Show As Much As Tell In An Art Gallery Opening Press Release

In the art world, there is really only one way to attract buyers: Show them the art. To gain valuable earned media exposure and bring your gallery opening to top-of-mind awareness among news media, and through them, your potential customers, a press release targeted to art-industry influencers – journalists, bloggers, art critics, arts and entertainment editors and website curators – must be exciting, visually interesting, clear and specific. It’s imperative that your news content and the all-important accompanying images thoroughly detail your gallery’s unique offerings.

A newsworthy press release promoting an art event – from a one-person show to the opening of a new gallery – must be crafted in the correct style to show journalists that you’re not looking for free advertising. Instead, your press release should provide interesting information and details that make your content fit in the “news” category instead of advertising. This requires a completely different strategy than the typical art opening advertising campaign.

Include photos of the art and featured artist with your press release to gain media and consumer attention for an art gallery opening

Art is perhaps the most visual industry there is. Photographs always are important in creating newsworthy content, and are especially important when publicizing a new art gallery or exhibit opening. It’s imperative to provide a selection of professional images that will quickly grab the attention of journalists and help fire up the imaginations of readers. It’s also a good idea to include the featured artist in a photo along with the art, to make the presentation more personal and attract attention to both the artist and his or her creations.

Remember, you’re selling both the artist and the product, plus the feeling buyers have when they view and own the art. High art is aimed at helping buyers create a lifestyle. However, most journalists are not interested in this focus, but instead on what your art or new gallery is bringing to the art world that is new or different. There’s always a newsworthy angle for an art press release, from unique materials and styles to brand-new or famous and sought-after artists. Be prepared to outline all the features that make your gallery and artists stand out from the competition and always provide high-quality images.

Be sure to follow up with leading industry journalists and provide tickets to your art opening, since they can create a follow-up article on the event itself if they are there in person. Being invited to attend an exclusive gallery or art exhibit opening is considered a perk to industry journalists and treating them well at the beginning will help build a long relationship that can result in more earned media over time.

As with every press release, follow these seven steps to create newsworthy content that journalists can use without spending too much of their valuable time re-writing.

1. Determine your angle and write a concise headline and one-sentence summary/sub-headline. Be sure not to repeat the same information in your headline when creating your summary.
2. Write a newsworthy lead paragraph (between 30 and 50 words long) that includes answers to the important questions of what, who, when, where, why and how. The lead must be interesting enough to persuade journalists – and through them, potential customers – to keep reading.
3. Follow your lead with two to five paragraphs with supporting details and at least two professional-quality photographs. Providing several images will allow journalists to select those which they like the best, so be sure to include only images that truly show off the art and artist.
4. Be sure to include your gallery’s website or the artist or event landing page for readers to find additional information on the gallery, artists and opening, and how to purchase art online.
5. Include at least one good quote from the featured artist. Additional quotes from the gallery owner and happy buyers – including their full first and last name and the city and state (or at least the region of the country, such as East Coast, New England, Southwest or West Coast) in which they reside – will add credibility to your content.
6. Finish up with your company boilerplate.
7. Be sure to include complete media contact information for follow-up questions or an interview, including name, title, email and direct phone.

Show As Much As Tell In An Art Gallery Opening Press Release –  Next Step:

Reaching just the right collection of journalists is always the most important part of a press release campaign. FaselisGrowth is a superior way to get your press release into the in-box of the right selection of journalists and influencers. Best of all, including images is a snap – Faselis’ platform allows you to provide journalists with an unlimited number of images and videos as thumbnails that won’t clog up their in-box, yet provides for easy downloading of high-resolution files.

by Jill McCoomber