As most of you already know, for the past month we’ve been working on a plan to create an online art gallery where EmptyEasel readers can sell their art.
After a lot of excellent feedback from a small group of artists, we’ve decided that this gallery will be curated to maintain a high level of professional artwork, it will be supported ONLY by commissions on sales (so we don’t get paid until you do) and it will give artists a voice in the way the gallery is run.
Here’s an expanded list of rules for how the gallery will operate, based on the discussions and artists’ feedback we’ve had so far:
Uploading and selling artwork
1. Artists who create original, one-off artwork in any genre, medium, and style may apply to join the gallery (this means photography, prints, and reproductions will not be accepted)
2. Artists and their original works must be approved by a jury of peer-artists and gallery management before uploading
3. New artists may upload no more than 10 pieces of art
4. Artwork accepted by the gallery should generally be priced at $100 or more
5. If the artist requests it, the gallery/jury will help by giving further pricing suggestions for any/all artworks
6. PayPal will be used to process all gallery sales (and will charge a processing fee)
7. Artists will be responsible for shipping any “sold” artwork to the buyer
8. “Sold” artwork will not count against an artist’s artwork upload limit, and may remain on the site
Gallery fees and their uses
1. The gallery will take a 30% commission on each sale made through the gallery
2. 1/3 of the commission will go towards monthly expenses for running the gallery (hosting, server admin, jurors, etc)
3. 1/3 of the commission will go directly towards advertising for the gallery
4. 1/3 of the commission will go to gallery management
NOTE: If a third of all earnings is not enough to pay for the gallery’s monthly expenses, the funds needed will be taken equally from the advertising and management thirds (this may definitely be the case early on).
Artists’ rights and privileges
1. If an artist is not initially accepted to the gallery, they may re-apply after one month, and continue re-applying every subsequent month
2. Artists are not required to come up with 10 artworks to participate—any number less than 10 is also fine
3. Artists may choose to remove their pieces from the gallery at any time
4. Artists may always list and sell art on any other website or venue—there is no exclusivity contract
5. The established commission rate of 30% cannot be increased without 2/3rds of the artists agreeing to it by vote
6. Future artist fees, application costs, etc cannot be implemented without 2/3rds of the artists agreeing to it by vote
7. Artists will have access to monthly financial reports for the gallery (earnings, expenditures, etc)
Gallery rights and privileges
1. Artists may not list the same artwork for a DIFFERENT price on any other website or venue
2. The gallery is not required to approve 10 works for every artist
3. The gallery may approve up to 15 additional works (25 total) for artists with a proven record of sales
4. The gallery may remove artists and artwork from the gallery at its sole discretion, for reasons including (but not limited to) plagiarism, fraud, other illegal conduct, etc
Special options for “founding” artists
1. Artists may cut their commission rate in half for 1 year by paying $50 up-front to help launch the gallery
2. Artists may cut their commission rate in half for 2 years by paying $100 up-front to launch the gallery
NOTE: These funds will help pay for the gallery software and installation. Any funds left over will be used for advertising.
How to apply
In the future we’ll have an application link directly on the gallery website, but for now, if you’d like to join the EE art gallery, all you need to do is send an email to emptyeasel@gmail.com.
Please include your full name and a link where we can view your artwork. If your artwork is not available online, or you don’t have a way to link to it, that’s fine—just attach a few images of your artwork to the email so we can review them. You may attach up to 10 images for review.
We will reply to every application, but it may take a few days (or longer) depending on the number of applications we receive, so please be patient.
Once you have been accepted into the gallery, we’ll discuss which artworks you’ll be uploading, and whether or not you’d like to be a “founding” artist. We will NOT accept any money from founding artists until we are further along in the process, and know for sure that we will have enough funds to pay for the gallery software and installation.
Questions? Comments? Let me know!
If you have a specific concern that hasn’t been addressed above, please don’t hesitate to ask!
You can email me directly at emptyeasel@gmail.com, or use the contact form (if you prefer) and I’ll do everything in my power to reply as quickly as I can.
Thanks in advance for being a part of this—I’m looking forward to seeing your artwork and hearing from as many of you as possible!
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