The Executive Committee has put out a tender for our new website. We will also be applying for a grant to pay for the website. This process is taking time, but we are close to a resolution. All being well we should be able to brief everyone about our progress at the June 1 committee meeting.
Also if anybody has any concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us, just email or phone.
Cheers Bruce Webb on behalf of the EC 0431 492 720.
How the existing website works
The ASV website has a simple function - it records all sculptures exhibited with us. From this pool the website can display works in individual exhibitions and/or works by individual sculptors.
In 2020, MIFGS was cancelled when we were within days of setting up. So we developed the online exhibition format. Our designer Alberto gave us great support and produced a good product which supports online payments and inventory. Unfortunately online alone is not a good medium for displaying and selling sculpture - we did our best but there is nothing like a real physical exhibition. On the other hand the online system supports our physical system really well:
It is really easy to record People’s Choice votes
People can opt to sign up for exhibition invitations without us having to interpret handwritten email addresses. In the case of MIFGS it enables us to invite people to sign up without having to sort through hundreds of voting slips - we acquired 55 new contacts from MIFGS 2022 when before we would have reached none.
Sales can occur after hours when people, having seen the work at exhibition, can consider at leisure, research the artist and look at sculpture placement.
The whole site depends on having images to record the works. We need good images from a few angles - sculpture means 3D - ones that load reasonably fast, and available on the website close to the start of the exhibition. These days we use a professional photographer where we can - this has the advantage of quality, timeliness and ease of loading of images.
So when you see a QR code on your work, know that this connects to the sculpture’s details page in the online exhibition. Of course we still have paper voting slips and our faithful credit card/EFTPOS machine. But when the Annual Exhibition is open do check out the additional facility - your knowledge could help a visitor purchase the sculpture that they love.
Jenny Rickards ASV website contact
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