Artquest has commissioned five film interviews with gallery directors. These galleries represent the main types of galleries operating in the UK.
The films were made for our Gallery Films project from 2014. Some of the gallery directors interviewed will not work for these galleries any more.
Where a gallery gets income will influence its programme. Research where a gallery gets its money and what it shows. You can then decide the best way to approach them.
You can hire some galleries for an exhibtion. They will give you room and might help promote your work. The main value of an exhibition is being chosen for a show. These galleries are useful if you want to see your work outside of the studio. People in the arts know which galleries are for hire. Many curators will not come to exhibitions in hire galleries.
Don’t pay a gallery to represent you. Commercial galleries will take payment from your sales. They should not charge artists to promote them. These opportunities are likely to be a scam.
Commercial galleries
Commercial galleries organise exhibitions for artists that they represent. These galleries are often private businesses that make money by selling artists work. The money they make from a sale is shared with the artist. Commercial galleries also organise exhibitions with public funded galleries and museums too. They are likely to represent only a few artists becuase it takes work to organise their exhibitions and sales. They can’t represent lots of artists.
In the video below Chris Hammond talks about MOTInternational. The gallery was an artist-led gallery that turned into a commercial gallery. He describes how they worked with artists. MOTInternational no longer exists as a gallery.
Artist-led galleries
Artist-led galleries are run by artists. Some artist-led galleries get public funding while others are run without any full-time staff. Often they show artists’ work when they are near the start of their career. Other artist-led galleries show only very established artists work.
Castlefield Gallery started as an artist-led space. It is now an artist-focused gallery and agency. In this film Kwong Lee talks about the gallery programme and how they find artists to exhibit.
University galleries
University galleries are attached to universities. Galleries in universities are often interested in research-based practices. Often they show artists who have an academic background or career as well as being an artist. They will support the university’s research.
In this video Ros Carter and Stephen Foster talk about John Hansard Gallery. They talk about how artists can make the gallery aware of their work.
Public funded galleries
Public funded galleries get money from a public funder to show artists work. Public funders get money from:
- The Government through bodies like Arts Council England
- Arts charities, private trusts, and foundations like the Jerwood Foundation or the Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Many public funded galleries have public programmes to attract people to exhibitions. This might be events for families or schools. They show artists at all stages in their careers, but most will specialise in a particular kind of artist. Many also have commercial parts of their programmes like shops or cafes. Some also sell editions of artists work.
Gasworks is a gallery and studios organisation in Oval, London. It is also the base of The Triangle Network, an international arts network. In this film Alessio Antoniolli talks about the gallery programme. He explains how funding influences the programme and more about their international network. The film also features interviews with artists who work within the studios there.
New media galleries
Galleries that show new media work are focussed on digital and internet art. They might exist only online or have a physcial gallery as well.
Furtherfield has an online and physical gallery. The programme includes digital networks and how new technology and the internet impacts on art and community. In this film Ruth Catlow talks about the gallery and its programme. She also talks about how they work with artists.
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