing, in order to target resources and maximise the
environmental potential.
3.4.5:
Exhibitions
‘Exhibition, from
the Latin exhibere, or ex-habere, is an act of holding
something out and thus making it visible and present, albeit for a brief period
of time.’[xxv]
Exhibitions,
public relations and marketing are vital tools in order to attract the maximum
population of the target demographic. Exhibitions act as a catalyst, exposing
the gallery’s potential to the relevant community. The widening of audiences is
important to the success of artists and sustainability of Cupola. Art Critic
Reesa Greenberg also agrees: ‘exhibitions have become the medium through which
most art becomes known.’[xxvi]
Artist
Paual Schatzberger describes his relationship with Cupola as, “affirming and
encouraging…and provides publicity, raises profile and widens exposure…”[xxvii]
Through my investigation I have found that exhibiting work helps not
only to communicate the vision of the artist to a wider audience, but also
contributes to the growth and expansion of gallery, through knowledge and
feedback gained in the
3.5: Databases,
Records and Finances
'A database is a structure that contains information about many different
categories of information and the relationships between those categories'.[ii] Through database management systems (DBMS) (see Fig 3), Cupola is able to exploit a database access program.
There are several advantages of using databases, including: sharing and
distributing data; controlling redundancy (inc. space-saving and simple
updating) and facilitating consistency and communication (increased
productivity and security). These fundamental aspects allow Cupola’s gallery
and framing department to capture, develop, target and promote to a specific
audience. This constant improvement of the target market’s dynamic tastes will
increase their customer understanding. Sherwood agrees that good data capture
is 'essential in the gallery business. Knowing who your customers are
inside and out is the only way to grow your service.'[iii]
Despite this, disadvantages include: increased complexity for users,
greater risk of failure and difficulty to recover deleted information. If these
occur, they can hinder the growth and recorded information of the business.
However, the positive attributes outweigh the negative.
Through the implementation of data capture, electronic databases and paper
based files, the gallery and framing department are able to record and build
customer profiles. This can lead to a vast pool of knowledge in which the
managing director can access. This valuable resource can allow Cupola to
forecast future sales and adapt accordingly.
Sherwood states: “The gallery has supported and
subsidised the framing department before now and the framing department can
often improve the gallery's cash flow situation”.[iv] Financially, Cupola is split
between the gallery and framing business. Both departments are interdependent
and successful through good communication, both within the business and with
customers.
Due to ‘consignment’[v], a gallery such as Cupola
has an advantage over most retail businesses. There are no initial costs for
stock and therefore less risk or pressure to sell art. The high profit margin from sold artworks is
the business’ main source of revenue. Fifty percent of the sale price is kept
by Cupola, with hanging cost and artist price covered in the other fifty
percent. Cupola Gallery therefore has the potential to make high added-value
profits. Sherwood supports this: “Due to the commission rates on sales of artwork, the
gallery 'potentially' has the most opportunity to return greater profits”.[vi]
Through using the council-run 'Own Art' scheme - which allows costs of
contemporary art purchase to be spread over a ten-month period - Sherwood can
gain access to a wider audience, as this opens up a new potential market who
wouldn’t normally be interested or targeted. Sherwood
states, ‘passion buys art not money’[vii],
this belief paired with the acknowledgement that ‘art is not an extra but a
choice’[viii],
allows Cupola to take away the 'guilt' from luxury purchase.
4: Conclusion
'[…] innovation, creativity, customer
service, quality, productivity and performance’.[ix]
Revisiting this list of fundamental terms allows one to be able to
allocate each within a certain business component related to Cupola. These
components can be categorised as: company management and staff roles; gallery
space, display and location; marketing and exhibitions and databases, records
and finances. Once identified, these attributes can be implemented, in order to
establish a thriving business. Every element must
interact continuously, adapting and accommodating change. Assertiveness,
innovation and a creative mind are needed, which can be found in an arts
management role.
‘Many of those
running contemporary galleries come from an art background with a fine art or
an art history degree’.[x]
I feel Sherwood's knowledge of the arts allows her to consociate with artists,
which is highly important in establishing business relationships.
