Letter to Paul at last!

Hi Girls,

Just to keep you informed, these are the questions I've emailed to Paul. I'll let you know if/when I get a response.

Why did you set up Londonart?
Whan did you set it up?
How did you start/go about doing this?
(if it's not too rude!) what sort of costs were involved in this process?
How did you promote the site to the public?
How did you get artists interested in signing up?
What was your criteria for determining the amount to charge memebers and the amount of commision you take?
What problem did you have in the initial stages? Were they mostle technical?
Is there any service you wanted to provide but found you couldn't? If so what was it and why didn't it work?
How has the current version of Londonart changed over the years?

That seems like a lot of questions! Any comments/advice you could give us would be much appreciated.

Speak soon

x

My impression

I see what you mean . . .

My impression of the business plan is that, yes, it does weigh more heavily on the areas you were looking at Claire. The thing we need to do though is adapt it to fit our project so I think that we will largely be ignoring most of the stuff that takes precedence in the template business plan and putting our own emphasis on the parts that it plays down. I see it really as just a more appropriate method of presentation - not something we need to adhere to religiously.

Roughly speaking, from consultation of the contents page, I would say that you might concentrate on the Marketing section (which can be modified to cover the terms laid out in the course guidelines), and then parts VIII, IX, and X condensed into a general account of cost and promotion issues.

I'm sure we can mess about with the layout to suit ourselves.

I think I will be looking at the General Company Description, Products and Services and Operational Stuff (which will include forecasting) - I was originally researching Justification and Development.

And Ilia will focus on Management and Organisation and also Operational issues on a more technical level, (Ilia was dealing with Competition and Technical requirements).

There will, I imagine, be quite a bit of overlap and as we are not actually setting up a business, I don't think we have to get too worried about attending to all the specifications addressed in the Business Plan.

Does that sound about right to you both?

xxx

Business Plan Confusion

Morning Ladies,

Having had a look through the Business Plan template I'm slightly confused about which sections I need to concentrate on. I was doing 'Market' and 'Cost and Promotion', so the following seems to be relevant:

- Market Research - (but I suppose this will have to wait until we get feedback from the survey)
- Economics
- Customers
- Strategy
- Start Up Costs and Capitalisation
- Financial Plan

Is this right? It seems like most of the plan so I think I have gone wrong somewhere...what do you think?

Also, having had a closer read, I think it's going to be quite hard to do some sections without having read what has been decided on in preceding chapters. Not sure how we would get around this though!

xxx

Slade survey

Hi Girls,

Ilia the survey looks great - I just completed it!

I've copied the email from Slade below, which includes the email address to which it should be sent. I guess as you created the survey in your own Survey Monkey account, you have to send it - is that right? If so, and you want to email it to Slade, you may have to mention me in the email just so they remember what it's about as it was a wee while ago now!

Dear Carly

The Director of the Slade, John Aiken, is happy for you to circulate a questionnaire to our students. Please send your questionnaire to slade.enquiries@ucl.ac.uk and ask for it to be sent to all students.

Kind regards

Jenny Goepel

Happy writing to you both - and stay dry!

xxx

FIRE!

Thanks Carly :o)

Apparently the fire was in a disused warehouse that was about to be demolished - how convenient! There are some quite cool pictures on the BBC site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7090763.stm

I don't think I can do this weekend - I have a staff conference thing on Friday and then friends coming up from Bristol on the Saturday/Sunday.

xxx

Exhibition Times

Climate of Change runs until 31st December, Monday - Sunday 11am til 5pm.

I guess therefore, that we either go all together at the weekend or Ilia and I head down during the week.

Let me know what you think.

xxx

Oh, Claire - any news about the fire/your company?

No problem

Hi Girls,

Claire I completely understand. I have no problems speaking so if Ilia wants to share that bit with me that should be fine.

I'll try to have a look at the Slade questions we thought about and see if I can come up with some nice and student-friendly yes/no questions to send to them.

Also, when is good for you two regarding our class trip to see Londonart boss Paul? I will double check with him but I think he will be down at the exhibition site most days; and I will also check the opening times so maybe we could go one day after you finish work Claire. Nearest tube is Southwark. Here is the blurb on the Londonart site that calls to artists to submit their work. Do you think this is along the lines of what we will be offering?

CALL FOR ENTRIES

Some experts suggest that it is already too late to save the planet, and life on earth will never be the same again. What is really happening to our planet and how will artists respond to the challenge of defining the issue through art?

Londonart.co.uk has invited artists from around the world to submit work on the theme of climate change. Many artists have responded with environmental images which you can see online. The submission is still open: The entry is free for any artist, and you can submit up to 5 images online. All submitted works will be exhibited in the climate change section of our website.

We believe climate change is the biggest issue facing mankind and we really look forward to looking at all the entries.

Paul Wynter
Managing Director


ATTENTION:

We have now secured a venue in central London, and the exhibtion entitled 'Climate of Changed' is happening!

Climate of Change
235 - 241 Union Street
SE1 0LR London

Attention all Artists/Cultural Activists
Painters, Poets, Sculptors, Film/Video Makers, Photographers and Performers

Collective self realization - the coming together of many visions, with one message - is the fastest way to a revolution in consciousness. Climate Change is happening NOW. We need your voice and vision to put this message across.
The Climate of the Earth is always Changing. In the past it has altered due to natural causes but today it is Changing as never before as a result of our actions. The problem of Climate Change is potentially the most important issue facing humankind today.

This is a platform for all Artists in all disciplines to submit work/s based on the problems of Climate Change. 20,000 sq ft have been secured in central London for this exciting Happening.

Climate Change effects us ALL!

CLIMATE of CHANGE will launch with an Introduction Evening on Friday 12th October 2007, Exhibition Opening 9th November 2007

This event is open submission and all are welcome, so act now, get in touch.

Email: basia@londonart.co.uk

Sponsors: ASC studios, Londonart.co.uk and Northstar 2000


Useful links:

We can stop climate chaos

Campaign against Climate Change

xxx