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English video series

about making

exhibitions

with topics such as: marketing, copyrights, the concept, work plan, budget, during the exhibition, etc.

Professional training in making exhibitions

In fact, in most countries there are few opportunities to learn how to make exhibitions as a profession, just like in the Netherlands.

That is why the Dutch Library Service suggested to me about 30 years ago to develop such a training for libraries and to write a manual about it, which became the manual "How to be a succesful exhibiter. A basic Guide”. The question arose because I had such extensive experience in making exhibitions and because I also studied Educational Science for a while.

I then developed that course and then taught it to library staff for several years and also at art academies and high schools. Because some interested people lived far away, even abroad, I also developed written course material.

After a few years I had had most of the libraries and I was too busy making my own exhibition. I neatly stored the course material even though I didn't know then that there would suddenly be a covid outbreak. And it came and then we had to stay home.

There is not much you can do then, except for example clean up your archive.

Viet Nam Cultural Exchange (VNCE)

Coincidentally, just before covid broke out, I had helped Oanh Le, a former student of mine, set up her 'Art for Children Gallery' in Da Nang, central Vietnam. She knew that I had developed that course at the time and asked me if I could not make a video series based on it. Because in Vietnam there was also a lack of accessible vocational training in making exhibitions, and she thought that this was the case in many more countries.

I was at home anyway and it seemed like a good idea, the series had to be in English, fortunately my English is very limited so that everyone can follow it and I hardly use any typical 'professional terms'.

What is the difference between this series and other existing videos?

- first of all it is a series of 8 videos and not 1 video and there are additional videos as well;

- I have given many guided tours, so I tell my story very differently than a teacher does;

- I am also used to using spoken language, which is much simpler;

- I studied educational science and therefore developed the material myself based on my own practice;

- the videos are especially interesting for people who cannot follow a university education due to the lack of time and opportunities;

- I have experience in making very small exhibitions in a local library, but also in making exhibitions in large international museums;

- I usually financed my exhibitions myself, from my own practice I show how you can do a lot with few resources;

- the videos therefore give a good picture of how I developed from an ordinary gallery owner to an international museum director;

- for those who want to know more there is the adjoining Patreon site, which also contains the material that I developed for the handbook;

- exhibiting is quite a lonely profession and it is often difficult to talk about specific problems, so that's what the Patreon site is for;

- on the Patreon site you will also find the assignments from the written training to gain experience;

- the proceeds of the site are used by VNCE to develop projects and that knowledge is shared;

- the additional videos are also interesting:

About Roby Bellemans:

That's very simple: my father was a visual artist and so was my older brother, thus I've literally been in the profession since I was born and grew up among the paintings in the making. I learned very young that the life of an artist is not a bed of roses. When I was admitted to study at the Royal Antwerp Art Academy myself, I knew after a few weeks that it was not making art, but presenting it that gave me the most satisfaction.

I then worked in various positions for various local, national and international museums and cultural centers until I started my own gallery in the early 1980s.

It's all on my resume. Well, I do not have a museum university education, but I have read a lot of professional literature and I have a lot of practical experience.