Manifest's Impact

This week, I did some reflecting on Manifest's impact and how it has been able to set itself apart from other galleries since it opened six years ago. Although I still wish to get some input from my supervisor, Tim, I would like to go ahead and write some of the things I came up with that makes Manifest Gallery unique.

First of all, I think the three facets of Manifest (the gallery space, drawing studio, and publications) certainly help to distinguish Manifest from other galleries. The fact that we have the drawing studio and various publications in addition to the gallery space really makes Manifest unique.

Many other galleries are open very rarely, or even by appointment only. Manifest is open five days a week, which encourages people to visit regularly and provides more opportunities for the public to view the work we have on display. In this way, Manifest is much more accessible and available to the public.

It is also worth noting that Manifest is a non-profit organization. Because we don't rely on retail sales visitors don't feel pressured to buy and instead are free to simply enjoy the artwork. This coupled with the hours we are open to the public, I think, makes a visit to Manifest gallery more like visiting a museum in a smaller, more intimate setting. Like a museum, Manifest’s purpose is more didactic in nature rather than focused on retail and profits.

Manifest likes to consider itself and has marketed itself as “a neighborhood gallery for the world.” The international aspect is another unique feature of Manifest. It is not uncommon to have artists from other countries submit work to show at Manifest. Having an international dialogue in Cincinnati, Ohio is a real asset to the community, and I think Manifest as definitely helped to bring that to the city.

Perhaps the most important thing to talk about when discussing Manifest’s impact is the high quality that is so important to us here. We hold a very high standard for the quality of work that we exhibit. The use of a blind jury allows us to maintain that high standard. At other galleries, an artist may get a solo show just because he or she knows the gallery owner. We don’t show such favoritism or do favors and therefore, each exhibition has only the highest quality of work. We also bring this idea of high quality to the publications we produce and distribute. In talking to visitors of the gallery, they are always quite impressed with the quality of work we have in every exhibit.

Now that I have come up with some initial ideas based on my experiences here so far, I will be talking to Tim to gain further insight into Manifest’s impact.