It is important that key structures formed and appointed by an arts
management role allows for three distinct disciplines: the communication of the
staff team (allowing the business to progress); forming an established
organisation body (with the public, which leads to relationship marketing); and finally, helping to provide a
framework in which strategic planning
can take place. Thus increasing, productivity, performance - allowing for
improved time management and production.
Through the consideration of environmental psychology, a curator allows
art to be affectively communicated to a target market, thus increasing the
commerciality. By adhering to the theory that 'passion buys art, not money'[xi], we are able to open up a
more expansive, cultural and social diverse market. Cupola's urban location can
access this wide band of individuals. An expansive art stock and ability of
consignment, allows for an automated and vast choice of display, creating contemporary
and commercial interest.
Strategic marketing allows Cupola to tailor to and focus on a specific
market. Marketing research; direct marketing; media editorial practice; relationship
marketing and regular exhibitions are vital to keep Cupola's business afloat. Cupola
uses exhibitions as an opportunity to showcase emerging artists, thus sparking
interest with the communities.
Data capture, through DBMS and constant updating of records allows for
the appliance and calculation of consumer statistics, in order to develop market
knowledge. An advantage over other commercial galleries is the combination of
both the gallery and framing department. Cupola supports, interacts and
financially benefits from the income of both businesses, each supporting and
subsiding one another.
It is important that
an established gallery such as Cupola constantly thrives and develops in order
to exploit the gallery’s contemporary position. Laura Sillars, director of Site
Gallery, agrees: “The recession impacts smaller agencies and galleries rather than
more established galleries”.[xii] Cupola’s lasting relationship and constant communication with both
suppliers and buyers[xiii]
allows the gallery to implement all the business components discussed with
creative and innovative thinking, impelled by managing director Karen Sherwood.
[i] Regular
solo exhibition such as Valerie Daval's, 'Therians Dream', is important to
excite and interact with new audiences. See ‘Curating Valerie Daval’s
Exhibition’ in Journal, p. 26.
[ii] P.J. Pratt, J.J. Adamski Concepts of Database Management, Course
Technology, USA, 2008, p. 4.
[iii] Interview with Karen Sherwood, see Appendix 2 for full transcription, p.
17-19.
[v] Consignment is the
act of consigning; which refers to the goods that are kept by a business; but that
retain ownership by the sender until the materials are sold.
[ix] Colin
Tweedy, op. cit.
[x] (2011), Karen Sherwood: Cupola A Brief History [Video], retrieved November
27 2012, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XCNgzMUyoc&feature=plcp.>.
[xi] Interview with Karen Sherwood, see Appendix 2 for full transcription, p.
17.
41 See ‘Offsite Visit’ in Diary, p. 29-31.
8: Bibliography
Books
Arts Council of
Great Britain, Marketing the Visual Arts:
An Introduction to Strategic Marketing, Great Britain, Arts Council, 1999.
Emma Barker (eds),
Book 1: Contemporary Cultures of Display,
Italy, Yale University Press, 1999.
Paul A. Bell,
Thomas C. Greene, Jeffery D. Fisher, Andrew Baum, Environmental Psychology, Orlando, Harcourt College Publishers
2001.
John Pick, Malcolm
Anderton, Arts Administration, 2nd
edition, in Arts Organisation:
Administrations and Organisation, London, E & FN Spon, 1996.
Judith Rugg,
Michele Sedgwick (eds), Book 4: Issues in
Curating Contemporary Art and Performance, UK, Intellect Books, 2008.
Online
Articles
Videos
(2011), Cupola A Brief
History [Video], Visited: November 27 2012. URL: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XCNgzMUyoc&feature=plcp.>.
Interviews/Appendices
Schatzberger, Paul, Interview,
Sheffield, 14th November 2012. (Information obtained through verbal
consent).
Sherwood, Karen, Interview,
Sheffield, 13th November 2012. (Information obtained through verbal
consent).
Sillars, Laura, Interview,
Sheffield, 13th November 2012. (Information obtained through
verbal consent).
Figure1: Lindsay
Sherwin, Strategic Apex, [online
Image], visited: November 29 2012. URL: <http://www.lindsaysherwin.co.uk/guide_managing_change/html_change_strategy/07_mintzberg.htm>.
[i]
(2011), Karen Sherwood: Cupola A Brief
History [Video], retrieved November 27 2012, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XCNgzMUyoc&feature=plcp.>.
