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The Note.
A weekly note from the inside of the art world. Insights from interviewing 600+ working artists, growth tactics that actually work, and the quiet observations of running a platform for the practice. Free, easy to leave.
An honest read, every Sunday.
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No spam, no resold lists, no daily digest fatigue. One thoughtful email a week, written by an artist running a platform.
Three things, every week.
Short enough to read with a coffee. Specific enough to act on. Written from the inside of a platform that's interviewed 600+ working artists.
Insights from the inside.
Patterns I'm seeing across the platform's 600+ interviews and the day-to-day of running it. The things artists talk about privately but nobody writes about publicly.
Growth tactics, with receipts.
Specific things working artists are doing right now to get exhibited, commissioned, and seen. Not theory, not "10 ways to grow on Instagram". Real moves, real outcomes.
One slower observation.
A short essay, an interview snippet, or a quiet observation about the working life. The bit that turns the email from a list of things into something worth reading twice.
What it actually looks like.
Roughly the shape of a typical Sunday morning Note. Short, structured, easy to skim, useful to come back to.
Three things 12 painters told me, the gallery DM that's working, and a thought on saying no.
What I'm noticing this week
- Painters who monetise early do better long-term Twelve interviews this month. Pattern: the ones who started selling commissions before their first solo are now ahead of the ones who held out for "the right gallery."
- Galleries are quietly charging for studio visits £150 is the number I'm hearing in London. Not all galleries. The smaller ones in Hackney and Peckham. Worth knowing if you're being asked.
- The artists getting press aren't on TikTok Of the 30+ artists I've helped place in press this year, exactly two were active on TikTok. Most were on LinkedIn. Counterintuitive, but true.
What's working · with the receipts
- The "follower-only" gallery DM A painter I interviewed DM'd every London gallery already following her on Instagram. 3% replied. Two studio visits booked from one afternoon. Took ~40 minutes.
- Raising prices, not lowering them Another artist raised her prices 40% after the Field Guide's pricing chapter. Sold MORE work the following month. The cheap-work treadmill is a trap.
- The Public Canvas knock-on effect Of the 12 artists who exhibited on Public Canvas billboards last year, 7 landed gallery interest within six months. The press photos do the work.
The longer thought
The artists who do best over the long arc aren't the ones who say yes to everything. They're the ones who say no to most of it, and yes to the right two or three, and then stay in those rooms long enough to be remembered. The hard part isn't getting in. It's not leaving when something shinier comes along.
See you next Sunday.
James
What people say.
James writes like he's emailing a friend who happens to be running an art platform. Specific, useful, no fluff. Actually changed how I price my work.
Three of my biggest opportunities this year came from things I tried after reading The Note. The only newsletter that's directly grown my career.
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