ArtStart grants of up to $10,000…

If you are a recent graduate or a final year student in any of the creative arts, then you should definitely check this website out! 

The Australia Council for the Arts are offering ArtStart grants that could provide you with up to $10,000 to help get your arts career on its way.  The Australia Council makes 200 grants available each year. 

Check out http://www.artstartgrant.com.au/ for more information and to apply, and make 2011 your year to express, impress, and inspire!

Please use the facebook and/or twitter buttons below to share this post with your friends and followers.

© Copyright Australia Council for the Arts

wish me luck!

I have completed my application for a planning permit and will be submitting it today.  The process from here looks something like this –

  1. The council will assess the application to see if anything is missing or if they require further clarification (1 month)
  2. The council will mail all of the residents in the local area that this application may affect (1 month)
  3. We’ll address any objections and hopefully the permit will be issued (1 month) 

Whilst this application is being assessed, I will use 49 Porter Street Prahran under its current permit as an office for my emerging art business. 

Let the clock start now!

houston, we have a problem pt.2

I have finally got my head around this whole planning permit application process.  I don’t like it, and I think it is a huge waste of time, but I have my head around it.

As all planning applications are public documents, it was easy enough for me to access applications that other galleries have lodged in the past.  It took two days, but the planning officer at the City of Stonnington dug them out of the archives for me.  This has been helpful for 2 reasons –

  1. I was able to see the errors and omissions on those applications and the areas where the council required additional information.  Hopefully this will ensure that my application can be ‘complete and correct’ the first time
  2. I was able to see the timeframes between the initial application and the approval of the permit.  In one case it was three months and in the other, four.

I’ve stopped stressing about these timeframes as we are developing some creative ways to deal with these hurdles.  Necessity is the mother of invention, so we’re getting inventive.  Watch this space for further details…

delays, delays, and more delays

Before I start this post, please let me apologise to all those people (artists in particular) that were expecting a late Jan / early Feb opening.  I now know that this is not going to happen.

As reported yesterday, I need to submit a planning application to the council so that I may use the property as a gallery.

In addition to the delays that this process will cause, my little 50sqm gallery space is not registering as important to the tradespeople whose help I need to get it ready.  Some tradies are even putting in unrealistic quotes because ‘…this job is too small to be worth my while’.  That is their exact wording. 

As all other jobs are dependent on it, the very first job that I need done is the floor.  I have ripped up all of the carpet and underlay to reveal the concrete slab.  The concrete needs to be ground back so that all marks are removed and so the surface is as flat s it can be.  Once that is done, two coats of clear polyurethane are put down to give it a glossy look.

Annoyingly, it has taken 9 days to get someone in to quote and the earliest that they can start the job is 26 Jan.  The job takes 3 days to do and 2 days to dry… and if you’re interested $3300 to complete.

This means that all other jobs need to be put on hold until 1 Feb.  Wall Installation, Painting, Hanging System, Lighting.  All on hold until after the floors are done.

So depending on the council, I think the earliest opening date is now the end of February.  The positive in all of this is it gives our artists (and me) an extra month to produce some more work!

houston, we have a problem

I have had an action item on my ‘to do list’ for a couple of months now.  An action item which wasn’t prioritised due to the fact that I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal.  An action item which I thought was a ‘nice to do’ rather than a ‘must do’.  I couldn’t have been more wrong…

I met with the council today.  I was in the area so I moseyed on in to meet and greet my local representatives.  Actually, my intention was to set up an appointment to discuss all of the things that I needed to know about setting up a business in the City of Stonnington.

I was quickly referred to talk to the people ‘across the hall’, the people in ‘P-L-A-N-N-I-N-G’.  *gulp*

To cut what is becoming a long story into a short one, the property in which I intend to open the gallery currently has a council-issued ‘permit’ to be used as an office.  If I want to change that (which I do), then I need to apply to the council for a new permit.   The worst things about this process are

  1. the application costs $502;
  2. the process represents a significant amount of work; and
  3. it may take months to be approved (if at all). 

I have also subsequently found out that I cannot serve any alcohol at the gallery opening nights (even though it will be handed out for free) without a ‘Limited Liquor License’.  Looks like I have some ‘applying’ to do.

Until the new permit is approved, I will still be able to use the property as an office to exhibit and sell art, however I won’t be able to have ‘opening hours’ nor ‘opening nights’ and all viewings will need to be done by appointment… not the most effective way to exhbit emerging artists!

