- James ryan is the founder of Grove Square Galleries, an art gallery that defends social causes.
- Ryan spoke to Insider about carving out a niche in the exclusive industry without any experience.
- This is part of the Insider “Star Entrepreneur Series, Rising ”, which highlights the first entrepreneurs.
Last name: James ryan
to get old: 32
Site: London, England
Business: A contemporary Art Gallery which defends social causes such as climate change and food insecurity.
Pass: James ryan got the keys to its newly launched Grove Square Galleries in February 2020. A month later, the UK went into lockdown due to COVID-19.
But as people were made redundant, he was able to hire quickly due to the Maintaining employment in the United Kingdom regime, under which companies in difficulty could employees on leave without having to let them go and the government would temporarily pay 80% of their salary, up to a ceiling. “There have been a lot of people being made redundant, fired from competitive places, even auction houses,” he said, adding that he was able to hire the workers on leave.
The launch of an online gallery has helped Ryan acquire clients across Europe and the Americas, and as the bottlenecks eased, in-person opening events helped rekindle the chic shine of the art world.
Seeking to do something “worthwhile,” Ryan said the gallery wants to advocate and advise artists who often go unnoticed or fired. The gallery also donates part of its sales to charities chosen by the artists, such as Fauna and Flora International, the world’s oldest wildlife conservation charity. Now Ryan – who has no background in the art – is part of a rising generation of entrepreneurs redefining an industry long known for its exclusivity.
The painting is part of the gallery’s latest exhibition, Arcadia.
Grove Square Galleries
Growth: The gallery generated $ 10 million in revenue in 2021, according to documents viewed by Insider, and aims to double that number by the end of this year. Since the inception of the gallery, Ryan has signed six exclusive artists, including Jim Naughten, Orlanda broom, and Elena Gaul. The gallery also hosted six exhibitions in 2021, the last by Emma Thynn, who is Britain’s first black marquise, who is a noble title given to the wives of British aristocrats called marquises. The profits of the event were donated to the vegan association Food for world life.
Before Grove Square Galleries: He worked for a real estate company where he helped landlords rent homes on booking platforms such as Airbnb. “It just didn’t satisfy me,” he said. He never went to college and worked as a bank teller before becoming a travel agent at age 17. He worked in the sale of luxury watches and was considering becoming a sports agent. “I’ve always tried different things,” he said.
Challenges: Ryan had to quickly build a reputation for the gallery in order to find artists to represent. In addition, he had financial problems at the beginning, because the company was self-financed. “Everything has been done to be very economical,” he said.
Business consultancy : “Believe in what you are doing,” he said. “You must really have a huge passion for it; truly believe in this vision. ”
The painting is part of the gallery’s latest exhibition, Arcadia.
Grove Square Galleries
Business mentor: He admires the investor Peter Jones, saying he likes the way Jones conducts himself at board meetings. Ryan described him as calm, cool and calculated, in addition to being passionate about the projects he funds.
Why is this the best time to start a business: Ryan believes this is a particularly good time to start a digital business, as there are a huge amount of opportunities and access to resources that make it easy. “We’ve been through this pandemic. You’ve had a job you didn’t enjoy doing,” he said. “What else do you have to lose?”
At hiring : There are 20 people working at the art gallery full time at the moment. He had no trouble getting people to work for him, as the government’s leave program helped him find young talent in need of work. It ended in September and he still plans to hire more people this year.
On the management of burnout: Ryan takes the time to exercise and relies on his support network, including his fiancee and children, to get by. In the gallery office there is table tennis and music playing all the time. “We are still talking, we are still laughing,” he said.
Comments are closed.