My 50 Failures in 2021!
Last year I set a goal to get turned down by 50 art galleries, shows, residencies, and online events.
I figured if I set out to get rejected a lot, which was sure to happen more often than not, I wouldn’t lose heart every time I got a “thank you, but” rejection email.
It still felt pretty vulnerable:
But I know myself pretty well at this point. I’ve been self-employed for 22 years, and I know that sales is a numbers game.
(I’ve also been single on the dating scene. See “numbers game” comment above.)
When you have to put yourself out there, whether it’s coaching, selling products, dating, or paintings, you simply have to keep going.
I knew if I had made my goal something like:
Get into 1 art show a month, or
Be admitted to 5 art shows this year, or
Make it into 15 online art events by December 31st,
I would lose steam every time a $25 application was shut down, and I’d give up.
Here’s my final failures tally of 2021:
Submitted 50 applications!
Accepted by 10!
For every 5 entries, I was accepted once.
That’s a 20% success rate, which ain’t bad.
While I didn’t reach my goal of 50 rejections, I did put out 50 applications.
I failed forty times, succeeded ten times.
Those successes were:
1 grant from the NYC City Artist Corp (to curate and produce a public arts exhibition)
5 online gallery shows and group exhibitions
1 group show in Brooklyn
2 IRL group exhibitions (NYC and LA)
1 corporate partnership to create 4 more group shows in 2022
A few more successes that were possible because I set out to “fail”:
I became a curator in 2021, organizing and producing three arts exhibitions, two in New York City, and one in the iconic 30 Rock!
I also sold more than 30 original watercolors to collectors around the world.
Helped other artists sell over $10,000 in their original artwork!
I met so many wonderful artists, and expanded my network in a big way.
A few strategies, platforms, and habits that kept me on track:
I blocked off one hour every Friday to apply to “art things.” I “cancelled” on myself a few times, but that’s ok.
I mostly applied via the https://www.callforentry.org/ platform, which made it easy to upload my art, bio, and details one time, and apply to many things over the year. There’s also this platform for residencies around the globe, and this for other art contests.
I joined two online “artist groups” to keep me accountable, learning, and inspired.
I made a spreadsheet of applications, contacts, wins/losses, etc. to help me keep track of my effort.
Here’s a screenshot of the spreadsheet:
I started started my 2022 spreadsheet this week, and 50 failures is my goal again this year!
It still takes time, focus, energy, and an average of $25 to apply to each thing, but looking back over the last year, I’m glad I did it, proud of the momentum, and eager to see where this year’s failures take me.
Here’s a few moments from the past year, with other artists, friends, and loved ones who are part of this journey!
Some of the artists in Exchanging Visions, my debut curation:
Friend Nicole Jardim came to cheer me on in my first group show at the Brooklyn Waterfront Artist Coalition show!
Families came out to see art at the Exchanging Visions exhibition, sponsored by RxR Realty.
The Rock Arts show in 30 Rockefeller Center drew a huge crowd of NBC staff and crew to cheer on their friend in the show!
My first booth in the NYC Clio Art Fair, in iconic Chelsea gallery district:
