During my portfolio review with Sarah Thomson she asked if I had produced a press release for the exhibition to which my response was no it is not something that I had planned to do until closer to the show. She suggested I should give it a higher priority so I can send it to newspapers to help generate increased interest in the show especially as work related to Brexit has a currency at the current time. This probably why the title for the Brighton Biennial is the ‘The New Europe’ (Photoworks, 2018).
I decide to advance this piece of work in my overall schedule. This is the first time I have created a press release so I decided to look for examples of press releases for contemporary photographers. I found two press releases that I felt were relevant. The first from Merrie Albion exhibition for Simon Roberts at Flowers Gallery (Simon Roberts, 2018) and the second a press release for an Edward Burtynsky’s exhibition at UNB Art Centre (Fred-E-Scene, 2018).
Analysing both press releases it was clear there is common information to include in a press release.
- Title of the Exhibition
- Dates of the show plus any private viewing
- The location of the venue
- Images for the exhibition to give potential viewers and idea of what they are likely to see.
- Text provides details about the following:
- Text explaining the period over which the work was created
- Description that contextualise the work outside of the an art context. In my case the drivers behind my selection and creation of work being driven by how I feel about the changing boundary with Europe
- A summary of the types of works included in the exhibition in my case it is landscapes, piers and abstract images. I have kept the description a little bit loose as I still have decisions on the exact formats that will be used to present the work.
- A short biography of shows and awards. I included my group show from 2017 and other awards.
The above provided me with a basic structure for my press release. I created the Press Release using a basic word template and converted the final out into a pdf to ensure the layout and format would not get altered when it is sent via email to the picture editors at the target press organisations: Financial Times, Guardian, Independent, Evening Standard and Essex Chronicle (the later was included as my local weekly publication as Essex does not have a daily newspaper.)
Press-Release-Points-of-Departure
References
- Fred-E-Scene. (2018). Upcoming Exhibitions at the UNB Art Centre – Fred-E-Scene. [online] Available at: http://fred-e-scene.com/upcoming-exhibitions-unb-art-centre/ [Accessed 13 May 2018].
- Photoworks. (2018). Brighton Photo Biennial 2018 theme announced | Photoworks. [online] Available at: https://photoworks.org.uk/project-news/brighton-photo-biennial-2018-theme-announced/ [Accessed 13 May 2018].
- Simon Roberts. (2018). Merrie Albion, Flowers Gallery – Simon Roberts. [online] Available at: https://www.simoncroberts.com/news/merrie-albion-flowers-gallery/ [Accessed 13 May 2018].
