Just under 3 months to go until RCA Secret and for those who haven't noticed the college has published details of the arrangements for this year on the RCA Secret site.
Lets start with the positives. Cards have gone out very early to contributing artists and with the deadline for return not being until the beginning of November it is to be hoped that this will be a really great year for contributions. Already on twitter artists such as Peter Jones, Anita Klein and Susie Hamilton have tweeted that they have returned their cards to the college so this seems very promising. Also last year contributing artists were only sent 2 cards to return. I understand that artists have been able to do 3 or even 4 cards each this year which means hopefully a bumper number of cards and more opportunities for fans to get what they want.
Next the college has reintroduced the viewing day. It is clearly important to get an opportunity to see the cards in the flesh not just online and the college have responded to the criticisms of last years show by having a full viewing day on 30 November 2018. I am sure I will see many of you there, I have already booked a day off from work.
Also the college have relaxed the rules on numbers of cards that can be bought so that on the final day of the sale, Monday 3 December, so you can return to the sale and buy as many more cards as you like. I've been saying for some time this would be a good idea, so I'm pleased the college have implemented it. The limit on purchases to 4 cards each is essential at the start of the sale but there seems no reason to continue to enforce that once the initial rush has subsided. I'm sure I'm bound to return on the last day for a final trawl and the opportunity to scoop up a couple more cards. I suspect I am not alone. More cards sold, more money for bursaries so everyone is a winner. I expect the cards to sell well give how close the sale is to Christmas.
On the more controversial side the raffle has been scrapped this year. I appreciate the raffle wasn't universally popular but it's worth remembering that the raffle was introduced for 3 reasons – to bring extra revenue to the college; to try and stop people queueing for so long as local residents complained; and because it levelled the field and meant that everyone had a chance of getting the best cards, not just the predominantly male and 100% able bodied people who were prepared to queue for 2 weeks plus outside the sale. If the raffle is scrapped then an efficient system has to be introduced to deal with the sale day. The college have simply said at the moment that camping is banned and that queueing will not be allowed until 8am on the morning of the sale and that security will be around to enforce this. I'm struggling to understand how that works in practice.
The reality is that there will be a number of people – at least 100, probably more, who would have been prepared to queue for longer than 4 hours for the sale. It can be assumed that most of those people will be there at 8am on the day, and many will have turned up much earlier than that. How will this be dealt with? Who will be 1st, 2nd, 3rd in the queue when the college allows queuing at 8am. If it is a free for all then I worry that it could get unpleasant. People may be put off coming at all, which would be sad. The college need to, in my opinion, give information as to how they envisage this working.
Anyway I will be sure to publish updates and thoughts on this blog, together with any news I get. Looking forward to that first contributor news.
Do let me know what your thoughts are on the changes.
1 comment:
I agree that it is a good idea to allow people to return on the last day of the sale and get more postcards should they wish to. It makes a lot of sense.
I guess that we should be grateful for small mercies but only one day to view the postcards in person is insufficient. There was a time when there was at least several days, if not a week, before the exhibition to be able to view the cards, enjoy the art and really appreciate the work that artists have put into the scheme on an entirely unpaid basis. It will be great to catch up with old friends on the viewing day but it is very likely to be crowded and tiring trying to take all the cards in in only a few hours.
I still don't understand why you are unable to collect your postcards on the same day that you purchased them. I think it is unlikely that people outside of London will be able to return to collect their postcards and so the college has the additional work and potentially hassle in having to package up and post so many cards out.
The raffle seemed to work when it was for the first 50 places (alas I never won) but the college needed to ask for ID from those winning to prevent the blatant cheating that was taking place, particularly from one individual who used multiple names to purchase more tickets than was permissible. It is sad that people behave in this way with a scheme for charity but it needs to be factored in with the organisation and not ignored.
Anyway, here is hoping that the college gives more thought to this years Secret so that it is the success it should be. You never know, the college might one day communicate with us on this blog rather than staying so aloof from its supporters.
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