An embarrassing little snag

[2Roses]

Today we received an official notice from SNAG that the entry deadline for the Retro-Futurism show, part of the official Gallery Night Tour at the SNAG 2010 Conference, was being extended.

Extended deadlines are almost always a sign that the show is not receiving sufficient entries. This happens from time to time, and is not necessarily a notable issue in and of itself. What did catch our attention was the entry instructions Insurance/Security: “Artist is responsible for in transit and during the exhibition. Houston Community College is not responsible for damaged or stolen work.

Here was SNAG, the pre-eminent US metals organization, sponsoring a gallery at a national convention, engaging in what is widely regarded as worst/abusive practices.
The cherry on the cake – a $35 entry fee for the privilege of sending your work to a gallery that refuses to take any responsibility for it while in their possession.

Houston Community College should be ashamed of themselves for perpetuating such one-sided abusive practices. But SNAG!? You’re supposed to represent us. You’re supposed to be the champion of BEST practices, not sponsoring the worst.

Here’s the worst part. SNAG is not some anonymous bureaucracy, its US. The question is, what can we do to get our organization back on the right track?

[Dana Singer]

There are erroneous assumptions in the original email and I want to be sure they are put to rest. SNAG does not sponsor all the exhibitions on the Gallery Night Tour, and is not a sponsor of the exhibition at the Houston Community College. The only show SNAG sponsors is our own annual juried student exhibition.

In every conference city, exhibition venues want to be on the Gallery Night Tour, or at least mentioned in the conference program, because they welcome 700 to 800 knowledgeable folks coming to their exhibition spaces. They are open concurrently with our conference but operate independently of SNAG.

SNAG does advocate best practices in the field--take a look at our Professional Guidelines--however as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we have no authority to change how others conduct their businesses. Nor to blacklist any businesses that don't conform to our Guidelines.

You received an announcement, not a formal proclamation from SNAG. We send out announcements from many organizations, schools, galleries, museums and so forth, so that all SNAG members have access to a wide range of opportunities. Each individual then decides for themselves whether they want to participate in those opportunities.

While I applaud your passion to stop worst/abusive practices--and thank you for calling SNAG the preeminent US metals organization--please don't hold SNAG responsible for others' business practices.

I welcome others to join this discussion.
Dana Singer
SNAG Executive Director

[2Roses]

Dana, thank you for your response. Having spent decades managing National and regional associations we are intimately aware of the efforts and exigencies required of the job. Yours is no easy task, and no one faults SNAG for the behavior of others. Nor does anyone hold any illusions that SNAG can control the actions or practices of another business.

We vigorously applaud Harriete Estel Berman, Andy Cooperman and Don Friedlich for their contributions to the Professional Guidelines. These efforts are emblematic of our strengths and best practices.
Introducing our members to businesses that we know do not uphold the practices we profess is a disservice. We can be better than that.

Dana, we firmly believe in SNAG and the value it has to our industry. We also believe in putting our money where our mouth is, and thus have contributed our time and resources to the organization. We will continue to do so. The challenge for you Dana is as we stated in our original post. We are ready volunteers, what can we do to help SNAG get on the right track.

[Dana Singer]

John,

I do understand that even if SNAG doesn't sponsor those exhibitions, the perception is that we do. I should say I just got off the phone with you (John graciously called me), and he has good, constructive ideas about ways we could create incentives and awareness around best practices. I'll be bringing this issue to the board as well. Thank you for the straight talk. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation.