How To Promote Your Art Locally
Even though the internet provides us with huge opportunities to connect and reach out to a global audience, getting your art out into the “real world” is still an excellent way to bring in more sales and grow your audience.
Often the best place to get started is right where you are.
Where you live might be far from a cultural mecca, but there will still be art opportunities available for you.
Starting in your area is a great way to gain experience. Even if you only have one piece in a group show, you want to make sure your piece arrives in excellent condition, ready to hang, with a title and realistic pricing.
Take note of creative opportunities in your area.
Attending art events and local gallery shows will help you discover the places where you feel your art would fit.
Start collecting names, addresses and contact info of decision-makers. This will help you with your inquires and artist packet, and submissions at a later stage.
Once you feel you’ve explored your area enough, it’s time to start looking for opportunities further out.
Marketing your art in your area allows you to meet your audience face to face and connect with them on a much more personal level.
To help you get started in promoting your work locally and reach out to the right people, I’ve put together some approaches that you can easily get started with.
Share Your Knowledge
Teaching and hosting local workshops can build an audience for your work and help establish you as an expert. Furthermore, it can give you additional income. Tell your students to share their workshop experience on social media to use the event to your full advantage.
Teaching can entail a wide range of formats and venues. You can tutor a small group of students in your studio, lead workshops at art fairs, carry out painting demos in art material shops or run Plein air painting courses.
Contact the local paper or radio station to tell them about your upcoming workshop.
They might be more than happy to help you spread the news.
Promoting your workshops helps generate interest in your artwork and gives you something to write about in your blog too.
Open Your Studio Doors
Organizing your own art show is a great way to learn about art marketing —and it is easier than you think. There are a variety of venues available to target but try to be selective and realistic at the same time.
Open studios provide an easy way to show your work and invite local people. Many studios consider opening their doors more than once a year to take advantage of the shopping season before Christmas, for example. You have full control of the event and can choose the dates that work best for you.
This also means that you are in charge of promoting your open studio and making sure your studio stands out.
Attend Art Exhibitions and Fairs
At art fairs, you can meet lots of art lovers, professional artists, and industry pros like gallery owners and agents. Making contacts with industry insiders is extremely important. They can keep you in the loop about new opportunities—like which art galleries are looking for submissions.
They can also help you in marketing your art, whether it’s sharing your art show on their social feeds or suggesting popular artists you could collaborate with.
Don’t forget to bring your business cards and hand them out to everyone you meet!
It sounds like a small thing, but a well-designed card can really help with artist promotion.
Marketing Artwork At Events
The events industry is on the rise, and more events create more opportunities for you to exhibit and sell your work.
Such events could be Trade Shows, Exhibitions and Charity events.
Most such events will either charge you to take part or take a commission for the sales you made during the event. Make sure you do your research and get a clear picture of any cost before you sign up. Also, check what kind of marketing they do for the event and if they would include your work in any pre-event marketing activities.
In addition, do consider is the audience of the event because there is no point in trying to exhibit and sell your art to the wrong audience.
For example, if you paint pet portraits, you might do very well at a pet accessory trade show. However, if you create large scale abstract paintings, this might not be the best place for you.
The more relevant your work is to the event or topic, the more likely you are to be able to generate sales.
Connect With Your Community
Being engaged in the community and putting your artistic stamp on projects is a great way to get your name out there and help fellow artists at the same time.
Some ideas include providing artwork for charity auctions, participating in community art projects like murals or volunteering to teach at community centres.
Community events provide great marketing opportunities, therefore taking part also gives you the chance of your picture or name in the local press.
Get in touch with your local community centres, councils, charities and activity groups and learn about what’s going on in your home town, then find a way to get involved!
It’s that simple, be brave, be consistent, build that network and get your art out there.
Which local art opportunities have you explored lately?