Being socially comfortable has helped me in my role as Front-of-House at the East End Gallery. I have to practise being welcoming without being suffocating. I like asking our guests where they are from, either local, Perth, Western Australia, interstate or international. Most people want to browse when they first enter. Many of our guests enjoy hearing the story of the Forbes Building and the creation of the Gallery. Then there is the tour of Michael's workshop if they so desire. Add the two couches and four club chairs into the mix and the Gallery becomes a place to relax for a while and absorb the light and space.
I usually work out our guests' intentions by their body language, or through my brief introductory chat. My customary opening is to welcome guests to the Gallery and ask what has brought them to Beverley. Then I always promote the number of our artists, that the majority of them are from the Wheatbelt and our wide range of art pieces. I finish by asking if they would like a catalogue or just wish to look. Then I leave them be.
Occasionally, I completely stuff up. This morning, I greeted a lady with my normal booming voice and she nearly jumped out of her skin. Or I have had complete mental blocks regarding names or faces. Or I have misunderstood which art piece a guest was enquiring about and caused great confusion about the item or the price.
The East End Gallery is all about passion. And a dream come true. The only dampener is that we seldom make any money. Today, we earned three dollars in commission. Yesterday we earned twenty-five dollars. We are certainly not in the Gallery to make our millions.
Which is why I was especially surprised when we received an invitation from the Wheatbelt Business Network to apply for a Business Excellence Award. Having received the initial email, I fell off my chair laughing and then promptly forgot all about it. About four weeks later, I was contacted again on my mobile, to ask if the East End Gallery had entered an application. This time, I felt compelled to open the email and take a look.
The submission process was about as awful as most others I have participated in and, as a result, I kept putting it off. Eventually, having attempted to finish the application in one afternoon (!), I begged for an extension. This was granted and after two days of hard slog and brain draining, I managed to email the completed project. Thank you so much to Caroline, Lisa and Tori for bullying me into entering the awards.
Some time later, we received news that we were a Finalist in the awards and that the presentation evening would be in Quairading. We nearly didn't go as the dress requirement was smart evening and we don't possess many clothes in that category. Swallowing hard, we paid our fees for the evening and the Op Shop saved Michael in the form of a three dollar wool dinner jacket. Which he wore with jeans.
Dressed for warmth rather than glamour, we set off for Quairading last Friday afternoon. We worked out that the venue was the Lesser Hall behind the Town Hall, but incredibly for us, we were early. That problem was quickly solved by a trip to the pub, operated by Amanda, who we had known in Beverley. A gin and tonic, a bourbon and coke and the Q's pot belly stove removed the chill from inside our bodies. The evening was freezing.
Returning to the Lesser Hall, we enjoyed drinks and nibbles, a buffet meal, delicious desserts and an excellent speaker from Dunsborough named Jim Winter. And we were thrilled to be a Finalist. There were quite a few contenders for the micro business award. Loose Stitches was the worthy winner and we cheered them enthusiastically. Then, in competition with about thirty other businesses, the East End Gallery was announced winner of the Wheatbelt Business Network Choice award.
Get out of here! I was struck dumb. Us? The Gallery? A business excellent award. There was no way I was going up the front to accept the award alone. My beloved Michael had always been the catalyst for the creation of our Gallery. He had worked so hard to restore our building to her former glory and regain his artistic edge as a metal sculptor. As a result, he had been hospitalised on three occasions and injured on a fourth.
Michael, my darling, you are the man.
My thank-you speech was disjointed, disordered and full of profanities. I talked about the passion, the dream and the daily thrill of our own business. I think I rambled on for about five minutes. Another milestone for the Beverley Hillbillies.
We enjoyed a few more glasses of vino before setting out for home. The whole evening had been like a fairy tale ending for us. We felt vindicated and so proud. An unlikely vision involving a broken down building, boundless enthusiasm, a punishing renovation and sourcing our artists had actually been achieved.
And we had been noticed. Wow.
On arrival...
Mr Jim Winter as guest speaker...
Announced as a Finalist...
My rather incoherent thank-you speech!
What a night!
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