MATT FORD STUDIO

EXHIBITION GUIDELINES

PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE

You are required to organise your own public liability insurance for your exhibition and send profe before the exhibition begins.

This will cover you for any injury to visitors, damage to the studio space, and damage to third-party property during your exhibition, including events where alcohol is served.

The average cost for a 4-day exhibition with alcohol is around £50+, depending on coverage and provider.

Here are three companies we recommend:

  1. Simply Business – short-term event and alcohol cover for small exhibitions.

  2. Hiscox – specialist small business and event insurance, including alcohol liability.

  3. AXA – flexible public liability and event insurance for short-term hires.

DRINKS LICENCE

If you plan to serve alcohol during your exhibition, you are responsible for organising the correct licence.

  • Private invite-only events with free alcohol: If the venue is unlicensed, a Temporary Event Notice (TEN) may still be needed, but councils rarely enforce this for genuinely private events.

  • Events where alcohol is sold (cash or card bar) or public/semi-public: You must apply for a TEN from your local council.

Key points:

  • Apply at least 10 working days in advance (can be up to 28 days).

  • TEN cost is typically £21–£24.

  • Copy must be served to the local council and police.

  • Check your Public Liability Insurance covers alcohol-related risks.

Your local council issues TENs. Search “Hackney Council Temporary Event Notice” for the application form and guidance.

Venue Access + Closing

  • You will be provided with a key and access code to open and close the space yourself.

  • At the end of each day/event, you must:

    • Turn off all electrical equipment, including heaters and lights.

    • Fully close all curtains and blinds.

  • The Studio is not responsible for damage or security issues if these steps are not followed.

HANGING GUIDE

We provide nylon cords (for works up to 7kg)

Your artworks must be framed or prepared with "D-rings" on the back to attach to the hooks.

If your artwork is heavier than 7kg you must give us 2 weeks notice to assess the installation.

We can provide drinks and glue gun for making budget frames suitable for our hanging system.

Using tape on the walls. We recommended using scotch Magic Tape to avoid wall paint damage and extra costs.

We allow nails or screws in the back wall. But they must be signed off before installation.

make a video showing how the hanging stem works.

attaching the cord to the wall.

loading a hook.

hanging a picture (see though picture.)

double hook for safety.

blue tan to secure.

show back of frame.

show example of glue gunning a cheaper frame.

show good and bad example of high and low drinks.

WALL MEASURMENTS

Here is guild to help you plan you curate and arrange your artworks down to the nearest cm.

We have furniture that can be used, that is normally stored away.

1 x Beach wooden table. 120cm by 60cm. Max weight 20kg

1 x Mahogany wooden table. 120cm by 60cm. Max weight 50kg

3 x Plastic folding tables. ***cm by **cm max weight ???

2 x orange swivel chairs.

1 x metal Wire lounge chair

8 x wooden garden chairs.

How to direct people to the studio

  • Provide us with your exhibition branding and we will put up signage around the site directing people to the space.

  • We recomend making a social media video like this and ask all the Artists to repost. See here

  • If you provide 2 A1 posters of your show with room at the bottom for arrows…. we will provide 2 x A-Boards.

  • On your website you should say.

  • “Head to hackney downs studios and follow the signs to our exhibition at MATT FORD STUDIOs gallery space. ”

Promoting your event

We have a tried and tested format for promoting our events and would highly recomend you adopt this system.

if you do not have your own website. We are happy to host an event page on MattFordStudio.com in our Exhibition Archive section along with our past events.

By having a separate (free or paid) event write event for your private view and your public event you can benefit from:

  • gauging interest in the event.

  • Managing numbers of people

  • not over booking your private view

  • Collecting email adresses for future events.

    As a rule of thumb, if 100 people sign up to come to your private view event (with free entry) 30% will likely not show, so you are safe to factor that into your ticket sales limitations.

  • Even if your public event is free, we recomend running an event bright page as it makes the event goers more inclined to follow though with attending.

  • you can send reminders.