The first ten actions to take after opening your gallery

01Formalise your programme for the next twelve months

The temptation, the day after opening, is to live day by day, to focus on the current exhibition and to push planning to later. This approach is a major strategic error. Serious collectors, specialist journalists and curators want to know what comes after your first exhibition. If you cannot answer this question precisely, you give the impression of a gallery that improvises, which does not inspire confidence. Professional interlocutors in the art world evaluate a gallery not on an isolated exhibition but on the trajectory it draws, on the coherence between successive projects, on the dealer's capacity to situate their work within a longer timeframe.

Formalise an exhibition calendar for the next twelve months, even if certain details remain to be confirmed. This calendar must be coherent with the positioning you have defined and show a logical progression. Galerie Praz-Delavallade, when it opened in Paris in the 1990s, had a programme established for its full first year that demonstrated a clear vision and an already constituted network of artists. This programme was not set in stone, but it existed, and it gave professional interlocutors the certainty that the gallery was there to last.

Your programme should also plan a sustainable rhythm. Young galleries that schedule too many exhibitions in their first year exhaust themselves financially and intellectually. A rhythm of five to seven exhibitions per year is reasonable for a modestly sized gallery, with intermediate periods devoted to group hangings, gallery appointments and commercial follow-up work.

02Establish clear contracts with your artists

The relationship between a dealer and their artists rests on trust, but trust does not preclude contractual clarity. Many young galleries operate on the basis of verbal agreements in their early years, which can create disastrous misunderstandings when the first commercial successes arrive or when an artist receives an offer from another gallery. The most destructive disputes in the gallery world almost always arise from the absence of a written agreement: an artist who thought they had granted territorial exclusivity discovers that the gallery sold a work in a territory they considered reserved for another partner, a dealer who invested in producing works discovers the artist has promised them to a third party.

Establish from the outset a written agreement with each artist you represent, specifying the duration of the collaboration, the territory covered, commission terms, respective responsibilities regarding production, transport and insurance, and termination conditions. These agreements do not need to be fifty-page legal documents. A simple two- or three-page agreement, drafted in clear language and signed by both parties, suffices to establish a healthy working framework. Galerie Kamel Mennour, which began with a modest programme before becoming one of the most important galleries in Paris, has always insisted on clarity of reciprocal commitments with its artists, contributing to the stability of its professional relationships over the long term.

03Create your collector file and cultivate it from day one

The collector file is every gallery's treasure. On the day of your opening, this file is probably empty or nearly so. Every person who enters your gallery, who shows interest in a work, who asks pertinent questions about an artist, should be recorded with their consent, along with their contact details and notes on their interests. This discipline, maintained rigorously from day one, will progressively build a database that will become your most valuable commercial tool. A good collector file is not merely a list of names and addresses: it is a living document tracing the history of each relationship, the works that interested each person, the conversations you had, the occasions when you thought of a particular collector upon seeing a particular work.

Following up contacts is as important as collecting them. A collector who visited your gallery and expressed interest should hear from you within the week, with a personal message referencing your conversation and offering to go deeper. Experienced dealers such as those at Galerie Daniel Templon devote a significant proportion of their time to collector follow-up, and this relationship work is directly correlated with sales volume. Art sales are above all a matter of human relationship, and this relationship is built through sustained and sincere attention.

04Install your digital presence professionally

Your website and social media must be fully operational at the time of your opening, but it is in the weeks that follow that you must establish a regular publication rhythm. Publish views of your current exhibitions with professional-quality photographs, share content about your artists that goes beyond simple commercial promotion, and systematically respond to messages and comments you receive. Your digital presence is your gallery open at all hours: it welcomes visitors around the clock, in every time zone, and the impression it leaves is as decisive as that of your physical space.

The Artedusa platform enables partner galleries to complement this digital presence by presenting their artists and works to an international collector network. For a young gallery, this expanded visibility is a reputation accelerator that compensates for the absence of a network that established galleries have spent decades building.

05Meet the other dealers in your neighbourhood personally

The gallery world is simultaneously competitive and cooperative. Galleries in the same neighbourhood share a common interest: attracting visitors to the area. Take the time to introduce yourself personally to each dealer in your vicinity, visit their space and understand their programme. These encounters should not be perceived as calculated networking moves but as gestures of professional courtesy that, over time, can transform into fruitful collaborations. The neighbouring dealer who recommends a collector, who alerts you to a fair opportunity, who lends you a plinth for an opening: these daily gestures of professional solidarity are only possible if you have taken the time to introduce yourself and build a relationship of mutual respect.

Galerie Chantal Crousel, based in the Marais in Paris, has always maintained cordial relations with its neighbours, participating in the neighbourhood's collective initiatives and contributing to making the Marais one of the most dynamic gallery hubs in the capital. This neighbourhood solidarity benefits all galleries, and particularly the newest ones that benefit from the visitor flow attracted by the concentration of spaces.

06Organise administrative and financial management from the start

A gallery's administrative management is not the most thrilling subject, but neglecting it in the first weeks leads to difficulties that accumulate and quickly become unmanageable. From the moment you open, put in place a rigorous invoicing system, clear bookkeeping, artwork stock tracking with detailed records for each piece (artist, dimensions, medium, price, location, exhibition history), and a systematic photographic documentation procedure for all works entering your space. The time invested in this initial organisation will pay for itself from your very first sale, when you can instantly produce an impeccable invoice, a complete certificate of authenticity and a detailed condition report.

Certificates of authenticity, condition reports, consignment contracts, sales invoices: these documents must be impeccable from the very first transaction. A collector who receives an approximate invoice or an incomplete certificate of authenticity will lose confidence in your professionalism, and that confidence is extremely difficult to regain.

07Make yourself visible to local institutions and prepare the future

Your city's cultural institutions, whether museums, art centres, regional contemporary art collections or art schools, are potential partners whose importance is often underestimated by young dealers. Contact curators and directors of these institutions, invite them to visit your space and make them aware of your programme. These contacts may not produce immediate results, but they place your gallery within the local institutional landscape and may lead to artwork loans, collector recommendations or collaborative projects.

Galerie Michel Rein, when it established itself in Paris, rapidly built relationships with Parisian institutions, enabling several of its artists to secure institutional exhibitions that reinforced the gallery's credibility. This liaison work between the private and public sectors is an essential component of the dealer's mission, and it must begin from the very first weeks of your activity.

Also prepare your first fair participation, even if it will not take place for a year. Identify events accessible to young galleries, study application requirements and begin assembling your dossier. Fairs such as Drawing Now in Paris, YIA Art Fair, or the sections dedicated to young galleries at major fairs offer entry points suited to emerging galleries. Finally, make a habit of regularly evaluating what works and what needs adjusting. This discipline of continuous evaluation is what allows a young gallery to quickly correct trajectory errors and capitalise on its first successes.