Image: On Center Gallery, Provincetown, MA
If you're still operating a "handshake gallery," it's time to start protecting both your business and your artists with consignment agreements.
At the end of the day, the relationship between an artist and a gallery is a business partnership, hopefully a long-term and mutually beneficial one.
Consignment agreements outline the terms of this business partnership and set expectations for both parties, preventing complications and misunderstandings down the line.
"Times are changing. We used to operate more informally, but that's just not an option anymore. We've found consignment agreements are helpful not just for us at the gallery, but they also protect our artists." - Gallery Owner, Denver, CO
You may be tempted to have a new artist sign a consignment agreement only when the gallery first starts representing her/him.
However, as a best practice, you'll want to send the artist a full copy of the consignment agreement for each body of work consigned to the gallery. Both parties should sign the consignment agreement and keep a copy for their records.
The consignment agreement should always include a list of the artwork consigned to the gallery, along with images and pertinent information.
While consignment agreements vary from gallery to gallery, some of the main topics you'll want consignment agreements to cover include:
Book a demo with an ArtCloud expert to see how your gallery can export Consignment Agreements from your inventory, syncing your contacts, artists, and settings so you don't have to mess around with word docs or frustrating editing software.