eBusiness Weekly
Own Correspondent
This past weekend Zimpapers hosted a fashion and beauty expo at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. The event was a celebration of the fashion and beauty industry, which is not usually in the fore front.
The event had different exhibitors showcasing their different products to women and it ranged from hair products, cosmetics, skin care products, hair extensions and shoes. The whole atmosphere was complimented by the arty surroundings.
One should note that this is not the first time the gallery has offered space to different organisations for them to host their events. It has provided itself as a platform for other businesses to host their different events to the rest of the public.
This is part of the roles the gallery serves to the community, besides exhibiting artworks to the public. Galleries and museums can offer spaces for corporate and organisational events, including meetings, dinners, presentations, product launches and parties; they can be rented separately or together.
A great example is HIFA, which has been using the gallery space for their press conference for promoting the festival that transpired in May. The Press conference was hosted in the National Gallery of Zimbabwe’s Sanctuary Café and this also helped promote a good image of the gallery.
During the festival, the Sculpture Garden was used to exhibit some of the arts and crafts done by local artists.
Gallery space renting can be for artists who want to exhibit their works, or organisations that want to hold functions. Early this year Barclays rented the gallery for an exhibition. It worked with the National Gallery of Zimbabwe on its exhibition titled Global Money Week: The History of Money. The exhibition showcased a wide range of equipment that has been used by banks since the 19th century.
Their link with the gallery can be seen as a way in which business corporations support the arts sector. Their participations has generated revenue to the Gallery and by extension the artist. Brian Sherwin (2012) states: “When renting a space for an art exhibit you must understand in general that ALL of the responsibilities of exhibiting fall on you.”
The owner of the space in this case, the gallery is merely renting the space and that is as far as the relationship goes.
The National Gallery of Zimbabwe also offers space for renting in the Sanctuary Café, where people can host different fun evening events such as Open Mic which occurs every Wednesday. Open Mic is an event in which different artists and poets perform through music and poetry. The number of people who attend these has been increasing each and every month.
These have been occurring for a year now. The gallery uses this café to host fun and engaging shows to the public. Space renting is not only beneficial to the one being hosted. It also serves a Corporate Social Responsibility in the sense that the gallery gets to allow the rest of the society to host their desired events in a closed space filled with the nation’s history.
Offering rental space also helps galleries to create business relations with other organisations which would later be of help when the gallery hosts an exhibition.
