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The northern New Mexico arts community probably didn't know what to make of Don and Pamela Michaelis when the Minnesota couple arrived here in 1985.
Looking for a new adventure, the pair, who had backgrounds in fundraising, marketing and the arts, had decided to buy a 32-page publication called the "Santa Fe and Taos Arts Guide." The pocket-sized guide, which they bought for $34,000, featured arts and gallery information, along with a smorgasbord of advertisements targeting tourists, from restaurants and retailers to day spas.
The couple didn't keep the format long.
"We looked at it and thought, 'We can do this better,'" says Pamela, vice president and publisher of Albuquerque-based [Wingspread Guides of New Mexico Inc.]. "We never thought for a minute, 'What if people don't like our idea?' We started working and we never looked sideways or back."
Despite less-than-encouraging vibes from the local arts community -- "they were very lovely, but very non-committal," Pamela says -- they completely revamped the publication, choosing to focus exclusively on northern New Mexico-based original and limited-edition artwork.
The pair filled the guide with ads strictly from galleries and artists, added articles about the local art community, and created indexes of both artists and the places where their creations were sold, so tourists could quickly find what they were looking for.
"With a gallery scene as rich as it was in Santa Fe, somebody could really profit from doing (a publication) right," says Don, the company's president.
That niche marketing has paid off. Now simply called the "Collector's Guide," the annual 370-page publication features 6,000 artists and information on more than 300 galleries, artist studios and museums in Santa Fe, Taos and Albuquerque. Additionally, the guide's Web site, www.collectorsguide.com, contains information on several hundred more arts-related businesses, plus a calendar of events. It receives about 5,000 page views a day.
Wingspread distributes 180,000 copies of the Collector's Guide annually, up from about 50,000 copies when the couple bought the publication 20 years ago.
Ninety percent of the books are distributed locally, mostly to hotels, galleries, airports, chambers of commerce and tourism centers; the rest are shipped to museums and individuals.
And while their goal isn't to make money -- the couple says they're more passionate about helping the arts community than turning a buck -- they still do. The guide sold about $75,000 in advertising in 1985; this year, that figure will be about $1.2 million.
Beyond themselves
Despite having a business to run, the Michaelises are surprisingly altruistic when it comes to making decisions about their company.
"They have done more to foster the sales of New Mexican art than any other organization I know of," says John Cacciatore, owner of [Dartmouth Street Gallery] in Nob Hill. "Don and Pamela are hugely influential in helping galleries grow."
In 1988, the pair realized that readers needed more updated information than what an annual guide could provide. So they bought air time on classical radio station [KHFM 95.5] for a four-minute program called "Gallery News." Still running today, (although now, it's sponsored), the three-times-a week show offers details about upcoming gallery events in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos -- usually with no mention of the Collector's Guide. "We are part of the support structure to the arts community," Don explains. "We're not up front."
The firm posts the calendar on its Web site, and mails printed versions on pre-punched paper to hotel concierges weekly. The lists are kept in binders in hotel lobbies, so tourists have access to a quick resource on galleries.
Further, the pair paid $20,000 to include a page of stickers inside the Collector's Guide so readers can quickly mark their favorite pieces of art. Each guide also includes an artists' index, which cross-references artists with the galleries that sell their work, and detailed tables listing galleries, what they offer, and how to find them in the guide or on an included map. In November, the company relocated from the Michaelis' Four Hills home to a 2,200-square-foot office in the Downtown theatre block -- complete with 600 square feet of exhibit space they call Artspace116. The pair rotates the works of their favorite artists, and then refers interested buyers to the artists, or to the galleries where their work can be found. "We love the process of exhibiting and promoting artwork, but we're really not in the gallery business," Pamela says.
Raised in Minnesota, Pamela worked as a fundraiser for the Minneapolis-based [Guthrie Theater], then later became director of development for [Minnesota Public Radio], and eventually spent time doing freelance fundraising work while raising the couple's daughter. Don, meanwhile, also worked at the Guthrie -- and quickly met and married Pamela. Hired as the theater's marketing guy, he left several years later to take a job in the private sector.
Things changed for the pair in 1985. Laid up in bed following back surgery (she also had just quit smoking and turned 40), Pamela was ready for a change. When Don brought home a Rand-McNally "Places Rated" almanac, she tore into it, looking for someplace new to live. "I read it and called chambers of commerce from my bed," she recalls.
Intrigued by Santa Fe, the couple made plans to visit that year. They eventually decided to move to Albuquerque, after friends here convinced them to stay. Figuring they'd find new jobs, the couple regularly scanned the want ads. One day, Don says an ad in the "business opportunities" section caught his eye: The owners of the Santa Fe and Taos Arts Guide were looking for a buyer; the couple made an offer that month.
The first year was tough, they admit. Since the issue had already been printed, they spent their days delivering copies and drumming up attention for their new concept -- a strictly arts-based guide -- while living off savings. The following spring, the couple published their first issue. Although the guide kept its name, it was markedly different; both in content, size and design. And it soon would have a companion guide -- that fall, the pair published "The Collector's Guide to Albuquerque." That two-guides-a-year schedule continued until 1999, when the books were combined into the annual publication it is today.
Not surprisingly, the couple says their focus now is not so much on their company's growth, but on how to continue keeping the art community vibrant and strong.
"We're not interested in increasing our business at the expense of the art galleries in New Mexico," Pamela says. "We want to always be following their success." |
