Combat the Slow Season with Successful Shows

A Chicago gallery holder shares his strategy for surviving and thriving in a bear market

moderate economic times don't have to exorcism disaster for your business. Tom Hilligoss' humming Chicago-area galleries are examples of by what means to survive and even expand during a weakening economy.

He built and render free of accessed his first location, The Studio of drawn out Grove, during the recessionary times of the early '90 and just make opened Hilligoss Galleries on Michigan Avenue last fall. "It's not a useful business decision to open in the first year of a recession," said Hilligoss. "I think if I had known it was coming I would've done something different. on the other hand some of the lessons we learned the first time were valuable in creating a strategy for succes that allowed us to continue to survive the next to the first time."

Instead of cutting back and running from the recession, Hilligoss' strategy involves attacking it head-on. "We do a fate of shows, we do a destiny of advertising, and we do a destiny of other kinds of occurrences and p.r.-related activities that give us access to a destiny of potential buyers," he said. When Hilligoss render free of accessed the Long Grove location in 1991 he did a present to view every week and repeated this strategy by means of holding a show every sum of two units weeks when he opened the novel location. Now, he's down to a still-hectic pace of a exhibit every three weeks. "We're older and wiser, and we know a little more about in what manner to get more out of them, on the other hand [shows are] still necessary to retain things flowing."

"In the face of all the adversity, clan are looking for the winners who are looking to succe in these stamps of situations," said Hilligoss. Keeping his gallery active with advertising and exciting openings paints an image of succes to the customers he wants to target. "Those are tribe who have experienced success themselves, and they understand the system" he said. "They faculty of perception what's going on, and they know succes when they diocese it. If you are doing something that is breeding succes they catch upon quick."

One of the gallery's novel events, a showing of French artist stay Buffet's culinary paintings, caught upon with local food and art connoisseurs. At the opening, blow unveiled his portrait of Chicago restaurateur and chef Charlie Trotter the first in a series of box paintings of American chefs. Trotter's catering company provided the provisions and both the artist and chef attended the party.

"It was single of the best shows I've at any time done," said Hilligoss. "It was loaded with true good people, good sales, serviceable food and a great party."

Apart from the appearance of a famous chef, the knock show was a fairly typical gallery opening. on the contrary Hilligoss uses his large studio spaces (7200 square feet in lengthy Grove and 8,500 square feet in downtown Chicago) to entertainer shows for other groups and purposes--show that sometimes don't have a direct profit for his business. For instance, he's offering his space to the Oil Painters of America (OPA) for a exhibit next year. In the early '90 when the two he and the OPA were getting started, he entertainered its show two years in a file at the Long Grove gallery. "That helped kick us not upon and put us on the road to success" said Hilligoss. "It also introduced us to a doom of top artists." Now, he's hosting the OPA again in the Chicago gallery.

"What goe around approachs around," said Hilligoss. "You bring a lot out there and then a doom can come back. That's the philosophy of getting into more [i]or[/i] less of these shows that don't have any apparent profit."

Other exhibits in the works include a fund-raiser for the Chicago consonance and a charity event involving masks painted by the agency of celebrities.

In lengthy Grove, the gallery has been sponsoring an outdoor statuary walk for five years. Each summer life-size alloy of copper sculptures are installed throughout the historic shopping village, and gallery officials lead tours explaining the pieces. "We went into it genuinely as a p.r. project, because alloy of copper sculpture is not a high-profit category," said Hilligoss. "We're now single of the largest dealers in the Midwest."

circumstances such as the sculpture walk that have an educational constituent help turn observers into collectors. "They want to realize in there and find on the outside what it's all about," said Hilligoss.

"The drollery of this business, for me at least," he said, "is finding fresh stars and blending them with the established stars in a way that you acquire a nice balance and a great educational format within the gallery."

COPYRIGHT 2001 Pfingsten Publishing, LLC

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