Artists in Residence Week 2 - Kate Matthews and Hazel Stone.

Next to take over the little gallery was Hazel Stone and Kate Matthews, presenting an installation piece titled Sinegorsk, based on a well known local news event from 2009 involving a ship of the same name. The boat, carrying hundreds of thousands of lengths of wood, hit rough waters around coast of East Sussex, spilling all it's cargo into the sea. This then washed up onto the shores of Broadstairs and surrounding towns.

Based on this story, Hazel and Kate transformed The Old Lookout into a representation of the ship itself going under, with items from the gallery (George's box and chair) being on the verge of tipping over, and hundreds of small pieces of wood exploding from the walls of the gallery, as if they were water pouring through holes. This was also accompanied by images of local beaches and coastline screen-printed onto pieces of wood. I digress, I doubt I have managed to explain the piece as well as it deserves, so here are pictures.

When talking to Kate and Hazel, they said that the public's reactions to their piece were almost all positive, also noting that it encouraged people to remember the event in their own way. I have also read from User questionnaires that people found the way the space had been used in a completely different way fascinating. I feel that referencing an event that made not only the local but national news allows visitors to connect to the exhibition in a stronger way, especially given the gallery's location, being so close to where the event originally happened. It jogs people's memories, and provokes discussion. I was also told that some people that had seen the installation just as it was first being constructed on the Thursday came back later on in the week to see how it had progressed. Some of the limited edition screen-prints were sold too, and with each one being unique this provides something for visitors to take away from the exhibition.

In terms of Hazel and Kate's feedback to me about the gallery itself, they noted that they feel the banner and A-board placed outside gallery has really helped people to notice it, and increased the amount of chance visitors to their exhibition. Much like Tim Long, they also felt that having the chance to discuss their work with visitors was a definite plus.
However, they did also note that, as their exhibition was a growing installation that took a couple of days to be finished, it would have helped them to be in the space a bit earlier. They found that the busiest days were Saturday and Sunday, by which point the exhibition still wasn't entirely finished. This caused some people to be hesitant about coming in for fear of interrupting them at work. However, alongside this they did note that this did only apply to them as their work was so detailed and time consuming to construct.

Overall, from hearing feedback from both the artists in residence and the visitors to the gallery, it seems that this week's exhibition was popular and well received. As it documented a recent event that is fresh in people's minds, I think it is easy to make a connection to what is on display.

Case Study 2 - The Ben Oakley Gallery, Greenwich, London.

When asking around about small galleries that are essentially non commercial, the Ben Oakley Gallery in London was mentioned as somewhere that does the majority of their marketing online. I had never heard of this gallery, but did some digging and I really think it fits the bill as a good comparison for The Old Lookout.

So the Ben Oakley Gallery is a unique gallery space situated in Greenwich's indoor market. From what I have discovered so far, it appears to show a range of contemporary art, including street art and sculpture.

Image from http://www.shopgreenwich.co.uk/shops/ben-oakley-gallery

Similarly to The Old Lookout, the space was not originally designed to be a gallery space, but it does invite artists to use it in different ways. They both have a unique look to them, which has been embraced rather than changed.

This gallery seems to embrace social media for advertising, with a regularly updated twitter account, facebook group and website.

On twitter, the gallery has managed to inject their page with plenty of personality, by using a background image that sums the place up and using a very informal and conversational tone in their tweets. Similarly to The Old Lookout, the 'tweeter' posts behind the scenes photos of the work on display, also posting informal pictures of people visiting the gallery. A hash-tag has also been created, meaning that anyone who uses it makes themselves connected to the gallery. The impression that the viewer gets through reading tweets and viewing photos is of a very laid back informal place to show art. I feel this definitely appeals as a relaxed place to visit when in the area.

This gallery, similarly to the Lookout, makes use of an open Facebook group.

Again, Oakley posts glimpses of the work that will be on display in an informal way. He also takes on quite a jokey tone, clearly not taking his promotion of the shows too seriously. This would make me personally feel relaxed about going to visit, rather than if the owner was posting in a very serious and formal way. Again, these kind of open pages that anyone can post on are occasionally in danger of being exploited by people trying to advertise their own projects, which have no bearing on the subject of the page at all. Saying that, it doesn't seem to actually happen much in this case, perhaps because of the frequent posting by the owner.
However, the gallery also has a page that the viewer can 'like' to stay updated with what is going on.

