Bath-based film and theatre director Malachi Bogdanov has launched an online gallery to make great art accessible to all – with help from business growth consultancy Cool Ventures.
Malachi, a former associate director of the English Shakespeare Company, set up The Apple Gallery to represent up-and-coming artists, as well as more established painters.
The site – www.theapplegallery.co.uk – features work by specially selected artists from around the world, with some of their paintings now also on display at a temporary exhibition in Bath’s Guildhall.
Malachi is receiving specialist business advice from Sue Marchant and her team at Cool Ventures, which delivers the Bath Business Support Programme
The programme provides free intensive support to small and medium-sized businesses like Malachi’s. Business owners benefit from one-to-one coaching by experienced advisers and access to workshops on key topics including strategy and business planning, finance, marketing and management.
Malachi said: “My ethos is to make quality art accessible to all by taking a low commission and offering some of the best original paintings from around the world at affordable prices. The one-to-one advice I’m receiving from Cool Ventures is helping me to realise this ambition.
“It’s been great to have someone to bounce ideas off and they can point me in the right direction when I need help. Sue put me in touch with their SEO specialist, who was able to help me improve my Google rankings for the gallery and introduced me to the export team at the Department for International Trade.
“We are very much an international company and want to increase our global reach, so this introduction is crucial for us.”
Sue added: “We don’t just offer business growth advice to entrepreneurs like Malachi, we can also introduce them to our extensive contacts in the business world.
“We work closely with a wide range of organisations, which we have good relationships with, and can introduce our businesses clients to those that can help them.”
Cool Ventures was founded in 2011 by experienced business coach Sue Marchant, who is also a qualified management accountant.
As well as the Bath Business Support Programme, it also delivers the Swindon and Wiltshire SME Growth Programme. Both provide up to 12 hours of free business support and are funded by Bath & North East Somerset, Swindon Borough and Wiltshire councils, the West of England Partnership and the European Union Regional Development Fund.
For more information contact the firm on 01225 580850 or email info@coolventures.co.uk
Pictured: Sue Marchant from Cool Ventures with Apple Gallery owner Malachi Bogdanov. The painting is by the artist Ta Thimkaeo
