In the Studio

I have an open studio 3-4 times a year. Two of them are in conjunction with the Saint Paul Art Crawl and I invite guest artists to show their work with me. It has become a fun collaborative event!

Here are 11 things you must do to promote your open studio event:

1. Postcards – mail and hand out to everyone I know and many I don’t. Make sure you have contact information, address and a small map (or QR code linking to a Google map)
2. Email blasts – I try to limit this to only 2; one announcing the event, and the second a simple reminder that it is this weekend so as to not annoy my clients.
3. Write a press release and send it out to the news-people you know. And if you don’t know any, look them up and find out how they like to be approached.
4. Facebook/social media/blog – make an event page, invite people, talk about it on the page and the blog and your personal page. And make sure the other artists are doing the same. Nobody wants to be the only one marketing and bringing in customers for everyone else (it creates tensions for obvious reasons).
5. Variety: like a traditional gallery, you need to have items for sale in a range of price-points. It is sometimes disheartening to only sell greeting cards or a small print, but if the experience is good for that customer, eventually they will come back for something original.
6. Have some refreshments, but NOT a lot. Too much food, and people just eat. A few nibbles and they browse and are more likely to shop.
7. Try to have at least one artist working in the studio – people LOVE to watch and ask questions.
8. Talk to EVERYONE that walks in the door, with a SMILE. Even if that person is the only one to show up for the last 2 hours, if you welcome them and they have a good time, even if they don’t buy something now, they most likely will come back and brings friends because it was fun.
9. Make the experience pleasant and don’t try to force a sale. Tell your story. Why are you an artist? Why are you doing this? You are in this for the long haul and not just for the weekend, so start to form a relationship with your potential customers.
10. Have a sign-up sheet for invitations to future shows/events – if you don’t have a way to invite anyone back, then they for sure will not be coming back.
11. Follow up with the people who walk in the door: send a thank-you note (especially if they purchased something), send an email, post a thank you blog, etc.

I do all of this IN ADDITION to whatever the Crawl organization is already doing. The first 2-3 years I had an open studio, only friends and family came; we played Rummikub one afternoon for 3 hours…

Repetition is the key, so don’t give up if the first time if it is a flop – learn from the mistakes. Now we average around 100 people and we artists are not the only ones sampling the refreshments!

Almost forgot – be careful with pricing your work at an open studio. You need to make absolute sure that your pricing structure is the SAME as in the galleries where you have artwork. Remember, your gallery relationship is important and undercutting them will destroy it. Not to mention that you do have time and expenses with an open studio: postcards,  display set-up, refreshments, lost work-time, and the time it takes to run the show. You will be earning that gallery commission on your own this time.