Pitching for Opportunities Workshop
On the 28th of October, I went to a workshop, Pitching for Opportunities, run by curator Liz Cooper and local artist Lynette Fisher, in conjunction with Creative Bay of Plenty. Lynette is the coordinator for the Molly Morpeth Award and gave good insights to the process. Following are the notes I took from the workshop to reference.
Pitching for Opportunities
Opportunities may include the following:
Art Awards
Exhibitions – Solo or Group
Galleries – Public or Commercial
Commissions
Art Festivals
Residencies
Scholarships
International Opportunities
What to Look for In Opportunities
What is my motivation?
How is the opportunity relevant to my practice?
Is this the right time?
Is there an opportunity to develop my work/practice?
Will I reach new audiences and networks?
Will I get exposure to galleries, collectors and new networks?
What do Selectors Look for in Applications
Quality
Innovation
Originality
Relevance to the opportunity
Accurate, concise and complete information
Great images
A cohesive body of work
Consider judging (digital & physical)
Who are the judges
Check the Application Requirements
READ THE BRIEF
Your location and other criteria
Themes and mediums
Word count
Size and naming of image files
Payment requirements
Artist statement and/or bio
Prepare materials in advance of making the application online
Don’t understand the brief, then ASK
Make sure the work submitted is relevant to the opportunity
Originality and copyright
Is it your own work?
- Do you have permission to use it
- Point of difference, what do you bring to it?
Give accurate, concise and complete information
A coherent Body of Work, or
Use the opportunity to experiment with new artworks and materials
CV Statement
Legible contemporary font
Spelling
Logical order
Relevance and opportunity
Not too long
Attention to detail
Contact details
Reverse chronology
Summary of key attributes and skills
Artist Statement and Bio
Bio and artist statement in the third person – gets your name out.
Artist statement – get right to the crux or the heart of the matter
The statement should mirror work, give context
Images
The right number of images - only what they ask for and do not make a composition of multiple images
The correct size and file type
Show scale (studio shot or with a ruler or the like)
Detailed
In context/styled (e.g. Studio shot)
Professional (catalogue ready)
Accurately labelled
Name files the title of the work and not A, B, C, etc. Check requirements. Blind judging for competitions requires anonymity.
Summary
Understand what motivates you
Know your strengths and weaknesses
Know who you are speaking to
Continually edit yourself
Be relevant
Read the brief
What was not mentioned was research the opportunity. An example that was discussed in the last seminar was residencies and how it’s a good idea to research the artists that have previously been successful in their application for the residency and where they are in their careers.
