Thursday

This was the last day of class. I could not believe it! It was really a short and fulfilling semester! The professor and my classmates were very nice and helpful. I grew from a finance student who did not understand the field of art to someone who could write a business plan about the entrepreneurship in the business of art. Those great presentations from my classmates broadened my horizon. I started to appreciate and understand different forms of art. In addition, I really admired my professor’s knowledge and language. When she gave us feedback, her sentences were very logical, step by step and clear. I was amazed by the large volume of vocabulary and the coherence of her speech. I decided to take another art history class and a writing class next semester. I should not be a person who only knew economics and the finance field, I wanted to be a well-rounded student who could talk and write well and have the knowledge in the world of art.

I liked Jennifer’s presentation best because her idea was similar to mine. The only difference was that she was the designer of the software, whereas I was the middle person between the two artists’ work and target clients. Her presentation was so much better than mine. She added her background information as an art gallery intern which explained why she understood and was able to design the software. I thought I should include my experience as an Equity sales intern at Hudson Securities and a marketing intern at a small investment bank at NYC too. Due to my previous experience, I had a large clientele base. I was experienced at making cold calls and knew how to communicate with clients and pitch my products. I guessed this explained why I was suitable to be the middle person to bring clients. Today I also knew that actually Kevin Burg was Jamie Beck’s fiancé, they would build a family later! The couple thought my idea of how to apply their work to advertisement field was creative and great. They never thought that their art work could be used that way. They agreed to build partnership with me if this business really starts.

Wednesday

Finally done with my presentation, slept for the whole afternoon!

The two professors and my classmates gave me a lot of valuable feedbacks for my final project. There were still some grey areas I needed to work on. For example, with the fact that GIF technique already exists, I should pay more attention to the two artists, not the cinemagraph. The two artists created this new art, but as time moves, other experts might also be able to create them. However, most of them cannot do as great as the collaboration of my artists. I should be the agency or the representative of these two artists, like the speak person for the famous movie actors to promote their work to target clients and to show their special talent and uniqueness. The second part was that instead of showing a lot of pictures, I should focus more on how my business would operate, such as how to reach clients, how to promote my artists’ work, which means more about my entrepreneurship instead of the art work itself. Thirdly, some of my classmates still did not know how the moving pictures came out. I should include a more detailed description of this technique, for instance, what GIF was, how the two artists took photos and edit. The last one was that I mainly asked clients near my area or my favorite places at NYC. I should ask more and do more research in order to show that how many target clients would respond to my business.

These were just the most important areas I needed to work on, certainly there were more which I would try my best to solve them in the final business plan.

Thank you so much for everyone’s precious feedback today!

Tuesday

Since I would do the final presentation tomorrow, I consulted the professor today. The professor was nice and patient to me. Being a foreign student who had little knowledge of art history, this field was really unfamiliar to me. I tried extremely hard for everyday readings and the final project. My idea changed a lot since the beginning. The professor was telling me in detail what was inappropriate and what was missing. I improved a lot and understood more about what art was and what the final project should look like. In the end, I decided to be the agency to introduce, publicize and promote “Cinemagraphs”, and to contact, communicate, negotiate and settle deals between artists and target clients so as to apply and maximize the advantages and benefits of this new type of art and bring economic value and more profits to clients. The professor emphasized that I should describe more about the technique and exactly what “cinemagraph” was. Currently it was a bit confusing.

The comments were really helpful. I would be an all-nighter tonight to work on my presentation tomorrow. In addition, the professor said that the writing in my previous blogs was not good. I had some problems with grammar and expression. I felt so sorry that I am not a good writer. However, I kept on reading “On Writing Well”, and would go back and rewrite some entries. Knowing that a good writer cannot be achieved overnight, I would be continuously practicing writing blogs after this class was over.

Monday

During today’s class, everyone presented their mission statement for their project. I voiced my idea of in what form my project would come out. The professor and some of my classmates thought that open an art gallery might not be a good idea, and they gave me another choice—being the agency between the artists and the clients.

That is a great idea indeed! I think many restaurants, casinos, fashion field etc will be interested in the cinemagraphs. I plan to act as the agency to introduce, negotiate and settle the deal between the artists’ designs and other clients' requests. Restaurants, casinos and Cosmetics companies perhaps want to use their technique to make the pictures of their place look more vivid and trendy in their online advertisements. In addition, we can also use this technique in the wall advertisements at every bus station. I already talked to some restaurants managers, Cosmetics sellers, a movie theater manager (can design a moving poster for upcoming movies instead of a stable one) and a fashion designer at NYC, most of them were interested in this type of art, and were willing to try to use this instead of their original normal photos.

Friday

Today we visited Mark Murray Fine Arts. The place was so nice, classy, the furniture was with an antique style and all the paintings were very well drawn. I felt so elegant walking inside the place. Personally I thought this place was much better than Gagosian Gallery in terms of the art work displayed and the atmosphere. I would rather stay here for a long time and visit more frequently.

