SOLUTIONS – MARCH
GREGOROFF OF ARTISTS’ NETWORK OF RIVERDALE
March Gregoroff does not take “no” for an answer,
at least when it comes to her career as artist and the careers
of her colleagues. Faced with limited services and opportunities
available to visual artists in Toronto, March decided to
spearhead the Artists’
Network of Riverdale to develop a breadth of the kind
of services and opportunities she wanted to see. About to
officially launch the Network, she met with us at Hangman
Gallery on Queen East to tell us all about it.
Question
What prompted you to start the Artists' Network of Riverdale?
Gregoroff
I saw an enormous need for artists to connect with each
other and connect with resources above and beyond the work
they do in their studio. I actually tried to find these
opportunities in other places, but everyone else thought
it was a great idea but they don’t do that.
Question
You wanted networking opportunities?
Gregoroff
Yes. I also wanted more follow up from the business things
they taught. Because when you teach a business course for
artists - for anybody - it’s very general. But then
you actually need some follow up, some consultations, a
little handholding maybe.
Question
Did this idea to create your own network come as an epiphany
or was it a long time coming?
Gregoroff
It was probably a long time in coming. It was both an
altruistic and a very selfish thing in that before I started
volunteering and helping with arts organizations, I was
an artist at home. My peer group was very small, and I wasn’t
getting any kind of response when I was going out to galleries
to meet people. It was a very cold experience. I also was
battling having small children at home - that sort of vacuum
of your attention. So I started volunteering at the Riverdale
Art Walk in an attempt to develop a peer group. I personally
needed a group of friends who were my own, that were artists.
I needed to talk about art and a whole pile of nuance things
we take for granted in art school. I’ve heard a lot
of people talk about the emptiness they feel when they leave
art school because they don’t have anyone to bounce
ideas off of. So I started volunteering with the Riverdale
Art Walk. As a project in and of itself it was still very
much a little wee community thing, and several of us had
ideas to make it a more respectable, proper arts event.
And then I had a whole bunch of other ideas that paralleled
my own needs for marketing and so on. I had a lot of positive
guidance, and there was no one to really stop me . . . .to
push the whole event and my curiosity further. There’s
been no one to stop me. [laughter] There’s been really
great people to question what I’m doing to make sure
I’m staying on target. Great people to question process
and mandate and things like that. But whenever I have an
idea and I sort of bounce it off a few people, it’s
always “oh that’s a good idea” or “yes,
I'd like that.”
Question
For the most part, you’ve gone to the community
and said "this is what I want to do, what do you think?"
And they’ve said . . .
Gregoroff
Horray! Yes! Why hasn’t someone done this before?
Question
I know that it got to such a full time job for you that
you went out and got a Trillium
Foundation Grant. Was that easy to do? Were they receptive
to the idea?
Gregoroff
They were very receptive to the idea. They ask really
good questions. I think what they liked about it was the
thrust that the group we were going to be serving, in this
case, artists - we wanted the whole project and the artists
themselves to have a nature of self-sustainability. I think,
in the fine arts community that entrepreneurial skills,
self-sustainability is all talking dirty. And nobody wants
to hear that. I think secretly it sort of titillates sometimes
- maybe it is possible to take care of ourselves sometimes
and we could forecast our future and get in front of these
things.
Question
The cornerstone of your Network seems to be business skills.
Is this correct or is it more than that?
Gregoroff
I think it is more than that. You could say it’s
business skills as that definitely describes what we deliver.
I really think what we’re talking about is undoing
the mythology of artists as being self-crippling, substance-abusive,
raw nerves that create for the sake of creating. There is
so much at stake historically to enshrine the idea that
artists are simply raw nerves and they only act in impulse
and that there is no planning. And it is lovely if you can
be comfortable in your whole life to receive that stimulation
when you are sitting in front of your easel. But the thing
that somehow, the misery, and the poverty and the hunger
or whatever else, creates that kind of stimulation? That’s
nuts.
