The survey found that the gallery believes the artistic fairness model is unsustainable
Many gallerists are frustrated by the rising costs and high risks of attending a large number of art fairs, with a “middle” reward, a new report says.
The first Thursday was a London-based sales intelligence company that inaugural art fair reports in 56 commercial galleries in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. Some of these interviews were conducted directly on the floors of Frieze, Art Basel, Independent, Tefaf and Art SG.
The report found that nearly half of the galleries surveyed (46%) spent £30,000 ($40,000) to attend an expo, while one in five galleries (24%) spent between £50,000 and £100,000. This is related to 83% of respondents who have made high participation fees the biggest challenge to be exhibited at the fair, followed by 77% of respondents saying sales uncertainty is the next biggest challenge.
“At present, the model feels unsustainable,” said a galleryist.
Other comments from other respondents included in the report said that high participation fees were “mandatory gallery safe”, but “young galleries can do this only if they offer bolder speeches. [financial] Risk” and how emerging galleries sell many works to pay for them.
The report said that due to these high costs and uncertainties in sales, galleries are rethinking their engagement strategies, with 31% of respondents saying they will attend fewer fairs.
“Many galleries have no choice to reduce their schedule and focus on a small number of key fairs, and they believe the reward is the best,” the report notes.
More than half of the galleries surveyed (57%) have been in operation for more than 10 years, and most focus on emerging (77%) and mid-career artists (72%) rather than late career or real estate artists (25%). The galleries surveyed attended an average of 4.4 art fairs per year, with only 9% attending 10 or more.
The gallery surveyed on Thursday said they hoped the fair “reduced engagement and production costs, more flexible formats such as split stands or commission-based models, as well as improved VIP and collector engagement, including well-curated introductions and tools that will help convert interest to sales after the fair.
Even with high costs and sales uncertainty, the vast majority of respondents (71%) said that exposure to new audiences is the most valuable part of attending art fairs (57%) and with collectors (57%) (57%).
It is worth noting that despite the popularity of online art sales, most galleries conducted on the first Thursday are still using pen and paper simulation methods in their booths (83%) and relying on business cards (60%) to record inquiries. Of the galleries surveyed on Thursday, only 31% immediately entered the customer relationship management (CRM) system.