[iv] Colin
Tweedy, Artworks: Why the Business Needs
the Arts, Arts Council England, October-November
2012, viewed on 27 November 2012, <http://artsandbusiness.org.uk/Media%20library/Files/Research/09Jul_REI_Artworks.pdf
>.
[v] Quote taken from Pick and Anderton,
1996:“The nature of arts administration cannot be adequately described simply
by offering the conventional description – ‘arts administrators are people who
administer the arts…One can view the tone of behavior amongst the Cupola staff
as ‘Moral Involvement: Strong
approval of the authorities, based on a shared commitment to the organisation’s
values and aims’ (Etzioni, 1961). There is one of his theories of those in
lower positions reacting to the way authority is primarily exorcised in their
organization. J.Pick, M.Anderton, Arts Administration, 2nd
edition, in Arts Organisation:
Administrations and Organisation, E & FN Spon, London, 1996, p. 28.
[vi] Interview with Karen Sherwood, see
appendix for full transcription.
[viii] Arts
Council of Great Britain, Marketing the
Visual Arts: An Introduction to Strategic Marketing, Arts Council, Great
Britain, 1999, p. 4.
[ix] See 06/09/12
‘Reflection and Analysis’ in Journal
for a more detailed account of the staff interaction and management system of
the framing department, p. 11.
[x] Interview with Karen Sherwood, see Appendix 2 for full transcription p.
17-19.
[xii] See 08/09/2012
‘Reflection and Analysis’ of Journal,
p. 15-16.
[xiii] M.A.
Fopp, Managing Museums and Galleries, Routledge,
London, 1997, p. 131.
[xv] D.
Chong, Arts Management, Routledge,
Oxon, 2010, p. 98.
[xvi] See 11/09/2012
‘Reflection and Analysis’ in Journal,
p. 17.
[xvii] P.A.
Bell, T.C. Greene, J.D. Fisher, A. Baum, Environmental
Psychology, Harcourt College Publishers, Orlando, 2001, p. 6.
[xviii] See
‘Curating Valerie Daval’s Exhibition’ in Journal,
p. 21-26.
[xix] O’Doherty’s
quote about modernist display (E.Barker, 1999): “Sustaining a curiously
ambivalent existence between vigorous presence and complete invisibility. On
the one hand, it emphasizes the essential formal qualities of abstract painting
and sculpture. On the other, its inconspicuousness suggests that it is nothing
more than a neutral context for the works of art." E. Barker (eds), Book 1: Contemporary Cultures of Display,
Yale University Press, Italy, 1999, p. 26.
[xx] Pierre
Bourdieu’s quote about the importance of a curatorial
approach of exhibitions (J. Rugg and M. Sedgwick): “Pierre Bourdieu noted
that the curator (inter alia) added cultural meaning and value to the making of
art and artists…As cultural agents, curators and artists participate in the production
of cultural value, exhibitions are intrinsic and vital parts of what Theodore
Adorno and Max Horkheimer termed the ‘cultural industries’ associated with:
entertainment; mass culture; the communications enterprise of mass reception;
and as part of the consciousness industry.” ibid., p. 48.
[xxi] M.P.
O’Donnell, Health Promotion in the
Workplace, Delmar, United States of America, 2002, p. 90.
[xxii] See 08/09/12
‘Reflection and Analysis’ in Journal,
p. 16.
[xxiii] See 15/09/12
‘Reflection and Analysis’ in Journal
for a detailed account of the products for sale at Cupola, p. 28.
[xxiv] ‘The
emerging perspective of ‘relationship marketing’ in the 1990’s offers a
relevant new model on which to base marketing thinking in the arts…addresses
the issues of forming and nurturing long–term relationships with customers.
This approach is certainly appropriate to small museums and galleries where
there are few staff'. E. Hill, C.O’Sullivan and T.O’Sullivan, Creating Arts Marketing, Butterworth-Heinemann,
Oxford, 2003, p. 12.
[xxvi] ed. R. Greenberg, B.W.
Ferguson, S. Nairne, Thinking about
Exhibitions, Routledge, Oxon, 1996, p. 2.
[xxvii] Interview with
Paul Schatzberger. See Appendix 1 for
full transcription, p. 16-17.
