How to build your own online exhibition
There is much to consider when building your own online exhibtion. Let’s break it down into steps:
Determine your audience- think about your community, who normally visits your gallery space? Is this a site for them or someone else? Is it directed at students, a local art guild, the general public in your community?
Determine your artist/s or exhibition theme with your audience in mind. Start to do some research on artists. A few great places to search for artists are: http://www.sknac.ca/ * https://www.osac.ca/visual-media-arts/artistlistings * https://saskcraftcouncil.org/member-directory/ * https://www.sakewewak.ca/
Develop a clear contract with roles, expectations, fee outline, and deadlines before approaching the artist. For contract examples contact Zoë at zoe@osac.ca
Fees- CARFAC has developed a specific fee structure for online exhibitions. We referred to section A.1.7 • Exhibition of a Reproduction on the CARFAC fee schedule. https://carfac-raav.ca/2020-en/section-1/#A.1.7_%E2%80%A2_Exhibition_of_a_Reproduction
Fees for artist talk videos or tutorial videos- C.2.0 • Presentation and Consultation fees https://carfac-raav.ca/2020-en/section-4/#C.2.0_%E2%80%A2_Presentation_and_Consultation_fees
Building your site- we’ve used Squarespace as it is affordable and has easy to use templates. There are a variety of website building sites out there. You can also use your Arts Council website and build a seperate page to serve as your ‘exhibition space’. Here is an example on the Yorkton Arts Councils website: https://yorktonarts.ca/visual-arts Squarespace has demo videos on how to use their product. If you would like more guidance on how to use a website builder contact Zoë at zoe@osac.ca
If you are going to feature video you need to first upload it to a site like Youtube or Vimeo. Youtube is free and Vimeo has a small yearly fee. Both websites offer demo videos on how to use their product, but Zoë at zoe@osac.ca is more than happy to guide you through the process.
Once your online exhibition is complete make sure to get the word out. Make a press release, share your site on social media, send it out in your e-newsletter, and continue to plug it to your intended audience for the duration of the online exhibition.