This is Part 5 of my Planning Your Gallery Show presentation. After deciding on a theme, planning the layout for my ‘The Spaces Within‘ gallery show, designing my promo pieces and promoting the show, the last step was to plan and hold my opening night reception.
There’s not a lot to say about holding a reception, other then that it’s like holding a big party for yourself. If you’ve promoted your show well, lots of people will show up, they’ll eat, drink, look at your photos and give you feedback on your art. I suggest a mix of savoury appetizers, sweet treats as well as some wine and other drinks. Music is a good thing, as is having a guest book for people to sign. You should also have a takeaway so people have something to remember you and your work by (business card, promo card, etc.). If you’ve really done well on promoting, media may show up so be prepared to answer their questions.
For my opening reception, I’m happy to say that there were people in the gallery for the whole three hours (lots of people!). All in all, I had just over 70 friends, family, work buddies, photo club members and strangers show up to view my work. I’m not going to go into detail because I already blogged about it here.
If you missed Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4, you can read about Theme here, Layout here, Design here and Promotion here. Thanks for reading and I hope the series was useful!