Anatomy of a PJ Exhibition - Atlantic Lighthouse International Exhibition of Photojournalism and Photo Travel Photography

PSA Journal, July, 2000 by Keith Vaughan

In 1999, I assumed the Chairmanship of the 3rd Atlantic Lighthouse International Exhibition of Photojournalism and Photo Travel Photography. There was not a lot of competition for the job!! However, organizing a photographic exhibition at any level is a lot of work, but the satisfaction of bringing the photographic works of so many outstanding international artists to the local audience is well worth the effort. Nevertheless, the requirement to produce a printed catalogue to retain PSA recognition provides an incentive to maintain the financial integrity of the exhibition. Without major sponsorship, the financial needs of the exhibition can only be met by levying an entry fee on the entrants. A crucial question is at what level to set the entry fee.

In the past, I have argued in this Journal that entry fees should be held at the lowest possible level. Overseas exhibitions are now charging a minimum entry fee of $8 US (rarely $7), while many are raising fees to $10 US, $12 US and more, per division. Personally, I hold the line at $8 US for my own entries, and I am being more selective as each year rolls around, with the inevitable drop in my standing in the Who's Who. In setting the fee for the Atlantic Lighthouse exhibition at $5 US for North American entries ($5 Canadian for Canadian entrants), we are making a statement that we are holding the line. It also felt reasonable to have a higher fee of $7 US for overseas entrants, and a $2 levy for airmail return; in hindsight I am not sure that the additional expenses justified that decision.

The breakdown of all of the income accrued to the 3rd Atlantic Lighthouse Exhibition is as follows:

Income (after conversion to CAN $)

Entry Fees           Overseas           1030
                     N. American         950
Catalogue
  Advertising                            100
Public donations at
  Exhibitions                            114
                     TOTAL             $2194 CAN

Overseas entries provide just over 40% of the entries, but contribute more than 50% of entry fee income. However, the biggest factor in enhancing income was the Canadian dollar exchange rate--$1.47 Canadian for each US $ received. This factor is outside of the control of the Salon organizers and could well work in the opposite direction for a future Exhibition (wishful thinking for the Canadian economy.)

On the expense side, the major factor is to manage the funds at every turn and to cut corners whenever possible. Take advantage of every honest freebie you can find. Find a local donor to provide entry form printing in return for advertising at the public exhibition. Deliver entry forms to previous entrants by hand at the PSA convention whenever possible. Mail report cards to husband and wife entrants in the same envelope. The major source of saving was in the catalogue printing by NOT including any B & W reproductions of winning images. This decision was not taken lightly, but this single factor brought the cost of catalogue printing down from over $900 in 1995 to less than $300 in 1999. The full breakdown of expenses in 1999 is as follows:

Expenses ($ Canadian)
Printing Catalogues            276
         Report Cards          009
         Subtotal              285      285
Mail     Entry forms           247
         Report Cards          139
         Catalogues            118
         Return of Slides      292
         Subtotal              796      796
Refreshments                             82
Numbered labels (RMF)                    48
Stationery                               43
                             TOTAL     1254
NET PROFIT: income over expenses       $940

Obviously, we made a profit. But the story does not end there. Firstly, we did not have our own scoring system before this exhibition and we purchased one from RMF, which took care of $367 (CAN) of the profit, leaving a net gain of $573 (CAN). But where did the profit come from? Who did we make money off? Was the $5/$7 differential fee justified? Should we have charged less for airmail return? To answer these questions, I have broken down the income/expenses into categories for Canadian, American and Overseas entrants.

Table 1 is the result of that analysis. General Expenses is an average for all 173 entrants; all other figures represent the average of the entrants in that group.

TABLE 1

                         Canadian      United States
                         1st class    Air     Surface

General Expenses           4.07        4.07     4.07
Report Card Mail           0.53        0.63     0.63
Catalogue Mail             1.06        1.20     1.20
Return Slides              1.96        1.44     1.97

TOTAL cost per entrant     7.62        7.34     7.87

Average FEE collected      8.50       14.70    10.93

Profit per Entrant         0.88        7.36     3.06

                                Overseas
                             Air    Surface

General Expenses             4.07     4.07
Report Card Mail             1.09     1.09
Catalogue Mail               0.98     0.98
Return Slides                2.58     1.42

TOTAL cost per entrant       8.72     7.56

Average FEE collected       16.64    12.04

Profit per Entrant           7.92     4.48