[IMC] Organizing Monthly Urbana Art Walk

[Jan Chandler]

Hello Shawna,
As Carolyn already mentioned, I closed my Urbana storefront gallery this
past December, and have since moved to a couple of small spaces that I now
rent inside other businesses in Champaign and Tuscola. My Urbana gallery
was open for almost 7.5 years, and I tried every possible way that I know
of to draw interest from the community by holding special events (e.g.
regular monthly art openings, concerts, poetry readings, open house events,
festivals, etc.), None of these were what I'd call successful in terms of
drawing a large crowd or increasing my sales, though the people who
attended enjoyed these events very much. We (the Urbana gallery owners) did
collectively try having art walks on weekday evenings, and on Saturday
afternoons in the summer months and also in the fall and winter months at
various times, but again, they never seemed to catch on. We got tired of
trying, and we didn;t receive much help from the UBA, or The City of
Urbana, so we literally gave up. I hope you can change this, though the
number of active galleries is considerably less than it was at this time a
year ago. As an Urbana resident, I would appreciate being able to attend
this type of event, even though I cannot participate any longer as a venue.

Jan Chandler
Heartland Gallery
(217)377-4502


On Sat, May 10, 2014 at 12:27 PM, Shawna Arnesen <shawnaarnesen at gmail.com>wrote:

> Dear Urbana Art Community Member,
>
> I am writing Urbana art venues to assess local interest in organizing a
> monthly art walk downtown. Ideally, the Urbana Art Walk will take place on
> a first or last Friday of every month, from approximately 6-10pm, with
> various openings/closings/special events taking place at as many downtown
> venues as possible throughout the evening. The various venue events will be
> coordinated and collectively advertised as part of the monthly Urbana Art
> Walk, which will have a website and printed maps and advertisement
> distributed throughout the city via a variety of media. I am currently
> trying to identify public funds to cover cost of printed material.
>
> I envision this as a collaborative effort to increase sales for local
> artists, generate new business for downtown venues, and provide Urbana
> community members with an enjoyable way to spend a Friday night. I hope you
> share an interest in developing and be part of this project. Please let me
> know if you do and if you have thoughts, suggestions, or ideas. Once
> interested venues have been identified, we can begin coordinating a first
> monthly Urbana Art Walk for June.
> I look forward to hearing back.
>
> Cheers,
> Shawna Arnesen
>



-- 
Jan Chandler
Heartland Gallery
112 W. Main St.
Urbana, IL 61801
(217)337-4767
www.heartland-gallery.com
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