I want to speak in respect of students in the Art, students do not know how to market their works because there was no deliberate introduction to such in the school’s curriculum and so, they are not taught anything in the area of Art business to the effect you see. Student showing lack of interest in Ochibition or seminars that will give them ideas on how to go about the Art business and at the end of the day when they graduate, you see them going in search of white collar jobs; leaving the Art market to die in the hands of people who are not innovative or novel thereby resulting to low patronage of Art. So, I want to appeal to the body incharge of school’s curriculum to please include way’s lecturers could expose Art Student in the area of marketing in Arts.
Art students should be exposed to Galleries, and other Art related outlets and not confinding them only to school’s activities-Mr. Emmanuel.
For the past 4 years I was in school being an Art student, I was never expose to any gallery or any art outlets, infact, I never knew how to market my artwork because I was never introduced to such; then, how to run am I suppose to know how to run a gallery? Am using this medium to appeal to lecturers in the field to please expose these young and creative artists in the embrayo to the Art business before they leave school so that we can experience sustainable increase in Art patronage.
People Commonize Art in Benin
-Valentine
To me, I feel Art patronage in Benin City is low because the people see the same thing everyday there is no creativity and the creative ones are running out of the Art market, and so people don’t tend to buy what they can produce that is what the “road side Artists” are giving to the local; that’s why Art is experiencing such patronage here in Benin.
Lecturer should be patriotic enough- Omololu Chris
There is no local market for our Art but international because even graduating students in the Arts do not know hoe to venture into the Art market (business) because they were not taught and so, they don’t even bother or strive to know. I want to appeal to our lecturers to expose these future Artists on how to preserve the Art and make name for themselves in the Art market in the future because, its not just about the money, but its about who we are and that is what Benin City stands for; Art itself all over the world.
Catch them young-Itamiakpe Dogo
We should encourage our children right from childhood. You can Imagine in our society parents will buy all the lists of books they are asked to buy for their children and they will deliberately refuse to buy drawing book for their kids because they don’t see the Artist as a serious person. If we continue like this, Art patronage in Benin will go into extinction, and if that should happen, who is going to write presence our history? For our enlightenment, the whiteman also comes here to learn our Art, so we should see Art patronage as a serious business and stop trivializing it.
Artists should go into internship before or after leaving school so they can know how, when and where to buy, sell and make Artworks.
– Mr. Phil Goldsmith
If you ask me, Igun street is an Art market and it has being for ages but the truth is, people hardly patronize us because they don’t know or have knowledge on what art is all about some feel, O, Art is for those who are well fed and have enough money others have this intuition that Art is very expensive and so they Art is very expensive and so they don’t even bother to inquire how much they are tagged.
Artists should no longer be Anonymous- John Ogene
Like I will always say: Artists should not leave what belongs to it to people who are not it. It to people who are not it. If you look around our society today, only few Artists are interested in the Art market, most of the people operating the Art business are not even Artists and so they don’t represent the Artist well. It is high time for Artists to stop shying away from the business aspect of Art, and make Art market what it is suppose to be. It is high time use come out and take our place in the society and stop being Anonymous.
We have quantity but not quality
– faith Anthony
Artists do not put more effort in producing different kinds of work; in orderwords, Artists are not working. They believe in mass production which actually is crippling Art patronage in Benin, they can produce one work now take more than5months or more to produce another piece. So, to artists even where, we need to go back to the drawing board.
Artists should be visible
– Mr. Daniels.
Artists should learn how to network they should try and be in a right environment at the right time, and also they should talk to the right people to invest in the Art; they should make them see reasons why art is a huge investment. The Artist should stop running away from what belongs to him: instead, the artist should go into the Art market and chase all those who do not belong to it so we can experience good art patronage in Benin City.
Conclusion
Despite the fact that Art changes with the times, form and functions of Art also changes according to needs and requirements of the society. History has shown that our Artistic heritage or traditional Art in Nigeria; Benin City in particular is one of the most creative and effective modes of communication in the world, to this effect, I believe we can sustain a high patronage of Art here in Benin City if only we the Artists are ready to be visible by knowing how, where, when and the right people to keep in touch with and above all for what purpose are we producing such work. it shouldn’t be all about money or firm but it should be about our passion for promoting the Art which demands creativity at its peak.
Also the government should also encourage the Artist by investing in the Arts as it never depreciates but appreciates with the times.
Concluded