Question
So, what kind of skills do you teach artists?
Gregoroff
The most important thing that we still present for artists
straight off the top is that we put in their path exhibition
opportunities. It is still the most important thing we do.
Whether we cobble together the exhibition’s top students
ourselves or find them and put them out there.
Question
Did you want to talk a bit more about that relationship
between the Eastern
Front Gallery and the Network?
Gregoroff
That’s a relationship that we are still sorting
out. We are a collective of artists, between say a dozen
or 20. They show work of their own, they have a salon gallery,
and they have a variety of other events. I set the project
up. I started it about a year and a half ago. And it worked
out really, really well. But the Riverdale Art Walk people
– at whose behest I started the Eastern Front Gallery
- weren’t ready to move forward with it. So, as they
began to develop by-laws and become incorporated and so
on, there were a few folks more up to the challenge of administering
the project than others. I have pulled back to being just
a member and there were other folks Diana from Woodbury
& Jillian Willis, in particular, who were taking care
of that and doing an amazing job. They are sort of siblings
in the neighborhood. No more less than the other galleries
I am working with, Happening Gallery, Gallery
888. And indeed, the way this gallery works, Hangman
[Gallery], it will have its own Director. So the needs of
the Gallery will not necessarily always be hand-in-glove
with the Artists Network. The Director of the Gallery -
or the Hangman – is Russell Brochier. I am sure Russell
and I will battle at some juncture which will be good for
the project.
Question
So you have gallery opportunities or exhibitions. I understand
also that you are finding insurance for artists?
Gregoroff
That comes under what we call co-resourcing. We have found
through Eagle Insurance: dental, medical, travel, and a
few other insurance opportunities that they can take advantage
of because now they are part of a group. Actors and dancers
and musicians, they all benefit from being part of a group.
Back here, we actually have seven studio spaces. Again,
that’s a co-resourcing thing. We can set up opportunities
for vehicle rentals. We took a group of artists down to
New York City.
Question
I was going to ask about that.
Gregoroff
That was also a co-resourcing opportunity. We pooled our
money. We went in March.
Question
They went to see work down there?
Gregoroff
We actually had it planned. Because, I knew the people
who were going. It was going to be stressful for them to
get away - spouses, full-time jobs, that type of thing,
kids. So, I had to make it as crammed-packed full of justifications
as possible. We went to all the galleries. And we particularly
went to the Armory Show - that is why we went. We went to
the neighborhoods, all of that stuff, the hotel. And we
had the bus with us while we were there, so it was sort
of a beacon. Like we took a bus down together. But the bus
was at our leisure while we were there. So the whole thing
was $600. Hotel, the bus trip, and all the admissions.
Question
For each of you?
Gregoroff
Yes. 5 days. It was wicked fun. And this fall, we are
going to Quebec City and the Charlevoix region for eating,
drinking, painting, sketching, and it will be 6 days in
total, 2 of them for travel. And then next spring, we will
go to Chicago. We’ll do the Chicago show from the
beginning of May. And one day, Paris . . . . [laughter]
Question
What is your connection with the [Queen/Broadview Village]
BIA [Business Improvement Area], and why it is so important?
Gregoroff
It is actually more than just the BIA. Any event you have
to hit up the local retailers. You are not only hitting
them up for in-kind and a little bit of money. This is where
they do their jobs, and small retailers can be a little
myopic. Needs be – because they are used to doing
things on their own. You have to have them on your side.
It is very important. We’ve had other groups that
have projects that are twenty years older than ours, and
they can’t figure out how we do so well. It’s
because we do invest the energy in getting their buy-in.
It takes an enormous amount of work to do that kind of PR,
but it is absolutely critical.
Question
And by “buy-in” do you mean seeing the relevance
of what you are trying to do and how that can impact them
in a positive way?
