Happy almost Independence Day to everyone reading in the U.S. I hope you are able to take the day off to be with friends and family. Or maybe you want to get away from it all and rejuvenate or even wonder how in the world it is July already. As I write this, I’m about to head to lunch with my mastermind buddy. I read about a delightful-sounding French “tea & champagne lounge” south of Denver. It’s not anywhere that I would ever stop in or drive by. It’s completely off my beaten path, which is all the more reason to make the pilgrimage. I need a change of scenery. I’ve been at the computer for far too many hours this week. But the really cool thing is that I get to see my mastermind buddy again. We usually just meet once a month and email or talk on the phone in between. Our time together is invaluable to me. She helps me look at situations and problems differently--always providing a fresh perspective. I leave our meetings motivated and inspired. If you don’t have such a person in your life, I encourage you to find one.

Get Organized

Online class begins July 11

Get organized before the summer is over. I’m adding another “Get Organized!” class for the summer. Clean out your clutter, organize your files, and set priorities. The gallery season is soon upon us. This summer’s classes are being conducted entirely on blogs! Lessons,
discussion, links, audio . . . everything on one blog that is for class members only.
 http://www.artbizcoach.com/classes/organize.html

Be Part of My Inner Circle

Become an Inner Circle member and get weekly audio recordings, a premium newsletter, and much more. It’s all just $10 for the first two months. Read the details and sign up:
http://www.artmarketingaction.com

How to Document Your Art using Professional Guidelines

Complimentary Teleseminar, Tuesday, July 10

Are your inventory records a mess? Do you even have inventory records? Your inventory records are critical documentation for your career. You might as well get them right so you don't have to go back in ten years and try to reconstruct all of your accomplishments. In this complimentary teleseminar, Harriete Estel Berman will cover the essential information you should be keeping for each artwork. To sign up: http://www.artbizcoach.com/classes/document.html

► View all upcoming classes and events.
 

FEATURE ARTICLE

Get Ready For Museums, Part 1

For those who have never worked or spent a lot of time in a museum, these revered institutions can seem foreboding, unapproachable, and even stuck in the past. If you take a good look at today's museums, however, you will notice that most are going to great lengths to serve their communities and respond to current trends, research, and technology. Above all, they exist to serve the public. That is key, so I'll repeat it, highlight it, and put it a different way:

Museums exist to serve the public, not artists.

Many artists have it as their goal to have a museum exhibition or, better yet, to see their work in the permanent collection of a public institution. At the same time, a great number of them are going about it the wrong way. I have witnessed artists approaching museums as if they were galleries: sending slides with a cover letter wanting an exhibition or for their work to be purchased. The truth is, it takes a long time--a lifetime, or what seems like a lifetime to many--to get to this point.

The umbrella term “museum” also encompasses history, children's and science museums; zoos and aquariums; and botanical gardens among others. Also, be aware of varying terminology. An art museum in Canada, Australia, or the U.K. would probably be called an art gallery (as in our own National Gallery of Art) instead of a museum. In those locations, the word “museum” is often saved for history or science institutions.

Museums are non-profit institutions organized as public trusts. They are bound (or should be) by a code of ethics that guides museums and the best museums (small or large) are accredited by the American Association of Museums (AAM). Know, too, that private museums are popping up all the time.

A museum's mission is to collect, exhibit, preserve, and interpret the objects in their care. (Objects, a museum term=Art in this case.) For a long time, museums just focused on the first three, but their role as educational institutions is now just as important, if not more. Museums differentiate themselves from other educational institutions, such as universities, in that the focus is on learning from original works of art rather than theory or reproductions.
Museums are different from galleries or art centers in that they are collecting institutions, rather than just exhibition spaces. As collecting institutions museums do not sell artwork from their galleries.

In fact, museums frown upon overt display or discussion of the value of art. Why? Well, it's tradition. Art does not equal commerce in the museum setting! It is to be appreciated based solely on its aesthetic value. [Who is defining the aesthetics is an entirely different issue.] But a more practical reason for not listing or discussing the value of art in museums is insurance. If everyone knew the value of each artwork on display, it could be a major insurance nightmare.

The estimated 16,000 museums in the United States receive more than 850 million visits per year, more than all the country's professional baseball, football, and basketball sporting events combined. Keep in mind that anyone can open a building and call it a museum and anyone often does. Not all museums are created equal!

Next week: Part 2.