9 Alternative Ways Your Art Gallery Can Make Money

Finding alternative ways your art gallery can make money is important knowledge for new startup galleries and existing ones, and even more so if your art business is currently struggling.

The main source of income for art galleries is the sale of art and the commission taken from each artwork sold.?

At times though, art sales can be variable whereas the costs associated with running a gallery are fixed; so it’s crucial not to put all of your eggs in one basket and find other revenue streams.

While these methods can also be applied to galleries selling on the secondary market or those that operate as non-profit organisations reliant on government funding; we’ll mostly be focusing on small to medium-sized businesses predominantly selling contemporary art on the primary market.??

9 Alternative Ways Your Art Gallery Can Make Money

Despite the passion involved with running an art gallery, it’s a business and as such, it needs to generate a sustainable income or it will fail.

As mentioned, the main source of income for an art gallery is the sale of art, but sometimes art sales can slow down or even grind to a depressingly sudden halt; so to help counter that and keep the lights on in your gallery, here are 9 alternative ways your art gallery can make money.

Taking Your Inventory Online

It cannot be stressed enough that your art business needs a professional website, it’s essential in the modern art market and without one, you’re severely limiting your opportunities.

Building on that, a website alone isn’t going to be a direct source of income so to monetise it and get the best out of your online gallery space, an e-commerce solution is highly recommended.

By listing your art inventory online and actively promoting it through your content marketing efforts, you increase your chances of finding new buyers and being found by new buyers.

Instead of relying solely on local visitors or tourists coming into your physical space, you can be selling artworks all over the world.

There are many pros and cons of running an online art gallery but with solid digital marketing efforts, you increase the potential of your art gallery’s success tenfold.?

Providing Art Services

There are numerous art services you can provide as a means of increasing revenue and the possibilities are pretty limitless as long as you have the expertise and specialists to back them up.

You don’t necessarily need to have the staff employed for these services, you can outsource them to a reputable specialist and take a cut in the process.

A few ideas of art services to provide include:

Art Advisory - You can offer bespoke, expert advice on art investment and/or interior design to guide your customers in purchasing the right artworks for them.

Art Installation - You should have a way of offering this service to your customers, after all, someone must have installed the artworks in your gallery.

Art Valuation - This may or may not be a service you directly provide as a gallery operating on the primary market, but remember, people that have existing art collections may look to galleries first when trying to sell so this can be a sought-after service.

Picture Framing - A service like this can provide you with the perfect opportunity to establish and build a strong relationship with a local picture framing business, which will also benefit you when using their services.

Selling Fine Art Prints

One of the most effective ways to appeal to customers that have a more restricted budget and perhaps can’t stretch to buy an original artwork is by offering fine art prints.?

You can use different types of prints to appeal to different budgets within the restricted budget spectrum.?

Generally speaking, from least to most valuable, the different types of fine art prints are:

Open Edition Prints - Reproduction artworks printed in an unlimited quantity.

Limited Edition Prints - Reproduction artworks created in a limited print run that are usually hand-signed and numbered by the artist or their representative. Due to their limited nature, these artworks can be considered collectable.

Hand-Finished Prints - These are limited edition prints that have then been hand embellished by the artist behind the original work, each one having a unique finish; further adding to the collectability of the print.?

Artist Proof Prints - These prints stem from the process of creating the limited edition prints and are the test prints that aren’t part of the numbered collection. As test prints in a much lower number than the edition they go onto become, these are rare and can be considered collectable.?

Offering Gallery Memberships

To make money by offering a gallery membership you need to make sure the membership is worthwhile for the member.?

Whether that’s by giving them free access to events and exhibitions you host or giving them a fixed percentage discount across your collection is up to you, but it needs to offer them something worthwhile.

No one wants to pay a premium only to receive a monthly newsletter filled with drivel about the gallery assistant’s long weekend in the Canary Islands.

When done properly, you can create a membership option that motivates people to become members and even refer their friends.

Renting Your Artworks

Renting your artworks out to other businesses can be a highly effective way of making your inventory pay for itself and possibly gaining a sale too.

Many corporate clients like to try out valuable artwork before buying it. You can approach this arrangement in different ways, but a common method with corporate clients is to charge a monthly rental fee with an option to buy the piece once the contract ends.

You could take a similar approach with hospitality venues such as cafes, restaurants and hotels or differ slightly by letting them operate as a sort of popup gallery or exhibition that can receive a small commission if they happen to find a buyer for the piece (that still has to purchase it through you, of course).

