The Appeal of Buffalo Art Galleries

If it’s one thing that Buffalo is known for besides its wings, are the beautiful artsy neighborhoods that it is bustling with. Buffalo is home to many art galleries that are known locally as well as nationwide. Art galleries are a great way that locals or even travelers can get their creative work out to the public. Artists have begun to look at themselves as a brand and galleries are beginning to notice that. By getting in contact with local art galleries, these artists have began the process of promoting their exhibitions through the PR teams and tasks at the chosen galleries.

The Public Relations Society of America defines public relations as “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationship between organizations and their publics.” Three art galleries, all in the Buffalo area, two smaller than most and one that has been around since 1967, all find that public relations is something that is beneficial for the organization they work for as well as the public that they serve. Though some might have a crew dedicated to doing solely public relations work, others may just be a one man show that is behind the scenes for everything.

Renata Toney, the Public Relations strategist for the Burchfield Penney located right across from Buffalo State says that social media plays a large role in gaining audience for shows held at the Penney. “Primarily what I do is lots of media relations work; which is really trying to build excitement about our programs and products to get people to come through our doors.” At the Burchfield Penney, posting at least four times a day on all social media handles whether it be Facebook, Twitter or even Instagram is made a necessity. To Toney, providing the public or media with visuals is an element of PR that cannot be forgotten. “What do I need to do to get people to show up”, is a question she likes to ask before making decisions as to which route of promoting will be taken.   

Across the way in the middle of the Black Rock neighborhood located on Amherst Street are two other well known art galleries. Artsphere Studio and Gallery is a small gallery owned by Doreen Deboth. Since it is so small, as owner, Doreen takes care of everything that has to do with art gallery. When it comes to promoting gallery, Doreen says that she keeps it simple by doing what she has always done. “I get most of my audience through sending out press releases, or writing for artvoice. The artists fine me and I help them find eyes.” For the Golden Mystique, which is an annual botanical show held at Artspehere, she keeps it rather simple by sending out her hand painted postcards or sending invites through her email list. “I find that most the audience I cater to does not really use social media, so I stick to what I know will work.” says Deboth. In that case, the claims that social media is absolutely needed to gain an audience are not 1oo percent true.

Lastly, located right across the street just a few doors down is the 464 Art Gallery which is owned by Marcus Wise. Established in 2009, Wise believes that most of his audience is through word of mouth. Wise takes the role of public relations specialist by himself or sometimes hands it over when the occasional intern comes through the door. “I do not see the need to pay to advertise anywhere.” said Wise. “All of the advertising I currently use has been working just fine for me and as a small gallery; it is not in the budget.” Through the use of the app “Hootsuite”, Wise allows his social media presence to be manually taken care of. Hootsuite is an app that links all media handles together to post events inputted on a regular basis. Taken from the app’s website, “Hootsuite lets you promote your brand, generate quality leads and increase traffic to your website – all in one place.”

There is a common denominator in regards to all three of these art galleries and that is social media versus plain old journalism. Though social media can definitely help build the presence of a company, sticking to the basics meaning press and or news releases, or emails and postcards seem to have more of a bearing in gaining the audience. Through the use of all of the mentioned tactics like Renata Toney said, “As long as you have a visual, the people will come. It’s a matter of making sure that when they leave they will come back.”