For the Sake of Art

Franklin Street is arguably the most important street in all of Chapel Hill, yet businesses that are not food-oriented seem to come and go and never establish themselves as staples of Franklin. Nonetheless, this has not discouraged business owners to become the exception to this rule. In April, the Frank art gallery opened its doors to offer local artists a place to show their work. Despite the contradiction of Franklin Street businesses, the Frank art gallery has proven to be a success even during the slow moving months of summer.

Frank gallery can easily be distinguished within the blocks of Franklin Street because of its colorful displays and inviting exhibits. Once you enter the gallery you are overwhelmed by the art-covered walls, filled with every type of art from sculptures to painting, and even a mixture of both in paintings filled with poetry.

The insides of the gallery are not the only unique thing that Frank possesses. Its success is mostly due to their special business model which proposes an innovative way to support the gallery and integrate itsmembers. With this strategy, the gallery is not only financially secure but also holds a sense of ownership for many of the artists.

According to Frank gallery’s website, their revenue comes mostly from their artists. Frank hold two types of artists.  The first type is member artists who double as board members and help out in the day to day running of the gallery, but who also get 75 % of the earning from their artwork and have a secure spot on the gallery’s walls.

The other type of artists is a consignment artist, which do not handle as many responsibilities as a member but still count for the majority of the artists at the gallery. These artists get 50% of the revenue of their sales.

Nonetheless, artists are expected to pay a monthly fee and do everything possible to establish Frank gallery increase its visibility as a “premier arts destination.”

Despite being open for a short time, the business model has seemed to surpass the test of fire: summer. During this time Chapel Hill, being a college town, vacates, making business lose most of their clientele. However, to the Frank gallery, this did not seem like too much of a problem.

“Summer was slower but we did okay, but because we had just opened we were able to talk to people and create interest,” says Barbara Rich, manager of Frank Gallery.

This strategy of making an impression on those who show some interest in the gallery has certainly paid off. Frank has increased the number of artists present at the gallery up to a total of 81, both members and cosigned.

“Sometimes although revenue, is not happy, you kind of need those times so that you’re not just going, going, going, and so that you can think about how to strategize your business and where we want to be and where we want to point our outreach and education,” explains Rich.

It was Rich’s determination to relate the gallery to their visitors and clientele that kept the gallery strong through the less busy seasons. One of the strategies that they utilized was having their TGI Thursday’s events. Something that started out as a way for fellow artists to meet one another during the construction of the gallery has now become a trademark of Frank.

Additionally, on Thursdays, Frank gallery normally holds an event open to everyone to appreciate art, literature or live music.

“We started doing it for ourselves… and we had everyone meet; have some wine and then we didn’t want to stop it so we decided to just open it to the public. It’s free; it’s open; anybody can come,” said Rich. “We’ve had Deep Dish come, the Playmakers. It takes time to spread the word but I think we did that quite well over the summer.”

According to Rich, it is Frank’s diverse clientele, which has helped them keep strong during the summer, from a combination of factors like the price range of $20 to $10,000, to clients coming from out of state, to Chapel Hill’s own students and locals.

“I am surprised, happily surprised, how many people come from outside the Chapel Hill area. People come in from Raleigh. We have a lot of people who come when they’re out of town, they’ll stop by and meet the artists,” says Rich, explaining that Frank gallery is not focused simply on those locals around the gallery. According to Rich, people  on vacation, or parents of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill students would come in to the gallery and fall in love with a piece, hence making them buy it even if they lived outside of the state. Rich also clarified that they have shipped artwork to states such as Kentucky, New York, Florida and Texas. “That makes me happy because you know people of New York who buy your work, and you know there is no shortage of artwork in New York,” said Rich. “It really is reinforcing as to the quality of our work.”

The effort that is being put in to the Frank gallery can be clearly seen on all of its walls and in the staff attitude and demeanor. Nevertheless, Franklin Street proven to be a hard place to maintain a non-food related business.  

However, Rich is hopeful that there will be a cultural revival on Franklin Street and that this will help Frank Gallery to position itself as a long-term art gallery.

“I also think there is a whole new revival going on … with 140 West, Franklin Square, that this whole area is going to be sophisticated a little bit,” expresses Rich. “That is one thing that I am hoping will work.”

While Frank gallery is still planning to keep their business model, it hopes to be a self-sustained business. Nonetheless, Rich knows that Frank’s main goal is to be able to stay open and be able to showcase the work of their talented artists.

“We’ll have to see how it goes. Whether we are going to be able to support ourselves from the sale of art, remains to be seen. We will still do fundraising, grant writing and we’ll just have to see,” says Rich. “Otherwise we won’t be able to show any art, no matter how good it is.”