I came up with an idea that perhaps in stead of selling software of the “moving photos” technology, I could think out other ways of doing the business. For example, I could use a screen or certain types of mirror or texture to display the moving photos within a frame on the wall. Like the paintings I saw today. I could decorate the place as classy as this one and create different themes according to the pictures. Customers could just buy the moving photos within a frame and put it on their wall, as other paintings. I can also customize the art work by letting the customers give us their own photos, we edit for them and then sell the finished one to customers. This might be a better idea than the software, because in order to create software I need to ask for help from computer programmers, manufacturers and the artists. It is actually quite complicated. However, if I open a Gallery for this type of art, I could mass produce some pictures, and sell to customers. This way is perhaps more doable.

Thursday

Today, I found the blog of Jamie Beck, the photographer for cinemagraphs. I left a message to her to ask whether she wanted to collaborate with me if I launched a business.

I also copied and pasted all the moving photos online to my facebook and Renn (a Chinese networking tool, similar to facebook), asking my friends’ opinions about this new form of art, and how much they were willing to pay for it.

The responses were like:

"WOW! It's amazing!"
"Incredible and brilliant use of the nuances in each photo!"
"Wow!!! I'm bowled by your volume of know-how. I am so fascinated. I think you have in-depth knowledge on this matter. Carry on. Thumbs up!"
"Just awesome, I love the unique style of these animations."

In respect to how much they were willing to pay, different people had different viewpoints. It depended on in what forms this type of art would come out. Some students said that if they could buy the software for this below 100 dollars, they would consider.

Because most of my friends are students, these comments may be a bit biased. I should ask some adults who are already working and have more money to spend on art work. Let’s wait for Jamie Beck’s response first.

Wednesday

Today, we visited Gagosian Gallery. There were a lot of art in the form of trashed mobiles, huge and interesting. They made me realize that visual art can be in any form and inspired me to pay more attention to things surrounding me because perhaps I could find or create one type of visual art myself one day.

The sales girl was nice and she talked a lot about her work. I thought clients who purchased this art would mainly put it in their garden or yard since it was too big to be put inside a room. They are metals and hence are very heavy. Personally I think the owner of the art gallery is a bit risk taking. This type of art is not as classy and elegant as paintings or sculptures, so the amount of customers will be less. In addition, by its size and weight, the price of the art work should not be cheap. Thirdly, this type of art is new, hence may not be well recognized like other art work. However, the sales girl said that they were continuously making profits, which made me realize that my knowledge in the field of art was indeed too little. If the entrepreneur decided to start this business, he should have investigated thoroughly already. Hence, in respect to my project, I should ask more about others’ opinions, as many as possible, whether my potential customers are willing to buy, and not limiting to my own personal judgment. I also learnt that I should have courage, hardworking spirit and consistency if I wanted to start a business.  

Tuesday

Today everyone presented her final project and there were a lot of feedback. Everyone put in effort on the final project and the feedback from my professor and my peers were extremely beneficial.

The feedbacks I receive were as following: 1. This art is created by the other two artists, they are the inventors, how am I going to convince them to do business with/for me. 2. Customers need to send several photos for editing, I do not know whether and how much they are willing to pay for the service. 3. I have not done a survey or research about whether there is market for my product/service yet. 4. Perhaps I could think out another way of doing business, such as a software of the cinemagraphs. In this way, I only need to gather the two artists one time, customers do not need to send their photos over but can edit themselves whenever and wherever once they buy the software. The fees will also be lowered. I am going to do a survey on this product first. Perhaps I will ask 60 people on the street, ask whether they are willing to buy this product and how much they are willing to pay. Or I should just survey people online, this way I could ask more people all over NYC and save much time.

Saturday

Today I read “Blogs Make Money”, which was sent by my classmate, Sally A Downs. It was very helpful and gave me the confidence that actually an entrepreneurship in the business of art could make a lot of money. They taught me how to succeed. “What the successful have in common is a passion for their subject and a near-compulsion to share what they know. Advertising, merchandising, offline events, book deals, donations and sometimes sheer luck also play a part.”

For my project, I am considering using a website to sell my service. In this way, customers worldwide can buy our service. They can send their original photos for free, then the artists will edit them to make them “moving photos”. We will charge for example 8 dollars for every photo. I am also considering using Google’s AdSense service to make more money.

Friday

After consulting the professor individually, I realized that the 3D street art entrepreneurship was not a good idea since other people have already taken that idea. Hence I started researching about the other idea Jamie Beck’s Animated GIF Photography http://www.amusingplanet.com/2011/04/jamie-becks-animated-gif-photography.html

Photos have officially entered the 21st Century with the invention of the "cinemagraph."—it is "something more than a photo but less than a video." It is a photo with a slight hint of movement.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, photographer Jamie Beck and graphic artist Kevin Burg use GIFs, which is a similar picture format to the popular JPEG. By painstakingly adding motion graphics, the pictures then gain movement. "There's movement in everything and by capturing that plus the great things about a still photograph you get to experience what a video has to offer without the time commitment a video requires."

