Apologies, March already
So, I am posting a lot on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok too plus developing the Campaign for The Heart of Swanage. Blogging on here is getting slightly lost in the mix.
So, January saw me collect two business awards. The one I posted about from Swanage Town Council then a Purbeck Business award for Freelancer / Self employed award sponsored by ‘ The Purple Accountants’ this offers some follow up with some of the sponsors and networking opportunities that I will be keen to embrace.
I admit there is now a mini display of the two awards to direct people to if an interest is shown and locals who saw it covered in the local press. At Chamber of Trade meeting it was mentioned and the whole idea of self-nomination and customer feedback was raised too for others to try as a means of promotion
January and February were good months for Art for Fun, sales are down against previous years but the strategy for that is to just keep plugging away.
Most shop days I have the card carousel outside as a conversation starter – often under the sun parasol which doubles as an umbrella too. I also have a sign on the door encouraging people to come in and I am keeping the heat in the shop.
I bought new storage furniture to replace the bulky garden tables that I used to have and I have managed to open up more space inside and have two tables permanently set up for Art for Fun too.
I am looking forward to it being warm enough to work outside again, but that isn’t yet.
The window display is changed monthly to reflect projects I am working on and also I am keeping the birch tree I did for Christmas which now sports some spring leaf growth and will be added to as the year progresses. There is the total counter for Art for Fun (which is hand written of course – even with participants helping with the maths to what the revised total will be).
I made a video yesterday of the shop showing layout which has had good views online.
March plans –
– developing new work for Purbeck Art Weeks so hopefully when the Rollington list opens on April 1st I will have everything ready.
– new pieces based on local walks but also possibly linked to New Zealand holiday last year and Seville last week
– encouraging a steady use of art for fun with indoors seating with heating whatever the weather outdoors.
– The Heart of Swanage Campaign which has now seen a newsletter go out to our 37 businesses on March 1st and a developing digital map for a leaflet maps to be ready hopefully for Easter and to Swanage Information Centre and looking at accommodation places to have it too. In 5 days already 20/37 businesses have agreed to take part which is very encouraging with any other ideas in mind. The emphasis being on low cost solutions to start with but more activities linked to town events to make us a core part of occasions in the town.
– chatting to visitors repeat and new of course
– oh and I still have so much of my portfolio not online yet as that ground to a halt again so I need to get myself back on track with that too.
Anyone reading these posts feedback welcomed.
Andy
<div class='sharedaddy sd-block sd-like jetpack-likes-widget-wrapper jetpack-likes-widget-unloaded' id='like-post-wrapper-123416164-10173-6a108b5f575a1' data-src='https://widgets.wp.com/likes/?ver=15.9-a.3#blog_id=123416164&post_id=10173&origin=andyknillart.com&obj_id=123416164-10173-6a108b5f575a1' data-name='like-post-frame-123416164-10173-6a108b5f575a1' data-title='Like or Reblog'><h3 class="sd-title">Like this:</h3><div class='likes-widget-placeholder post-likes-widget-placeholder' style='height: 55px;'><span class='button'><span>Like</span></span> <span class="loading"><svg class="jetpack-spinner" width="18" height="18" viewBox="0 0 100 100" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"><circle cx="50" cy="50" r="46" fill="none" stroke="#ddd" stroke-width="8"/><path d="M 50 4 A 46 46 0 0 1 96 50" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="8" stroke-linecap="round"><animateTransform attributeName="transform" type="rotate" dur="1.4s" from="0 50 50" to="360 50 50" repeatCount="indefinite"/></path></svg><span class="screen-reader-text">Loading…</span></span></div><span class='sd-text-color'></span><a class='sd-link-color'></a></div>