It’s worth noting that the risks of your artworks becoming damaged do increase somewhat considerably when compared to only displaying them in your gallery.

With that said, NFTs are an exceptionally safe type of artwork to rent to businesses as they’re just digital files, but you could include screens or projectors with your NFT art rentals.

Holding Live Events

One of the most valuable aspects of your art gallery (unless you have some Koons and Basquiat artworks of course) is the space itself. There’s a surprising amount of value to be had from space.

A great way to monetise your gallery space is by holding live events such as:

• Art Exhibitions
• Artist Workshops
• Art Demonstrations
• Talks And Lectures
• Book Launches
• Book Clubs

When planning live events, focus on events that would appeal to your target audience, the people most likely to become customers and buy artworks from you because again, as an art gallery, that’s your primary source of income.?

Another thing to consider is that the event ideas mentioned above have been done by art galleries all over the world, time and again; so be sure that whatever you do, you do it in a way that’s unique to your gallery.?

Don’t just hold an event, create an experience.

Renting Your Space

Following the previous idea, putting on your own events is one way to get the value of your gallery space, another is to rent that space out to someone else for an event.

Again, be mindful of whom you rent the space to and the sort of event that will be held there; after all, you don’t want a weekend-long rave being held amongst your valuable collection.

As well as being incorporated into your gallery income strategy, renting your space to the right people and for the right events can be an effective method of getting new eyeballs on your art collection and gaining more customers.

Selling Alternative Products

As alluded to with the idea of selling fine art prints, your gallery doesn’t need to be limited to the sale of original art alone.

Some of the more generic ideas for alternative products are souvenirs, gifts and merchandise related to the artists you represent, the artworks you have on display, or the area you're in.

You could stock handmade jewellery, textiles, or things that budding artists need such as brushes, sketchbooks, easels and mannequins; art galleries do tend to attract a lot of creative types.

It’s also worth considering selling art materials related to particular artists, artworks and workshops that your gallery has.?

For example, instead of selling canvas board and spray paint; sell the opportunity for someone to create that controversial street art piece from your latest exhibition.

There are lots of alternative products you can sell in your gallery, just make sure they’re relevant to your audience and to your business.

Adding A Cafe Space

A cafe space can be what you make it as long as it serves a purpose and generates an income; a cafe space can also work as a clever way to keep your visitors close while they’re considering their next purchase.?

It doesn’t need to be an elaborate reconfiguration of your space, with a top-of-the-range kitchen staffed by a brigade of Parisian chefs offering the ultimate fine dining experience worthy of Michelin-level recognition.?

A coffee machine and some cakes and biscuits can be enough, as long as your cafe works to provide a memorable, enjoyable experience for your customers.?

Remember it’s not a separate space, you can display the more budget-friendly artworks like prints in your cafe space, gifts, merchandise, art books, or anything that a customer might be inclined to add to their coffee purchase.

Is This Enough To Make An Art Gallery Successful?

The aforementioned alternative ways your art gallery can make money are effective methods of opening up new revenue streams and increasing the profits your gallery receives.?

It’s also worth considering collaborating with other local businesses, including other galleries to drum up excitement for art in your community.

But is it enough to make an art gallery successful?

First of all, it depends on how you would describe success for your gallery.?

Is success staying afloat and breaking even? Or is success reaching new heights, helping to establish the careers of emerging artists and becoming a powerhouse in the art industry?

Whatever your view of a successful art gallery is, the more you wish to achieve, the more you’ll need to put in.

In today’s art market, your best chances of true success are to take your business online and get to work creating and executing a digital marketing strategy that can run parallel to your physical gallery business.

Final Thoughts On Money-Making Ideas For Your Gallery

One method of monetising a physical gallery that was deliberately left off of this list, and any other list I’ll ever create, is that of charging visitors to enter your gallery.?

When you’re looking for ways to increase visitors to your gallery an admission fee should be avoided at all costs, outside of exhibitions and events. It’s one of the biggest barriers to entry and will deter visitors that may well become customers.

Galleries that charge an admission fee tend to fall into either the category of being a brand big enough to get away with it or galleries that depend on government funding, ticket sales and donations in order to operate.

Your gallery should be driven by the sale of artworks and by helping to establish the careers of the artists you represent and to do that, you need to get people into your gallery and their eyes on your collection.

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