That Time I Threw A House Party ...

Want to hear the worst experience I've had to date as a curator? Imma tell you anyway.

I had my first pop in August of 2021 and because it was so successful, I caught the bug, and wanted to keep doing it. The thing about me is that I'm always thinking "how can I make a unique experience for people?" and that's when a thought entered my mind:

~HAVE AN ART EXHIBITION IN A HOUSE JONENE~

Which became my new goal ... I just needed to find a house. It's not like you can just ask someone "Hey can I take everything off of your walls, hang up new work and have complete strangers walk around your home all night?". Even I would say no to that, which meant I had to find a house that was already staged and for sale. Zero human life and personal

belongings inside, was my thought.

The first thing I do when I have an idea is think "who do I know that could help me with this?". For real, I ALWAYS go through my phone first because Philly is small and the art (and I mean the umbrella term, so you'd have: musicians, actors, dancers, interior designers, builders etc all under it.) community is even smaller. If you know key people, they can be very helpful with your business.

Well I had a friend, whom I've known for over 20 years who staged homes for a living. Her husband rehabbed them and guess what? They had a place for me. A beautiful 3 story home in Germantown. IT. WAS. HUGE. The detail in the house was to die for and I could already picture art all over it!

March is Woman's month and it was the perfect time to have my exhibition in this house. I picked a handful of local woman artists, 2 woman DJs, I partnered with Mary J Blige's wine company who sent me a ton of great wine for the night and food from Jansen, in Mt. Airy. It was going to be the best night and I was going to sell all of the artwork!

~O NO YOU'RE NOT JONENE~

Wait, what? This is the perfect formula for success, I thought ... but it wasn't.

The hours of the exhibition were from 5pm to 10pm, which was dumb on my part because by 8pm everyone was drunk and dancing. Did you see how I DIDN'T mention they were buying art? I remember coming down the steps at one point and about 30 people were dancing , drinks in the air and all I thought was : shit, I'm not having and art exhibition, I'm having a free house party!!!!

Mistake Number 1: schedule the exhibition earlier in the evening and for less time.

Why did I make the event last until 10pm? Did I expect people to NOT be drunk and dancing in this beautiful home? Clearly I hadn't thought of that part.

So remember I said early whose house it was? My friend and her husband rehabbed and staged it. Another thing that didn't even cross my mind was how the husband acted out in public when he was drinking. I mean, why would I even NEED to think about that? The only time I hung out with them was in their home. They have the house that everyone goes to because she's always had an open door policy. I knew my friend really well and she was a great person. She married him about 3 years before COVID so he was kind of new to my world, but I loved her and what came with her, I accepted.

Mistake Number 2: know the people you're going into business with.

He basically got too friendly and feely with one of my DJs and I still feel like shit about it to this day. He was too close and too touchy. It was brought to my attention and I sided with my friend and her husband because I didn't know any better. I trusted them. Well ... I also hired a photographer and she approached me saying that it did happen and even showed me a few photos. WOW. What the f$@&!!

By the end of the night, the DJ had left because, well ... she was uncomfortable, told me about it and I didn't protect her. My boyfriend approach the husband (of the house) at the end of the night about everything after we had spoken to the photographer and that didn't end well at all. A lot of screaming and yelling because, of course, he didn't feel as though he did anything wrong, which is typical of a man who harasses women like that. He kicked us out and I had to leave all of the art in the house overnight.

No, I didn't sleep at all that night.

We went back the next day to retrieve the art and to say it was uncomfortable is an understatement. I was blown away at how this man had zero shame, embarrassment or concern for how he made the DJ feel the night before.

I called the DJ to apologize. We had a nice talk, but I'll probably always feel bad for that night. The friend of 20 years? I miss her. When I think back, she shared stories of her relationship with me and there were a lot of red flags. I ignored them because I thought ... really I don't know what I thought. Some people chose people to be in their life because of reasons I'll never understand.

I sold one piece of art for $400 that night.

I'm not saying that I'll never try it again, but when I do ... it's going to be well thought out!

Jonene

xoxo