With these kind of pages, it is easier to keep track of who is allowed to post updates, with anyone still being able to comment on the posts, but not make ones of their own. It is difficult to say which one of these two options on Facebook works best, as both have benefits. I think I might need to dig a bit deeper into this!

Lastly, unsurprisingly, there is also a website.

The most important aspect of the website in my opinion is that it matches the theme of the rest of the gallery's online presence. I also think contact details, opening times and address should also be easily accessible on the website, and it should be the first thing to come up when googling the name of the gallery. All of these factors have been ticked off here as far as I can see! The only problem I have encountered on this website is that some of the links don't work. I'm not sure if it just a one off, or whether they have never worked. If the latter is the case, then it really does dent the gallery's image a bit, as visitors should be able to access the information they need as easily as possible, without too much faffing about!

Overall, I feel that this gallery's online presence is very strong. The tone of the posts on Facebook and twitter is consistent, and not too formal for the kind of place it is. I also feel like the image spans all the different social networking sites well, with a slight exception in the design of the website. I think this is probably down to one person who takes responsibility for all the tweets and updates, Ben Oakley presumably. This means that the humour and informality of the posts is consistent, which lends itself to a relaxed image of the gallery being portrayed to the visitor. However, I do feel that only one type of page should be used on Facebook, in order to direct all viewers to one place and save posting the same things on both accounts.

Case study 1 - Queens College Art Center, Flushing, NY.

Being quite new to researching this kind of thing, I decided to turn to Google scholar to find out a bit more about the theories behind social networking and small galleries. I stumbled on an article edited by Lee Sorenson titled On Running a Small Art Gallery in an Academic Library (1987). Sorenson uses the Queens College Art Center in Flushing, New York, as a case study of a small gallery to focus on. Although this gallery is different in many ways to what is going on at The Old Lookout, there are still many similarities that link the two examples. Sorenson notes that this gallery is distinct from other more commercial institutions for three main reasons:

first, its accessibility to students, faculty, and other community members; second, its flexibility for potential exhibitors; and third, its limited size, modest curatorial and administrative requirements, and very modest budget needs. From an organizational standpoint, these last two characteristics - flexibility and scale - can be seen as mutually reenforcing conditions rather than as conflicting objectives. Flexibility is the positive by-product the comes from operating on a modest institutional and budgetary scale. (Sorenson (ed.), 1987)

Baring in mind these factors, I think that similarities can definitely be seen between this gallery and The Old Lookout, in not only the limitations of the gallery but the positives that come as by-products of these limitations. Therefore, after establishing that it is indeed still runnning ans showing exhibitions, I decided to have a look at what was online about the Queens College Art Center.

The first thing that I found when googling the name of the gallery is, unsurprisingly, its website.

Immediately, it is clear to see that the gallery's website is easy to find, with the URL just being the name of the place. It looks clean, but without much personality from just the home page. To me, although being easy to find, it doesn't necessarily draw the viewer in or capture the imagination. Clicking through to 'exhibitions', it becomes obvious that this gallery operates in much the same way as the Lookout, showing exhibitions by different artists for a series of weeks at a time, with a frequently changing schedule. However, it appears that it does operate throughout the year, as opposed to just the summer season.
 
In the 'about' section, the viewer is directed to the history of the gallery.

The centre describes itself as such:

Queens College Art Center, a nimble gallery anchored in Queens and open to the world, is a successor since 1987 of the Klapper Library Art Center that was based in the Queens College Art Library’s gallery founded in 1960. In more than 200 exhibitions to date, it has shown masters like Alice Neel, Joseph Cornell, and Elizabeth Catlett, and introduced scores of artists from around the globe and emerging artists who later went on to major careers. The Art Center focuses on modern and contemporary art, presenting the works of both emerging and established artists in diverse media, in programming expressive of the best of the art of our time.

Art Center exhibitions support the educational and cultural goals of Queens College. The goal of the Queens College Art Center is to provide the means for participating in and upholding a democratic society through learning, adaptation, and critical thinking.

