Exhibit woes and how to address them

This one's an extended post I made on my Facebook page.  Just thought to share it here as it seems the topic is relevant to the theme of this blog. ​

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I find it disheartening that some people here in Cebu don’t understand art at all, nor do they respect artists and exhibit organizers. :(

I've seen many people haggle on prices of artworks like it were just some random kitchen item in Colon they’re buying. Others deliberately bypass exhibit organizers' fee by refusing to talk to organizers, opting to contact artists themselves directly for a much cheaper price. This is really unprofessional.

But I'm not mad. Perhaps we all just need some education.

​Let me explain a few things to those who might be unfamiliar with how art exhibits work. 

There is this thing called organizers’ fee, which goes in the range of 30%-35% of sales price per artwork.
In the case of ArtCebu, this money goes to the following:

1. the owner of the exhibit area (they provide the space, the panels, the support, the lighting, electricity, etc)
2. the organizing team so they can cover all organizing costs related to the event, and if there is extra, 
3. funding for future events which will benefit all artists and the community

Now what constitutes organizing costs? Any or all of the below:

• mobilization fees 
• promotion expenses (posters, designer, etc)
• performers during exhibit opening (although sometimes we get lucky we find partners who help us by providing awesome talents to grace us during the event)
• food during exhibit opening (if we are unable to get sponsors to fund it)

What happens if no one buys?

• nothing happens to the artists. the artworks are returned to them
• ArtCebu and its partners lose some money but it doesn’t matter because we still get to achieve what we set out to achieve, which is to promote Cebuano art.

The team at Artcebu is not paid for all these work. In fact, we shell out our own money for this. We all have dayjobs and work at ArtCebu is just what we do on top of our other responsibilities.

This post is not intended to be a rant, so I will not elaborate any further.
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Anyways, all I want is for everyone to be objective and to see things clearly. You can research online if you’re unsure of what I just said above. If you want more elaboration, PM me so we can talk.