Gregoroff
More so . . . they eventually take an element of ownership.
It is our Riverdale Art Walk. In fact, as an example of
what we will be doing. So, I mentioned the other galleries.
Together we are putting together a gallery association,
and while the Artist Network will be - not really the caretaker
– sort of the overseer that it continues to exist.
The Artist Network will not direct the mandate of the gallery
association. The gallery association is calling itself TEEGAS,
Toronto East End Gallery Association. So the group will
completely, democratically decide where it’s going
to go. From that, we are also going to put together thoughts
on teaching places, retail spots that do something else
– whether they’re a restaurant or a retailer
or whatever . . . but show art – give them some guidelines
on how to find artists, how to show it. Then we will advertise
for them as well. They will be our floating gallery. They
have to feel an enormous investment in ownership. But that
opens the door to when they’re pissed off about something,
listening to what they want. And frequently they can bring
to the table very specific knowledge that bares listening
to. It may not necessarily bare in acting. But, they are
down in the trenches.
Question
And I would imagine that the galleries are a part of the
BIA as well.
Gregoroff
Yes. So, specifically, this BIA in Queen/Broadview Village
is changing and becoming more responsive and savvy about
themselves as a whole marketing body. They are really coming
to terms about what they need to do to bring folks from
outside of this neighborhood into this neighborhood to eat
and shop.
Question
Do they see things like RAW as a major draw into the community
that would obviously benefit them?
Gregoroff
We have really fantastic restaurants that do a good business
all year round, and they will plainly say the best business
they do is on the weekend of the Riverdale Art Walk.
Question
So you are encouraging people, as part of the schedule,
to go to the restaurants?
Gregoroff
Without a doubt. What’s good for us is good for
them. But that’s part of our success with our local
retailers and business people. Before you go to them for
any kind of financing, we have to tell them how we think
our project benefits them. They don’t have a lot of
time and money on their hands. Listen, if I can do this
for you, then here is how it can benefit you. For instance,
the little map that we’re publishing that will go
with the whole project has coupons on it for the restaurants.
But those coupons are not active until a month later. All
of the restaurants here will do a booming business on that
weekend. We want the return traffic. But it was our idea
to tell them and they got all weepy, “wow, that would
be great.”
Question
You are about to officially launch the Network. And that’s
happening during . . . ?
Gregoroff
Yes, during the gala party of the Riverdale Art Walk.
I started working on it the beginning of last September
2003. From the huge email list of people that I have been
talking to, I started putting together the bulletin and
sending it out once a week probably since back in November.
It was just a casual thing, and it said “if you are
getting this it’s because . . . .” It revealed,
as we go along, all the opportunities that are happening
around us and what the Artists' Network is. And then there
came a date when I said there’s going to come a day
when we’re going to have to pay for this. By the time
I said that, I had people on the bulletin that were willing
to pay $100 bucks just to keep getting the bulletin.
Question
Now if you’re a member, it’s $100.
Gregoroff
Yes.
Question
Is it limited to artists living in Riverdale?
Gregoroff
You don’t even have to be an artist!
Question
Are there any limitations to membership at all?
Gregoroff
No. We even have a membership from Melbourne, Australia.
He said he wouldn’t pay for it because there’s
no point, but I keep sending it – why not!
Question
So if you’re an artist in Etobicoke…?
Gregoroff
Absolutely. Absolutely. You were asking me what the Network
does. What we do falls into seven possibilities or seven
categories or service streams. The first of which is the
exhibition opportunities. The next one is co-resourcing
opportunities. In addition to the studio space, the trip,
so on, we have a photographer that comes in. You can count
on an opportunity to have your work shot every few weeks.
You don’t have to bundle everything up, and be out
of pocket a whole pile, wait for the slides to come back
and hope they’re ok. We have a professional photographer
who is pretty much doing it out of the goodness of his heart.
