What's the long-term outlook for traditional galleries and art shows after the pandemic?

The disruption to galleries and art shows will continue and accelerate. Many won’t survive—potentially 50% or more of galleries may close. Those that do survive will likely demand higher commission percentages (60-65% instead of 50%) just to stay alive financially, and they’ll have other artists ready to replace you if you don’t agree. Art shows and fairs face similar challenges: if attendance is down and booth participation is down due to ongoing health concerns and changed consumer behavior, their business model doesn’t work—similar to restaurants trying to operate at 50% capacity with razor-thin margins. As artists realize they can be more effective marketing from home than attending shows or relying on galleries, demand for these traditional channels will continue to decline. The virus isn’t going away quickly, international travel is impacted, and consumer habits have permanently shifted toward online purchasing. The traditional model is facing an existential crisis.

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Asked by synthesized from teaching · Answered by Patrick Shanahan and Nick Friend · art-marketing-podcast · 2020-06-15