I felt bad about missing the presentations last week, however the team said it all seemed to go well. And I did do my part to contribute; by writing up the 800 word summary of the Design Team and our proposal.
The session this week, just gone by, was mainly a discussion about a new venue. Which apparently we urgently need.
A while back Julie said my suggestion of Bambers furniture shop looked good - one to check out. But by the sounds of it none of the original ideas for the locations came through.
She came and presented several other options to us - some looked fantastic. An empty shop in St George's shopping centre, a room at the continental hotel/pub, the function room at Tino's restaurant and a possibility of an old bank too.
Then there was a huge space, the basement/ground floor of a hotel currently being built. I personally think this would have been the most spectacular. There is loads of space to hang the pictures - me and my boyfriend are in total agreement that there is nothing worse than an art/ photography exhibition that is badly hung, too crowded and too fussy. And it looks like there is a huge glass front to the space - which we could hang a photo from each photo shoot in to entice the public in afterwards. However, i don't think it is right for our exhibition. If we had nothing else to do - i think we could easily pull it off to be a super, really well talked about exhibition, but alas we all have final campaigns to be getting on with, so in this situation i think the less extra added stress the better. Plus there is no toilet, no lighting and no heating, which causes all number of problems for catering and (i'm guessing) health and safety, not to mention the discomfort of the guests at the private view.
So I believe the vote went to the empty space in St George's shopping mall and to look round the old bank as an option too (apparently it has a beautiful floor). I think they would be my second choices. So I'm happy with the decision.
Pluses for the shopping centre is that the space is quite near to the entrance - so easy for people to find for the private view. There are toilets, electricity, heating, and i believe there isn't a problem with the catering side of things if we were to use this place. The owner of the mall says he can provide body guards/door staff. And the space opens out nicely into the shopping centre - so during the following week the public and anyone who wants to see the work can wander in as they wish and we shouldn't have to worry about security. - So in terms of ticking as many boxes as possible, with the least amount of stress and eliminating problems that might otherwise need to be overcome - i think this one has it!