Having the history of the gallery I feel will draw viewers in, and make them more likely to visit if they are in the area.
On clicking in the link to 'press' I was surprised to see that this section is obviously not regularly updated.
I was hoping to find links to twitter, facebook or linked in, but after doing a bit more googling, I found that they don't actually utilise any of these social media tools. I assumed that as a gallery run in a student institution, they would be trying to appeal to a younger demographic by keeping potential visitors updated on what is going on.

Although on paper, it sounded like this kind of institutional-based gallery would be very similar to The Old Lookout, after doing a bit of digging, it appears not. Although the Queens College Art Center is presenting itself as a professional and clean art gallery, the gaps in information throughout its online presence (the link which directs visitors to a 'campus map' page is also blank) I feel would put visitors off to some extent. Chance visits will still, of course, be unaffected. However, people coming from further afield may want to plan visits using online tools, and when they are not kept updated this can look unprofessional. To me, The Old Lookout's online coverage is much more extensive and useful to potential visitors than just having one website.

So, to conclude a bit, this case study has been quite surprising to me. I expected that The Old Lookout's online presence would be about average for the size of the gallery etc. However, for now, I can only assume that at the moment we do much more than a gallery of similar grounding.

Artist in Residence Week 1 - Tim Long.

The first exhibition in the summer season of The Old Lookout is by Tim Long, titled I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside. I went to chat to him yesterday on the final day of his residency about how he had found the experience of showing at this gallery. However, before I pass on his feedback, I should probably give an outline of what the exhibition was all about.

Tim presented an interactive experience for visitors, taking the form of a kind of coconut shy, with 5 beautifully carved heads sitting on plinths, waiting to be knocked off their perches by a well aimed ball thrown from a distance.

The fellow down in the corner in the bottom left is a huge puppet style head, who watches (and probably judges) whoever is having a go. This in itself links to other seaside attractions such as Punch and Judy shows.

You can also have a watch of this fantastic video about the exhibition by Ben Rowley. It sums the exhibition up much more interestingly than I can by simply rambling:

Tim Long Exhibition 2013 from Benjamin Rowley on Vimeo.

One of the main things that Tim noticed during the exhibition was the amount of people who were too shy, timid and self-conscious about taking part. People would look in to the gallery and then not want to have a go. One of the reasons they stated was that they were worried about not being very good. However, he also said that children who came in for the most part understood it immediately, and all wanted to have a go, even if it meant using nearly the whole bucket of balls to knock them all off! One of the reasons we discussed for this difference in people's reactions was the tradition in things designated as art of the 'DO NOT TOUCH' sign. Perhaps it is simply ingrained in people's mind sets that because these items have been made by an artist, they shouldn't be allowed to potentially damage them. The installation encourages people to commit what could be seen as a violent act (the human features carved into the heads humanises them to some extent) by throwing wooden balls at the 'art' piece, and this can be seen to counteract the way we are normally expected to behave around art. The expected preciousness of the sculptures is not followed through, Tim described the act of throwing things at the installation as "changing the status of the object." To me, this was not only a fun and active installation art piece, with a sideline benefit of being a fantastic stress reliever, but an opportunity to question how the public is expected to behave around art pieces.

This piece was unfortunately also met with an occasional slightly hostile comment, things like "Isn't this supposed to be an art gallery?" To me, this probably just comes down to people perhaps just not understanding the concept, maybe expecting to see more traditional paintings or photographs as they ascend the steps. However, Tim noted that showing his work in The Old Lookout provided him with feedback from the public, with people making observations that he hadn't thought that they would make, which can in turn inform future projects. He has also been provided with some off-shoots of the exhibition, including photographs and videos that he could use if, for example, he ever wanted to do a presentation about his practice. He stated that hearing visitors comments and opinions about his work was one of the most valuable aspects of exhibiting this project at The Old Lookout.

Social Media - What do we already have?

So before I can think about how to compare the social media coverage of The Old Lookout with other similar galleries, it feel it would be relevant to look at what we have already and how it is being used.

