Wirral Metropolitan College

Hey this is Tommy McCafferty from Wirral Met. We are currently in the second year of our fine art degree. We are part of the Gallery Practice Venue Group which means we have to look for a venue to exhibit all the student’s work. (Em and Mark are also part of the group). We have to visit as many venues as possible and Liverpool seemed the natural choice. Lia and I met most days and visited various galleries. We walked (yes walked!) all around the city centre, arranging meetings with people at galleries such as The Blackie.

Hi I’m Lia (Celia Gentles) another member of the Venue Practice Group. As Tommy said we have been looking around Liverpool for the right venue for our second year gallery practice. There are thirteen students in all who must showcase their work during the second week in March.

It was very interesting and useful visiting the various galleries because some of us may have to liaise with professional people in the future – it’s good to get a bit of experience and to know what’s out there for artists. After some consideration we decided Liverpool was the right location for our exhibition – busy, central, and vibrant with art and culture.

The Arts Academy

The first gallery we enquired at was The Arts Academy in Seel Street but they were fully booked for February/March 2010. Mark, Em, Tommy, Des and I had a good look at the works on display. Also a local children’s author and illustrator had a book on show and was there in person to talk about her work.

The Blackie

The staff at The Blackie were very helpful and quoted us some reasonable prices. As well as explaining there were different prices for different sized rooms they were willing to give discount to student groups in return for some voluntary work done in their Archive Department.
However, we decided that it wasn’t quite right for our purposes – the rooms were either too small or too big. Also we needed to find somewhere with good parking facilities, and The Blackie did not have enough space.

I’d heard on Radio Merseyside that there was a new art gallery/shop opening in Clayton Square so Tommy and I went over there to have a nosey. It was much too small for our group and the owner dealt mainly in commercial style art such as portraits of The Beatles and other famous people. It might be worth bearing in mind if any of us wanted to show/sell pieces like that in the future.

The Gallery

We also looked round The Gallery, a new exhibition space in Liverpool 1, near to Cains Brewery. This had only been open a week or so and was displaying a collection of photographs based on the human body by an artist called Stephanie de Lenge. We just missed the artist in residence but were shown around by one of the organizers. It was a good size but a bit too much off the beaten track. We decided that the nearby Novas Contemporary Urban Centre was a much more accessible and “happening” place. There was parking space plus a bar and restaurant and there would be other members of the public going in and out of there for theatre and art events.

Well the Venue is confirmed, which is the NOVA’s the Deposit is paid and contract established. We need to establish what extra’s we want for the private viewings nibbles drinks etc and cost.

The next thing to be done is choosing a name for the exhibition and design for poster. We have asked for suggestions on design and name, which is to be discussed in another meeting which is scheduled for a week’s time. Danielle has come up with the name JIGSAW, and so far has received a positive reaction, as she explained it was chosen as we are all from different backgrounds bringing a variety of skills and different works for display and was coming together like a jigsaw. What we also have to be careful of is to not use phrases such as spring exhibition, or numbers after the name as it implies more than one exhibition has been or will be arranged. We have had some interesting designs for the poster so far, and what we will also think about in the design poster meeting is if something just fits straight away with what we want , or use elements of one poster and mix with anther to create a new design. It will be a visual brain storming session and everyone will have a say if they attend the meeting.

What we have realised is the poster and name needs to be thought up and designed fairly quickly and be ready for distribution towards the end of Feb. It is only 7 weeks to the actual exhibition. We estimate about 100 or so posters, enough for maybe 10 each to distribute. Invites will be dished out two weeks before the exhibition and tends to be a smaller scale of the poster.

We need to draft a press release, which will be released via the college public relations officer who publicises events for the college; there is advice on the artist network on how to write a press release if anyone is interested.

We are also constantly thinking of fund raising ideas, and we are organising another tombola table which has been booked for the 11th Feb, it will have a valentines theme, so we will be selling soppy love stuff, chocolates, perfume toiletries cuddly toys etc. Also we will also have a go at designing and printing some valentine’s cards to sell on the stall, Michelle will help with the printing etc.

We at first had to decide on who would be a chair person, and secretary for the group, to give the group some order and organisation. We then decided what needed to be done first, and who wanted to do what within the preparation for the exhibition.

Chairperson – Andrew Wu

Vice-Chairperson – Tommy McCaffety

Secretary – Sharon Ross

We established how often to meet and what day was suitable for all. We felt it was important to meet regularly so everyone had a good idea on what was happening. We meet every week as a group, and meet every two weeks with our tutors, to inform them of our progress.

The groups we decided on were:

1. The Venue group – Tommy, Lia, Mark & Emma.

2. Publicity Group – Des, Paula, Andrew, Felicity.

3. Funding Group – Moya, Fiona, Vicky, Mark.

4. Design Group – Sharon, Paula, Des.

5. Installation Group – Paula, Tommy, Moya.

6. Gallery Care Group – Everybody is involved in this

The first priority was the venue, the venue group looked at suitable areas for gallery displays which are reputable and have a good location. They will look at various venues that were suggested, such as: Novas centre – a purpose built art centre, and requires no building of walls for displays and lighting is in place. Another area to look at is Pacific road art centre, which will need lighting and building of display walls. Also the Williamson gallery will be looked at.

The pitfalls considered when looking for a gallery space were wall and floor space, hidden costs, for example private viewing prices. Also the venue needs to be decided quickly.

The venue decided upon was the Contemporary Urban Centre – Novas, in Liverpool. The ground floor of this gallery looks ideal. A fee of £500 has been mentioned. This figure needs to be discussed further to find out what exactly it covers. Questions to be considered were; are there any extras (hidden), time, mail shots, private viewing…. this list is by no means exhausted! We also need to get the agreement in writing. Overall it was decided that everyone in the group should visit the venue and any concerns can be raised at the next meeting. The venue group are reluctant to confirm the booking until it has been viewed by everyone. Those failing to visit forfeit their right to raise objections.

Another group running alongside the Venue group was the funding group, this was also a priority. It is important to set up a bank account straight away, to get funds rolling. Moya and Fiona began to investigate various banks and building societies, looking at their business, community accounts. We need to make sure it is free banking.

Also Moya and Fiona started to collect an initial pot for the fund of £20 each; this was done as soon as possible. Next was the various funding ideas, we all pay subs. We held raffles, stalls, in order to raise sufficient funds to cover the exhibition, venue, printing costs etc. A record of all our proceedings was also kept.

The general feelings “were that we cannot do this, how are we going to raise all the money we need?” Also there were and are feelings of stress, which leads to conflicts within the group. However, so far we have managed to talk about any issues that have arisen.

So far we have the venue, we are on track with our funds, and now we are at the planning and designing of the poster and invites, programmes within the design group.