Your first HEYATELIER Weekend

A HEYATELIER Weekend is when a group of studios in one city opens at the same time, so collectors can plan a route and walk from one studio to the next. For you it means something an ordinary open day rarely gives you: people arriving who were already out looking at art that day, and more of them than usual.

It also means more to prepare. This chapter is a timeline: three weeks before, one week before, the day itself, and the day after. Studio Plan members take part automatically. The first edition is in New York.

Three weeks before

1. Confirm your date and hours

Choose the Weekend date in the studio section of your page, and set your opening and closing time. Stay open for the full hours you publish. People plan a route around them, and a closed door in the middle of that route is the one thing they will remember.

If you are not sure you can do both days, pick one and do it well.

2. Check your building

• Will the street door be open, or does someone need to let people in?
• Is the elevator running on weekends?
• Are other studios in your building taking part? If so, talk to them. Shared signs in the stairwell and a tip to “also visit the second floor” help everyone.

3. Update your page

Collectors will look at your page while planning their route. Make sure it answers their questions:

• A strong first studio photo and your best work up front. Which photos to upload, and in what order has the details.
• Work that is actually available, including a few smaller pieces
• Your exact address and how to find the door, written in your studio description

4. Decide what you will show and sell

Choose your main wall and your ten to fifteen works, as in Getting your studio ready for a visit. For a Weekend, add one thing: a few works at a lower price point. People visiting several studios in a day often buy something small at the studio they liked most.

5. Tell your own people

Share the date on your own channels, with the address and hours. Your own network brings the first visitors through the door, and a room with people in it draws others in.

One week before

6. Prepare the paperwork

• A price list on paper, for you
• A printed list of works with titles, sizes and prices that visitors can take with them
• Cards or small flyers with your name and the address of your page
• A way to take payment on the spot, set up and tested. See Selling a work: payment, packing and delivery.
• Wrapping material for small works people want to take home right away
• A notebook for visitor notes and for email addresses of people who want to hear from you

7. Arrange help if you can

On a busy day, having one friend in the studio changes everything. They can greet people at the door, watch the room, and handle the wrapping, while you talk with the person in front of the work. If you share the building with other artists, cover each other’s breaks.

8. Plan the way in

Make a clear sign for the street door and any turns on the way up. Your name and “HEYATELIER Weekend” on a sheet of paper is enough. A visitor who cannot find the door after two minutes goes to the next studio on their list.

The day itself

9. The hour before

• Run through the last part of the preparation checklist: path clear, light checked, chairs, water, coats.
• Put the signs up.
• Eat something. You will not get a proper break later.

10. While you are open

A Weekend is busier than an ordinary visit, so the rhythm changes. You will not be able to give everyone twenty minutes, and you do not need to.

• Greet everyone who comes in, even if you are talking to someone else. A nod and “welcome, have a look around” is enough.
• Let people look on their own. Go over when someone stops, as described in What happens during a studio visit.
• When someone wants to buy, take your time with them. That conversation deserves your full attention, which is where a helper earns their coffee.
• Mark sold works with a small dot or note. It shows that people are buying, and it avoids selling the same piece twice.
• Write down names and notes between visitors, not at the end of the day. By five o’clock you will have forgotten half.

11. When it gets quiet

There will be slow hours. Use them to work on something small. A visitor who walks in on an artist actually working gets exactly the studio visit they came for.

The day after

12. Follow up

Go through your notes and send short messages to the people who asked about a work, reserved something or asked to be kept posted. The timing and templates are in After the visit: the follow-up. Within one or two days, while they still remember your studio among the others.

13. Deliver what you sold

Confirm payment and arrange pickup or shipping for everything that did not go home on the day.

14. Update your page and write down what you learned

• Take sold works off your page, or mark them as sold
• Add your next open day while people are still thinking of you
• Write down what worked and what did not: busy hours, which works people stopped at, what questions came up most. That list is your preparation for the next Weekend.

The short version

• Three weeks before: date and hours set, building checked, page updated, work chosen, your own network told
• One week before: price list, take away list, cards, payment tested, wrapping, a helper, signs
• On the day: greet everyone, let them look, give buyers your full attention, take notes as you go
• The day after: follow up, deliver, update your page, add your next open day