This is pretty new, and I am sure that few people have started a business idea on this type of art yet since it is created in 2011. I am thinking perhaps I can get in touch with these two artists and start an online service so that customers can send their normal photos and the artists will edit them to moving photos or something else.

Thursday

Today Sara Schiller gave us a presentation of “Wooster Collective”, which she talked about her entrepreneurship about Graffiti and Street Art. Her presentation was inspirational and motivating. I understood that “You make your own luck”. To succeed in an endeavor, one must have consistency, passion, dedication, self-confidence and is open to feedback.

There were a lot of pictures during her presentation and on their website. Those pictures were very engaging, and gave us a good idea of what her art work was about. During my presentation, I will use a lot of pictures too.

By surfing the Internet, I came up with two ideas for the final project. One was another type of street art—3D,

http://www.google.com/search?q=street+art&hl=zh-CN&prmd=ivnslb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=L27hTb816cHQAb_L6bUH&ved=0CCcQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=633

the other was Jamie Beck’s Animated GIF Photography. http://www.amusingplanet.com/2011/04/jamie-becks-animated-gif-photography.html

I am going to ask the professor whether my idea is doable tomorrow.

Similarity

Wed

Today, every group presented what their museum focused on, its mission statement, the background information and its business models etc. There were some similarities between the Marten Arts Gallery case study and today’s discussion.

                                 

The first similarity is the galary marketing - online presence. Every museum has a comprehensive website that provides information about it. In the case of our presentation, the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), their website has all the information we need. It is well structured, engaging, with a lot of pictures and easy to search. Similarly, Pal, from the Marten Arts Gallery case study, took advantage of online services to create as much publication and awareness for his gallery.

The other similarity is that they need money for galaries to function and survive. For MAD, it has membership fees, donations from individuals, sponsorship and rental service. Pal also found ways to save his gallery, such as selling his works on the internet, expanding to a Stratford location etc.

Focus on the customer

Tuesday 

During today’s presentation, Julien Brinas said that for publication and marketing of ideas or products, one should focus on the customer. I agreed with this. No matter how great and creative one’s idea is, if very few people know it, it will fail. That is why companies spending so much money on advertisements these days. I should have business intelligence and gather as much data as I could from the beginning.

Therefore, for my own project, I will pay a lot of money to make my idea or project appear in the first few lines or at least the first page of the Google Search. For consumers, they usually feel that the first few choices on the Google Search are the best, and they have very few chances to turn to the second web page if there are already plenty similar options on the first web page. Then I will use marketing tools such as surveys from random people and investigations of the financial statements of existing similar businesses to get a rough idea of who the target customers are and the approximated profit of my plan.

First class

Monday

This was our first class. As a business student, balance sheets, equities, marketing and entrepreneurship are my everyday studies. However, I have never touched the field of art. Nearly everyone except me in my class is an art student. The professor is really elegant and nice. To be honest, my classmates were quite different from my economics class students. I could feel that they are art people, not quantitative people. By communicating with the professor and my classmates, I had a better idea of what this class was about. Initially, I just thought that this was an art history class, but now I understood that we were going to write a business plan from art. Interesting! I have written a few business plans and have done numerous presentations before, but never in the field of art. It was a challenge to me! From today, I should start learning more about art and discover one type of art to start my business. Currently I am a piece of blank paper, I need more content!

Why do I deserve an A for this course

Now it is June 10^th, the last day of this summer class. By learning this course, I have developed an interest in working within the visual arts industry, I deserve an A not only because of my full attendance, active class participation and well-done assignments, but also because I learned to generate new ideas and help shape them into feasible projects.

For Module One (DEPARTURE), I completed all the readings and participated actively during class discussions. I successfully discussed the readings that set the intellectual framework and examine the history of established institutions within the industry. I tried my best and met up with my partners for the case studies. I collaborated well with other members and have thoroughly studied the main characteristics of each institution, scholarly journal, or commercial paper before visits in the second week.

Module Two (JOURNEY): When visiting galleries, auction houses, and other commercial establishments, I communicated with workers there and asked a lot of questions. It helped me understand many business models, it also gave me ample examples for the later discussion of the various types of businesses within the field of art. I also collaborated well with my partner Isabella for the business project “Museum of art and design” and presented in front of class.

For Module Three (RETURN) In the end, I incorporated what I learned from the visits and told the class how I was thinking of bridging the intellectual questions my projects is trying to answer to the practical aspects of setting up a business. My final project was especially well done, since I spent most of my time on it. Since I have plenty public speaking and interview experiences, I guarantee my presentation will be to the point and engaging.

Since this is the only summer course I am taking and all my friends left New York City during this period of time, I am very committed to this class. I declared that I have tried my best to do all the assignments, case studies, projects etc. Since I am always a hardworking student, the quality of my school work is always guaranteed. Based on all the above, I think I deserve an A for this course.