During our placement with Access Gallery, a large portion of our work was focused on assisting with the preparation, production, and conclusion of XXV: Access Gallery Annual Auction Fundraiser. The auction held particular significance this year as it marked Access’ 25th birthday. In addition to the 60+ works donated by emerging artists, a highlight of XXV was “Message in a Bottle,” a collection of 25 glass bottles containing a contribution from a variety of artists, writers, and thinkers. They considered the question: “With only the slightest of space in which to communicate, what is the message you’d most want to send?” Each bottle contained a unique, interpretive response to this question, the identity of the creator only to be revealed upon breaking the seal of the bottle. This special feature of XXV alluded to Access’ Twenty-Three Days at Sea residency program, playing on the notion of bodies of water and ideas navigating through them. For our creative response, we created a “message in a bottle” of our own that pays tribute to our time with Access and also to the auction specifically. The bottle contains a miniature version of party tassels (decorations) that we made in a larger scale for the auction night. XXV was significant to us because it gave us first-hand insight into the work and dedication that goes into such an event. Beyond our involvement, simply being at the auction and witnessing the community that gathered to support Access, Vancouver’s artistic community, and artist-run culture was inspiring and meaningful.

Access Gallery Internship

My role as intern at Access was characterised primarily in my assistance with preparing for their annual auction fundraiser which took place this year on Nov 19. There is an incredible amount of collective preparation required to ensure the success of this kind of event and my help was needed in tending to a variety of communications oriented tasks.

These include:

Digital Communications: development and continual upkeep of Access’s XXV Auction website (insert link)

• Collating and publishing fundraiser promotional material (ie: details of work on auction, value of work, artist bios, images of the work). This information was gathered from artists and organized in shared google doc files that myself and other administrative members worked from.
• Updating the website with all information/images required weekly communication between admin and myself as artist’s gradually provided all content necessary to publish them online.
• The auction website was generated through Tumblr which I was well equipped at navigating through previous use.
• I was occasionally required to use Photoshop and Illustrator to prepare/edit images for the website as well.

Manual Communication:

• A lot of physical communications via mail needed to be tended to during my internship. I found this a humorous but necessary part of my responsibilities in that physical mail is somewhat of a rarity these days, but the physical tediousness of it is actually quite effective in sending a more personal extension of gratitude from the gallery .
• Personal Invites were written and sent out to the artist’s who contributed prior to the auction.
• Individual tax receipts and Thank-You’s were then sent out again post-auction.

Preview + Auction Night

• My role during the actual evening of the auction as well as the preview night prior was setting up and hosting the bar throughout the evening.
• Liquor inventory was brought up from storage as well as glasses, ice buckets, tablecloths etc to ensure the bar ran gracefully.
• I have extensive experience as a server in the food and beverage industry so I found myself well suited in this role and being able to interact with guests.
• I enjoyed immensely the social aspect of the auction night and had a wonderful time throwing the party alongside board members + volunteers and being in the company all the incredible people who attended.
• Even cleaning wine glasses and helping with the takedown of the event was strangely enjoyable because of the jovial atmosphere of the evening.

Misc tasks:

• Moving and organizing artworks for install and storage.
• Wrapping and labeling works post-auction
• De-installation: patching walls, peeling vinyl
• Assembling auction supplies: plinths, clipboards, labels, alcohol, drink tickets, glassware, making decorations!
• Membership updates (in spreadsheet)
• Writing tax receipts for artists who donated work.

Breakdown of Hours:

-My involvement at Access required me to spend approx. 5 hrs every Wednesday in the gallery, with additional hours being allotted for the Preview and Auction Nights which took place on Nov 15th & 19^th.

-Within the 5 hr span at the gallery I was typically presented with a constellation of different tasks of which to tend to. The first of these was usually doing my habitual update of the website. The other portion of my time went towards a variety of things that changed depending on what part of the timeline we were on regarding the auction.

My involvement at Access ultimately supported the success of this year’s Auction fundraiser and the future funding of the gallery’s experimental programming and support of emergent art practices.

Before my partnership at Access I really had no idea what ‘Arts Admin’ actually entailed. There is so much tedious and attentive work that is required in organising the dissemination of art to an audience, especially in the context of an Artist Run Centre where you are dealing with board members, perpetual grant writing, annual fundraising and so much volunteer contribution from your staff, artists and the general community. So many spreadsheets, emails, phone calls, and physical labour combust in the background of a gallery in order to provide that sacred space where art can live and be considered. I think I found myself overwhelmed by the scope of this all during my time at Access, not in that these tasks for organizing were difficult for me to contribute and help with, but I definitely understand clearly now that my energy and passion is better suited and finds continuous renewal in the actual making of art/exhibtion.  I think I found myself a bit internally frustrated in being a creative person and not being able to have that much authorship over the project I was helping support. I think what Access is and does is so so great and I learned a lot through observation at my time here but I realized I’m most suited to looser creative formations and collective engagements.

Resume:

Access Gallery, Vancouver BC

Communications Intern Sept-Dec 2016

Key assisting role in general arts administration for the gallery, working primarily in the support of Access’s 25th Anniversary Annual Auction Fundraiser.

-Tasks included auction website development and habitual editing and publishing of content + images.

-Key assistance in fundraising preparation: organising guest invitations, gallery installation, event support and bar hosting.

-Administrative support post-fundraiser: deinstallation, organizing and labelling of works for pick up, sending of tax receipts to donors.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/114w0ma68qHDuHNNdkiPmghudr8qo0DCJhEvPSEi28bE/edit?usp=sharing

The main thing I will be focusing on in the first portion of my time at Access will be their Annual Auction Fundraiser. This is one of the gallery’s biggest events and their most important fundraiser of the year. It’s Access’ 25th anniversary this year and the auction will feature donated works by nearly 70 established and emerging artists, all of which will be displayed at the gallery between Nov 14-19th, with the main Auction event taking place on the evening of the 19th. I will have varying roles of assistance in the extensive preparation required to organize this event, as well as being present and providing support the night of the main event. I will primarily working alongside Access’ Kimberly Phillips as well as her assistant Jennifer Dickieson, maintaining communication via e-mail but also through working in tandem at the gallery office.

Some of the tasks discussed include:

-Helping in the development of the auction website (I’ve already begun inputting artist’s works/bios to advertise who will be participating in the auction)

http://accessauction.tumblr.com/

-Photographing artist works as they arrive at the gallery in the coming weeks.

-Helping in properly storing and labelling all artist work’s in Access storage space.

-Assisting Kimberly in writing/sending personal invites for the auction

-Exhibition installation. This will mean organizing and consolidating all works based on Kimberly’s curation layout, as well as helping with basic installation needs such as painting

-The night of the event I will likely be assisting with the bar and providing assistance with auction inquiries

These are details discussed in my first week with Access but other needs will likely come up organically as the project develops!

My current schedule to see out the project will involve working in the gallery office once a week for approx 3-5 hours. Closer to the event I can expect increased involvement and participation at the gallery. Some technical work (ie: website upkeep) can be done on my own time outside the office if I see fit.