Hi, my partner and I are both artists and have opened a small contemporary art gallery on the outskirts of London. I would like to host a series of pop-up shows and art workshops in empty spaces across London and despite contacting 100's of estate agents, making phone calls and putting letters in empty shop doorways I'm finding myself at a dead end!

Can anyone out there give me some advice or indeed recommend me to anyone who can help with this project, there are so many empty spaces around that I find it so frustrating I'm not getting through to the right people.

I have read through the very useful Empty Shops workbook and contacted various art contacts council members across the London boroughs.

I am proposing to take a space for 4-6 weeks (possibly longer). This would be a mutually beneficial agreement whereby we are giving the outlet a  presence on the high street, we will be marketing this Pop-up Gallery idea to the press, which in turn we hope will attract a number of new affluent clients to the property. All of this I believe would go towards helping the landlord in finding a long-term tenant.

We would offer:

To pay all utilities within that time and will leave the property in the same/better state of repair, we would also be happy to undertake any cosmetic painting/cleaning of property.

We offer a 15% commission on all Art works sold within that time, our paintings sell from between £1,000-£10,000. This is in lieu of rent.

Thanks

Nikki Martin

www.artandescape.com