So's if yas make some art, any kind of art, and yas enters it in an exhibit here, ya gots to pay to play. Almost like going to the track. Only the odds are longer.
I entered an exhibit here end of last year. There was a fee to pay for the entry.
I forget what it was, bout 15 greenbacks or so, let's just call it that since I dunno exactly without look'in it up, might have been more or less but this figure is close if not exact. Now that's not much cabbage to part with right?
Once you pay, if your art work sells during the big show, they take another cut off the top ... 30 points (percent).
As an example, say I create something that I value at 400 bucks for time, materials, labor, skill and da like. I'd like to make say 50 greenbacks so's I can buy a couple cold ones if it sells. But I has ta give the Art Center 30 percent of what the work sells for. Now I have to price the $450.00 work at $650.00 to pay the 30% which is $195.00 leaving me with $455.00 minus my entry fee of $15.00 so I gots a total of $440.00 in my jeans IF IT SELLS for that exoribitant price. The maker of the art has a reduced opportunity to sell a piece at such a drastic increase in it's price, the purchaser as you can see would save a bundle buying directly from the artist rather than the Art Center.
This sounds like how my bookie does business. Kinda puts cha behind the eight ball doesn't it?
I'm not say'in this is the only Art Center that operates this way. Most of them use the same formulas or take an even larger percentage. What I am say'in is this: Arts are among the first things that lose funding etc. when money gets tight in any culture. Seems to me Art Centers would promote the arts like they claim is their mission and support the makers of art rather tax them so heavily. This is especially true in small town USA. And it's why I sell privately as a rule, or in more cost effective venues. read more
