what do we
do?
Ovenden
Contemporary is an art promotion organisation based in
Cambridge, UK. We create a variety of opportunities for
new, emerging and established Artists to build, develop and
maintain sustainable careers in the art industry. Our
portfolio features a diverse range of specially selected,
high-quality new, emerging and established Artists. We
exhibit original artworks, photography, sculpture and
limited edition prints by our Artists in a variety of
Galleries and non-Gallery venues across the East of England
region. We carefully select our Artists to ensure that we
showcase high-quality new and emerging international
Artists who consistently produce challenging, creative,
individual and inspirational works of art as well as fully
established, mid-career Artists who wish to concentrate
more on their work, rather than on the distraction of
self-representation.
Our website provides a great deal of
'editorial' information about each of our Artist Members
and provides an effective sales and marketing tool. We
offer this editorial-style content to a variety of other
organisations, bringing traffic to our site and raising the
profile of each of our Artist Members. We all know by now,
the internet is an essential part of any Artist's marketing
strategy and is becoming the standard method for buyers,
curators and dealers to research and discover new Artists.
There is an Arts Blog
on which our members are
able to post news articles or learn about new exhibition
opportunities. We also use our blog to publicise
forthcoming exhibitions and projects. We also have an
active presence on Facebook and Twitter (search for
Ovenden Contemporary) on which we publicise our
activities and our Artist members. It also offers our
members an opportunity to network and communicate with
each other, generating new projects, collaborations and
opportunities.
We are now partnered with Beautiful Cariad Publishing and
plan a series of beautiful art books featuring our Artist
Members as well as non-member artists from around the
world. The first book to be produced from this partnership
is 'Self: Self-portraits
from around the world' compiled by our founder Craig Kerrecoe
from entries to a free competition we held in 2009.
which
venues do we work with?
We've worked
with a variety of venues in the last five or so years:
Needhams Restaurant in Witchford, Cambridgeshire
Artshed in Ware, Hertfordshire
The Carpenters Arms in Great Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire
Blackfriars Arts Centre in Boston, Lincolnshire
Three Cups Gallery in Ely, Cambridgeshire
Children of Vision Gallery in Portobello Road in Notting
Hill, London
Angles Theatre (via Atelier EAST) in Wisbech,
Cambridgeshire
Worcester City Museum in Worcester
We've also exhibited at selected regional art fairs,
including:
The Anglian Contemporary Art Fair in Braintree, Essex
The Great Art Christmas Fair in Alexandra Palace, London
The Hertfordshire Art Fair in Ware, Hertfordshire
We are also supporting partners for the CAN managed
Different
Journeys project which was exhibited at
University of Northampton during 2007 with more
exhibitions planned. We have a number of funded-projects
under development which will include opportunities for
our members to participate.
We are always keen to discuss
exhibition opportunities with potential venues,
particularly across the East of England region. Suitable
venues may be restaurants, hotels, furniture retailers or
anywhere with a good amount of wall space that is used by
the public. As you will see from the list of venues above,
we also work with established galleries and arts centres,
often filling gaps in their own exhibition programmes.
how does it
work?
We are a selective agency. We should not be confused with
one of the many web-based, non-selective internet
galleries.
Artists are required to apply for annual membership of the
programme and we would only accept your application if we
feel that your work is of sufficiently high quality. We are
now able to consider applications from Artists based
outside UK.
Membership consists of
a full web profile on the Ovenden Contemporary website,
including the following components-
1. An illustrated homepage with your own domain, eg.
www.artistname.ovendenart.com
2. A biography page listing your CV entries or a statement
of experience/intent.
3. A gallery page with up to 15 separate selected items
listed. All work must be approved by us prior to listing.
These works do not necessarily have to be for sale.
4. We can conduct an optional e-mail interview for use in
various publications or on-line features. This item will
also be included in your full profile.
5. The option to take part in our exhibitions (at extra
cost) whenever opportunities exist. You can decline or
accept any offers to exhibit.
6. Membership of the OC Artist's Blog, where you can post
news articles, advertise your events and communicate
generally with other members.
7. Inclusion of your personal exhibitions and events in our
'What's On?' listings.
Please note, there are no website sales commission charges
for works listed on the Ovenden Contemporary main web-site.
We act as 'introducer' only on such website sales and are
specifically excluded from any agreement or liabilities you
may have with a customer who approached you via Ovenden
Contemporary. However, sales that take place at exhibitions
organised by us will be subject to a commission. The
commission rate is variable, depending on the agreement we
have with the venue, but will be clearly stated as part of
the offer to exhibit.
The annual fee for Artists taking membership from Ovenden
Contemporary is currently:
£75.00
(Sterling)
Artists wishing to apply for membership can also choose to
enrol on our 'Self-Promotion For The Artist' distance
learning course (normal price £95.00) at the same time for
a total combined fee of £150. Please click
here for
details of the course. Please contact us prior to
enrolment if you wish to take up this special offer.
All fees are paid in UK Sterling and cover a period of
twelve months exactly. We charge these fees to cover the ongoing
maintenance and administration of the websites, the
installation of the exhibitions, the production of the
marketing materials including 'The Bullet' magazine and
much more. If we did not charge a fee, we would not be able
to represent so many new and emerging Artists with little
or no sales history.
For full terms and conditions click
here
want to apply for
membership?
If you like the sound of what we offer to
our members, click here
and send us an e-mail
telling us about you and your art. Alternatively, you
can send us a letter with a CD-Rom (no exe files please-
we use Apple Macs) or photo prints to our postal
address. We'll try and get back to you as soon as
possible but it could take a number of weeks- please
don't get disheartened if you don't hear from us
immediately!
