Blue Line Gallery, Roseville CA
Canon 1D Mark III, 28-70mm F/2.8, 1/25th iso 800
We are fortunate in our town to have an arts program that is supported by the city and the residents. I have been involved with Roseville Arts (www.rosevillearts.org) for a couple of years. Let me just say, "involved" in a very minor way compared to many dedicated people whose time investment makes the program what it is.
The point of this post is to tell everyone about this great event the group just put on. I think it will be a fun read for you, but I'm also hoping some of you might be able to generate interest for a similar event, because this was a good one all the way around. And I'm going to throw in a few fun pictures as well.
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So here is how the Lottery event works:
- Artists were encouraged to donate a piece to the event. Minimum value $200.
- Tickets were sold to the event for $175 per couple.
- The night before the event, there was an artists reception, and a chance to review all the art if you were a donating artist that also bought a ticket for the event.
- On the night of the event, you created an ordered list of pieces that you will select, based on your Lottery ticket and what everyone else chooses (more on this shortly).
- When your Lottery ticket is selected, you pick your piece.
- Raffle tickets were also sold and throughout the evening there were donated prizes raffled off.
- Since there were more pieces donated than tickets sold, the ones not selected entered a live auction.
Most of the artists were local, and it was great to meet them and see their work. We have quite a range of talent and mediums here locally, and I imagine the same is true in your community. We did have one international contributor, the lovely and talented Noriko Oki (http://www.norikooki.com) who attended the event along with her incredibly charming daughter. Her piece was high on my own list.
All the members of the Roseville Arts board, like Kelly Peterson on the left, were in attendance, which was nice for us artists. The event staff did a lot of small touches that really added to the professionalism of the event. See the artist's nametag? That's a picture of his donated piece, along the number of his piece and his name. This made it easy to start a conversation with each other.
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I was kind of fascinated with the sculptures. I do okay with my camera, but being able to create something like this - I don't THINK SO!
As you can see it was a very well attended event.
Getting down to business
They brought in a professional auctioneer, which added another pro touch and he did a good job moving the process along. Veronika Nagy (more about her in a moment) manned the big gold thing, whatever it is called, containing each of our tickets. When she pulled out your ticket, he read your name, and you had to be ready to make your selection.
So each of us had an ordered list of desired pieces, and as the people that went before you selected pieces on your list, you cross them off. The idea being when your name is finally spoken, you know the number of your highest ranked piece. I guess it is sort of like the NFL draft eh?
On the wall behind them are the numbered tickets that go with each piece. When you yell out your number, they take it off the board, and give it to you. You use that to collect your piece on the way out.
This group of volunteers were the ones handing out the numbers and moving the pieces. Just one more thing the organizers did right, plenty of staff to easily get all the work done (any way, it was easy for us in the audience).
Grrrr. Pick me.
In case you were wondering, my own donation was "Koi Swirl," which appeared on the blog some time ago in this post. I did a mounted canvas. One of the board members had told me before the event that she planned to walk out the door with this canvas under her arm, and take it straight to her dining room. And lo and behold she was picked about 10th and was able to do just that.
Veronika Nagy and The Grand Tree
When my name was drawn, a few on our list were already taken. Like a piece of hand crafted jewelry, with an amethyst, my wife's favorite. Sorry Dear. And a beautiful carved wooden bowl and a vase. But serendipity struck and the next one on my list was none other than this gorgeous etching by Veronika Nagy.
I first met Veronika a couple of years ago when she purchased a print of mine at a Roseville Arts fund raiser. Ironically, it was the print that was the subject of my very first post here on the blog. So I really feel good, like we have closed a loop, she has one of mine and now I have one of hers that I will treasure.
Once everyone had made their Lottery selections, the remaining pieces were auctioned off. I bought two. One by Dianne Poinski, whom I met recently. And another by someone named B Worsfold, who I am not familiar with. Googling shows he or she teaches some digital photography classes at a local community colleges. Hopefully I'll run into this photographer sometime soon.
Back to the event itself, of course the crew did one fantastic job both in terms of planning and execution. But I'm most impressed with the format, in terms of effort/dollars expended vs money raised. I have been involved in quite a bit of fundraising, and besides the fun, camaraderie (drinking), it really comes down to how efficient is it to raise the eventual net dollars. Since most time is volunteered. Although I don't know anything about the financial particulars of this event, I suspect it was very efficient.
So if you are involved in a arts group, or want to be (come on, get out there!), here is one event format to consider! The event slogan - "everyone is a winner" - really does work.
A fabulous night, and I, the Lottery Queen, have done it all!