This article by Erica Swallow for Mashable, suggests the most useful social media services for small business to use.
http://mashable.com/2010/10/25/social-media-small-business-services/
Swallow suggests that in terms of communication, the most useful and successful service to use would be Twitter. She notes that:

"For quick, effective communication, though, our vote goes to Twitter. The micro-blogging service enables businesses to quickly and effectively enhance customer service, business development, public relations and even lead generation. Through these types of communication, businesses humanize their brands, making them seem more friendly and approachable.
Not only that, unlike many other social sites, Twitter is easy to set up due to its minimalist approach. While setup and growing a following entails a bit of a learning curve for new users, maintaining a Twitter presence is simple once you've got it together. In short, Twitter is a big win for small businesses."

Twitter
The idea that this social networking site allows the business to be humanized and become more approachable I feel particularly applies to The Old Lookout. This is the site that I would suggest is most often used by the gallery.  At the moment, its twitter feed mainly posts information about upcoming exhibitions, behind the scenes images, and links to the videos made by Ben Rowley, which are also posted on the Vimeo account.
The person tweeting on behalf of the Old Lookout, let's call them the tweeter, at the moment takes on quite a conversational tone. The key to keeping a twitter audience, in my humble opinion that is, is making regular updates, and offering the viewers an insight to something that they wouldn't ordinarily get to see. This is why I feel that the behind the scenes and sneak peeks of work to be shown in the gallery are particularly successful here. I would suggest that these things help to create a buzz around new exhibitions.
However, the thing to question here (and we will hopefully find out the answer through extended research) is whether this type of marketing and publicity is right for the demographic of visitors to the gallery. I am neither suggesting that it is right or wrong, but it may be something to consider when reviewing the opinions of visitors/non users to the gallery.

Vimeo
The Old Lookout also makes use of Vimeo as a platform for posting videos made by Ben Rowley, the filmmaker in residence, amongst others.

As far as I have seen, this aspect of the gallery's publicity is relatively unique. Not only does posting videos on here allow for marketing for the current exhibitions, it can also help to keep interest around the gallery going outside of the peak season. This in turn keeps advertising for each individual exhibitor going post-exhibition.
Swallow notes that YouTube may have access to a larger audience, and for this reason rates it above Vimeo for business use. However, aesthetically, I feel that Vimeo is more suited to the type of videos the gallery makes, and this website has more of a base for art films than YouTube (where if you're not careful you may find yourself drowning in videos of cats pretending to be ninjas).

Facebook
The Old Lookout also makes use of Facebook. Most small galleries and businesses would make their own business page, however, at the moment we only have an open group. This allows anyone to join the group and make posts, as opposed to a page, where only the owners of the page can make updates.

Allowing anyone to make posts has both benefits and problems. On the one hand, a greater diversity of information can be passed on to members of the group. It also allows individual artists to advertise their own shows at the gallery. However, in these kinds of groups, it is very easy for people to simply advertise themselves, and things that have no relation to the gallery at all. For example, someone may join the group simply to get the marketing for a new website, unrelated exhibition etc to a wider audience. This can sometimes muddy the waters a little bit, and make it a bit unclear what is related to the gallery itself.

Own Website - Beyond the View
Lastly, the website Beyond the View, which acts as a base for all the external projects that the university runs (SEAS Photography, The Yurt, Burton Gallery etc), has a section dedicated to The Old Lookout. Although the gallery doesn't have its own website as such, this is the place where all of the official information is posted, including opening times, events and contact information.

All the information is available here for potential visitors, and the website is kept regularly updated, which is good. Also, when googling 'the old lookout gallery' this link is the first to come up, which helps users find what they want to know quickly. Having a section as part of a larger website may also increase the chance of people coming across the gallery online by accident, for example whilst looking at some other aspect of the university's arts output. This page also acts a base for access to all the other social networking sites, which not only promotes the individual pages, but also creates cohesive links between all of the gallery's online presence.

Introductions.

Hello dear readers!

I'm Jenni, and I have the genuine pleasure of being allowed to research into the inner workings of the delightful Old Lookout Gallery in Broadstairs. For 12 weeks I'll be investigating the cultural and social impact of the aforementioned gallery around the Thanet area, as well as looking to other, similar non-profit organisations' use of social media as advertising to see what they are doing right.

I'll be making regular updates on my progress, and hopefully giving a bit of an insight into the behind the scenes of the various exhibitions and artist's reactions to the experience.

For now, I merely need to exercise the 'Hardman charm' before work starts proper next week!