It’s $15 for the set-up shot, and $5 for all subsequent
shots of the same work. That’s really cheap anyway,
and you know it will be of a professional quality. And then
we do all kinds of networking things. Whether it’s
simply social like meeting at a pub and chatting or like
a panel debate. In fact, we’ll be having a debate
with the local federal . . .
Question
Your MP?
Gregoroff
Yeah, and in our neighborhood that is Dennis Mills [Liberal]
who has a lot of attention right now about the waterfront
and Jack Layton who is the federal [NDP] leader. So that
will be very interesting. And then we have two areas that
are sort of strictly business. One of them is business skills.
For instance, we had someone from the government to talk
about collecting and remitting GST. Yawn, but necessary
[laughter]. Then we actually have business resources where
we can hook people up with an accountant, with a lawyer,
with a planner.
Question
A financial planner?
Gregoroff
Yeah. The other two things are audience development. So
you can be a member of the artist network just because you
want to follow along with what’s going on. On this
bulletin we do have sibling arts. So the local folks who
are musicians and performing poets can post what they do.
I really do believe in the cross stimulation arts. And then
the last thing is branding south Riverdale as an arts destination.
And any minute now, getting on the other side of gentrification
and trying to keep it at bay. It would be good for the neighborhood
with the influx of cash, but let’s not go crazy.
Question
Let’s not push the artists out. I wanted to ask
you about your involvement with the Rochester ferry. How
did all that come about?
Gregoroff
Well, that’s in our neighborhood. My favourite time
is now. Whenever I think of something, now is the time to
do it. So the Rochester thing. About two months ago I was
reading in NOW Magazine the reported buffoonery of the Port
Authority. And in as much as I don’t understand a
lot of what they do, I also know that when you’re
on the inside of something doing the best you can - a lot
of people don’t know what you’re doing and they
don’t know why. I also thought that there are two
sides to every coin. And if they are getting a whole lot
of hatred from one side, then no one is giving them any
love. [laughter] So, I emailed them, and I just said, “I
know they’re being bad to ya. You’re in my neighborhood
and you’re going to build all these structures at
some date, and I bet you’re going to need some art
– or something, something from the neighborhood.”
And they were so grateful and so nice. But they invited
me down, and we talked about art. And we did talk about
the building, the billboards, the ferry itself. And they
were so grateful that someone from the neighborhood gave
them a call. I couldn’t believe that no one else called
them.
Question
I know you are going to take part in ArtsWeek.
Any plans so far?
Gregoroff
Well, the Riverdale Art Walk has never taken craftspeople.
We think craftspeople are very well deserved, and also it’s
a different price point. It is hard for fine artists to
compete in the whole “I want to have a souvenir”
purchasing power if the person next to you has earrings.
We think we are going to have a small craft show that will
be only the very best.
Question
So, you will have a curator?
Gregoroff
Yes. It’s going to be called Exquisite Arts.
Question
Are you doing a call out?
Gregoroff
Yes, we will be doing a call for artisans.
Question
And when will the call go out?
Gregoroff
I would say, before the end of June. Probably in the middle
of June.
Question
Is it going to be local artists?
Gregoroff
They can be from anywhere. The Riverdale Art Walk has
gotten artists from all over Canada and a couple from the
States, so there is no reason that the Exquisite Arts couldn’t
do so as well. I would also like to mention that we are
developing quite an intimate relationship with our local
gorgeous BMW. That’s coming up. They are very interested
in sponsoring a lot. Mostly we get to use their building
for our events. So we are looking at a huge art display.
The building will be full of our art. They have the site
lines and the space for sculpture. Oh, well that’s
something else I am working on. I am looking at getting
a building that would be for studio space. I am hoping that
it would be just for sculptors, because sculptors are not
much loved by other artists when it comes to studio space.
They are actually noisy and messy. So, if they are all noisy
and messy with great ventilation, then great. So I think
we are going to have a whole sculpture building.
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