Oxford Sculptors Group Exhibition at Spetchley Park Gardens 2019
Venue
Spetchley Park Gardens, Spetchley Worcester WR5 1RS
Description
This is a very attractive venue, with delightful gardens (formal and otherwise), and other spaces including water features. There is also a small indoor gallery, which will be dedicated to us during the exhibition, and which we will also use to accommodate stewards/sales (the venue is considering how they might improve their Internet signal in that area to assist with our sales transactions).
The venue is accessed directly from the main A44 Oxford-Worcester road (near the M5), so there is probably lots of "passing" trade.
They have a motivated events manager, and publish all their events on their website and other places.
Their Head Gardener is helpful, co-operative and accommodating, and lives on site.
The site owner is very enthusiastic and supports the exhibition.
They have a mailing list of 500 "Friends of Spetchley Park Gardens", who get in for free.
The site is open 5 days a week (Wednesday-Sunday) from 11am-6pm, plus bank holidays. Entrance fee is £8.
They had 4000 visitors during August in both 2017 and 2018.
Dates
The exhibition will run from Wednesday August 21st to Sunday September 8th 2019 (inclusive). It will be open on Bank Holiday Monday (26th August – venue is normally closed on Mondays). Total exhibition days: 16. Setup will be Tuesday 20th August and Takedown will be Monday 9th September. The venue will be closed to the public on Setup and Takedown days. A 'Private View' event will be held on the evening of the setup day (20th August).
Internal Response
Very pleased with the response from members – if everybody who has expressed interest to date follows through, we will have more than 30 artists with well over a hundred pieces of work.
Costs
Commission to the venue will be 15%. The Group will add its own commission to cover the costs of running the exhibition, including internal/external stewarding (Sue Johnson who has done Kiftsgate for 2 years has been approached and expressed interest in doing it). Exact rate to be discussed [agreed at the meeting to be 5%, making the total commission to be 20%]. Submission fees not fixed yet, but up for discussion. Some stewarding will be required.
The venue have been asked to compile publicity and support material for the exhibition – hopefully including brochure/catalogue.
Security
The main house (mansion) is occupied, some members of staff live on site, and there are other residents living in rented accommodation. The site is generally reasonably well enclosed, but as a large site, it is impossible to close it all in, and it is close to a main road, and there are some areas which are easily accessed from there, and some which are much further away from the road. One gate is left open all the time for residents access. They have suffered some thefts from the site.
Insurance
The venue has its own Public Liability Insurance, but has asked us to provide our own, which we will do as a Group and as individuals (everybody who exhibits will be asked for proof of insurance). At my request, the venue is consulting its insurers regarding theft/damage insurance – but don’t hold your breath.
Management
Carol Orwin has volunteered to administrate submissions
Mike Bigland has volunteered to administrate output data (labels, catalogue lists, etc)
We need volunteer(s) to manage the exhibition overall – hands up!
AOB
More information about the venue is available on their website here: http://www.spetchleygardens.co.uk