{"id":5523,"date":"2019-05-23T13:20:33","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T12:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/?p=5523"},"modified":"2019-05-23T16:38:33","modified_gmt":"2019-05-23T15:38:33","slug":"artistic-agency-getting-signed-grand-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/artistic-agency-getting-signed-grand-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Artistic Agency: Getting Signed with Grand Matter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why did you set up the agency in the first place?<\/h3>\n

We wanted to bring together a roster of creatively tenacious artists that we were able to work with closely and support on a one-to-one level. We saw Grand Matter as a way to elevate personal projects as much as commercial, grow with our artists and their needs, and ultimately create an agency based on meaningful relationships. And I\u2019d say another of our goals was to be able to give something back to society too and initiate our own collaborations and projects for social good.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Original
Original artwork by Bryce Wymer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We saw Grand Matter as a way to elevate personal projects as much as commercial<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Original
Original artwork by Saskia Pomeroy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What role do you think artist agencies play in the creative industries today, and how has this changed over the past decade?<\/h3>\n

The creative industry has changed rapidly over the past decade, especially because of social media, which has given a platform to artists that didn’t exist 10 years ago. This levelling out of the playing field has been great in promoting diversity of creative talent in some respects, with the rise of the so-called ‘DIY generation,\u2019 who create their own opportunities.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Original
Original artwork by Toby Triumph<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As agents, there\u2019s a lot more emphasis on supporting artists and clients, and personal relationships seem more important than ever. By initiating our own projects as well we\u2019re able to develop new avenues for our artists and try out new ideas; our client is list is very organic.<\/p>\n

How do you decide which artists you\u2019d like to work with? What qualities do you look for?<\/h3>\n

As a small agency, we\u2019re looking to grow our roster quite slowly and deliberately so that we can make sure we\u2019re able to dedicate enough time to all our artists. With this in mind, everyone we represent is very different and brings something new to the agency. It\u2019s really important to us that each artist has a unique voice, and that this comes through in their work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Original
Original artwork by Thomas Hedger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A lot of our artists work across multiple disciplines and don\u2019t restrict themselves to one medium. Alec Doherty for example, while working as an illustrator in the traditional sense, also designs and makes his own jewellery as well as larger scale sculptural pieces. It\u2019s this kind of versatility that really helps an artist stand out to us as agents.<\/p>\n

\"Original
Original artwork by Alec Doherty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What three things would you advise an artist to do to help them get noticed?<\/h3>\n

Be selective with what you include in your portfolio. Including a handful of solid projects that you\u2019re really proud of is better than having 100 things in there for the sake of it. It\u2019s also good to think of your portfolio as a place to show the kind of projects you\u2019re interested in doing more of.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Stickers
Stickers by Alice Bowsher<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pursuing personal projects and collaborating with others are good ways of scratching a creative itch, and they can also help build your audience and take your portfolio in a particular direction.<\/span><\/p>\n

Think about what makes your artwork unique to you<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Original
Original artwork by Jessica Dance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Think about what makes your artwork unique to you. Is it instantly recognisable as your own? Think about what comes through in your work, whether that\u2019s to do with the visual style, the way you think, your sense of humour or your passions.<\/span><\/p>\n

What are the highlights of what you do?<\/h3>\n

Working with artists as they evolve their practice and renew their passions is a big highlight. We\u2019re always super impressed with the originality and energy of our artists, and love seeing projects take shape. We try and make sure our marketing efforts are tailored to each artist, and we get to create some fun outputs as part of it. Making new connections with potential clients and collaborators on this level is great as it feels as though we’re building really solid relationships.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Grand
Grand Matter International Women’s Day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We do our best to work on projects that encourage positive change, and at the end of last year, we launched our editorial platform<\/span> &wherefore<\/span><\/a> as a place to initiate our own collaborations. One of our big highlights was this year\u2019s International Women\u2019s Day; we enlisted 20 brilliant creatives to design a limited edition range of prints for charity. We love these kinds of projects, where we get to work with our roster, and with the wider creative community, to contribute to something bigger.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the hardest part?<\/h3>\n

On the whole, our role is very collaborative but of course, there are times when it can be a careful balancing act between getting the best possible outcome for artists and making sure the client is happy. Although this is one of our big challenges, it\u2019s also one of the most important ways we can support our artists on a project-to-project basis.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Original
Original artwork by Owen Gildersleeve<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Grand Matter Collection is available here<\/a> for a limited time only.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We chat with Grand Matter for insight into what agencies look for in artists, what drives their work, and what the role of the agency is today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":5535,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5523"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5523"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5563,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5523\/revisions\/5563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}