Art and Marketing: Actions, Damage, Consequences and Accountability
As you know from recent updates, the Red Dragonfly Gallery has been somewhat "suffering" from the side effects of our physical location being pretty much at the center of a road construction project.
As a result, there has been a significant negative impact on our business.
A Good Day, at Last!
In spite of the fact that there has been no significant progress with the outside project, we had a fairly good weekend, both visitor and sales wise.
It's no fun doing business behind this!
A bit of poking around revealed that our primary downtown "merchant support organization" had brightly dressed volunteers all over our main street, handing out flyers, coupons and generally helping visitors "find things."
What made this noteworthy is that it was pretty much the first time any kind of "they" (responsible for the disruptions) had stepped up and done something to counteract the disturbance in our daily flow.
And it WORKED!
Accountability and Responsibility
We're now about four months into this construction and beautification project, and the previous "wisdom" our main street merchants have received has primarily taken the form of "you just need to advertise more" to get people in our establishments.
Pampas grass in the breeze
Whereas that may be legitimate advice, it nonetheless sidesteps responsibility and accountability for having caused the disruption in the first place.
Now, we can argue whether or not it would be considered "reasonable" for a construction project to include a budget for promotional efforts and marketing to help out merchants. Let's face it, we didn't choose to be behind construction barriers; they were imposed on us.
As such making us — the merchants — accountable for "overcoming" them does not seem entirely reasonable.
Besides, it would be in the city's best interest to support the health of the merchants, since the city's financial health is partially contingent on sales tax collections. And if the merchants make fewer sales — or even go out of business — the city's cash flow is reduced.
Alas, bureaucrats seldom think along those lines.
An Interesting Change...
Anyway, finally getting some help from those responsible for some of our ongoing woes marked an interesting change.
New and Old styles on Barn Gable
We surmise — but we do not know — that because our annual "festival season" is about to start (now that it is May) somebody in city planning might have decided that it would be a good idea to "do whatever" to make sure that there are no more empty store fronts on our primary shopping street as we come into the busiest season of the year.
We were happy to finally have some "help," but at the same time it's somewhat sad that we live in a world where so few — governments, companies AND individuals — are readily accountable for the consequences of their actions.
Thank you for reading! Red Dragonfly is a proud member of the @sndbox creative initiative.
The Red Dragonfly is an independent alternative art gallery located in Port Townsend, WA; showcasing edgy and unique contemporary art & handmade crafts by local and worldwide artists. All images are our own, unless otherwise credited. Where applicable, artist images used with permission.