Friends, family, artists, followers, this is just another small speed hump on our journey; we will get there!

deconstruction and reconstruction pt.2

Unfortunately, Mr eBay Bargain Hunter did not show up on Monday to remove and collect the internal glass dividing wall and the carpet.

He did however show up yesterday, an hour and a half late and on his own.  I’m not sure how he thought he was going to move over 300kg of glass and over 200kg of carpet on his own; but full credit to him for forcing me into some serious manual labour.  For a grand total of $165.00, this guy got himself over $4000 of goods and an assistant for 4 hours.  Sucker…

As the photos will show, we have turned a neat and tidy useable space into a (an ugly duckling) blank canvas construction zone.  We now have 19 days to turn this space into a swan.

the greatest gift to an artist is

It was one of the greatest gifts I ever received.  A gift that was so thoughtful that I never saw it coming.  A gift that was so well coordinated, that I whilst I didn’t need to do much, I got so much out of it.

It was for my 27th birthday.  A group of four close friends secretly got together to gift me my dream.  I was stunned, humbled, and thrilled.  I am still stunned, humbled, and thrilled!

They knew that I had ‘parked’ my art in favour of the corporate life; but they also knew that my desire to paint, draw, print and exhibit was still running hot.  I had just turned out a new oil pastel series and the works were randomly hanging around the house.  Hanging around for no one to see… just like the 80+ pieces of art that came before it. 

And so, my close friends secretly worked on gifting me my dream.  My dream of a solo public exhibition. 

They organised the space, the grand opening party, a real estate board promoting the exhibition in one of Kensington’s busiest intersections, newspaper ads, and weekly full-page display ads in the local real estate agent’s magazine.

This was the greatest gift that they could give to an (aspiring) artist, and something that I will always be very thankful for.

Something clicked in me that day.  I didn’t quite know what it was at the time but a seed was planted.  A seed that would grow into an idea that would form a concept that would develop into the one hundredth gallery.

The one hundredth gallery aims to give the dream of ‘exhibition’ to all artists.

If you have a friend, relative, or anyone special who is aspiring, emerging or established in their art, why not gift them their dream.  ‘Exhibition Certificates’ for the nine walls within one hundredth gallery are now available.  Please see the ‘PRICING’ page for details and please email me at charles@100thgallery.com for further details and to place an order.

100thgallery has a home!

100thgallery has a home and its everyday name is 49 Porter Street Prahran.  It is just fifty short metres from Greville Street and the Prahran Train Station.  This property has caused no end of drama and headaches for the past 6 months, but all of that is behind me now as I have the keys!

As you can imagine, 100thgallery’s first space needed to tick a number of boxes.

  • not expensive
  • at least 50sqm
  • not expensive
  • not  on a retail strip
  • not expensive
  • close to public transport
  • not expensive

I also wanted 100thgallery’s first space to be a little ‘out of the way’ and in an area that was cool, but not too cool (as too cool = big amounts of cash).  Greville Street is one of the cooler ‘strips’ in Melbourne.  It is forever evolving and has always been pretty good at bespoke offerings, whether it be music, fashion, food & drink, or something else quirky.  Porter Street is the one-way street that runs along the train line between Commercial Road and High Street, intersecting Greville Street at its middle. 

Tick!

49 Porter Street is one of five commercial/retail/office properties at the base of the ‘pret-a-porter’ apartment building about 50m north of Prahran Station and Greville Street (on the Commercial Road side).  It is 5m wide and 10m deep… enough to be divided into two or three smaller exhibition spaces.  For Prahran, it also wasn’t too expensive. 

Tick, tick and tick!

As Christmas/New Year are upon us, trades people are taking a well deserved break.  This means that 49 Porter Street won’t be turned into 100thgallery until January at the earliest.

Watch this space for progress reports and photos! 

Until then it will be hanging sheets and carpet picnics!

the fit out

Provided all works out with the property in the New Year, this is what I have planned for the 100thgallery fit out. The kitchenette is already there, so all I need to do in January is –

–          have the concrete floor polished

–          build three interior walls

–          install the hanging system

–          install gallery lighting

–          paint the whole space

–          put 100thgallery on the window

–          hang some art

–          have a grand opening

Too much for one month?   Almost certainly, but let’s give it a go!

PS. Each room below is 5m across x 3m deep.

proposed floorplan