The Publika Shopping Gallery is one of the latest additions to the thriving shopping industry of Malaysia and more prominently so in the Klang Valley. Located among the new and plush residential area of Dutamas, the Publika Shopping Gallery is home to many renowned art galleries and art related businesses while it is also a place where art is celebrated, promoted and indulged.
In Publika, there are many art and cultural events that comes around each month for art lovers to immerse and indulge in the arts where among them is an initiative undertaken by this highly innovative shopping gallery to incubate homegrown talents and entrepreneurs. This initiative is called the Art Row where it is essentially made up of 6 lots of retail outlets located in a prominent space within the Publika Shopping Gallery.
There are many initiatives and efforts that Publika organizes to promote and develop arts in its space and the Art Row would perhaps be one of the most unique ones because Art Row provides the marketspace for entrepreneurs and artists to actually reach their customers apart from the conventional art related programmes like art exhibitions and such.
How it works is that these spaces are rented out to anyone with anything artistic to sell or show. As space is limited, they will be given 3 months to showcase their works to the visiting public. The idea of Art Row is to incubate these businesses which allow them to establish themselves among the general public and to build a brand around the things they do and sell. On the other hand, Publika will bring in the crowd and visitors through their string of events and activities.
From there, the meeting of cultural minds and businesses can be made. Art Row offers a unique opportunity for the participants to try their artwork and creative designs among the commercial market where the rental is a fraction of the usual retail lot rates. Once the 3 months incubation term is up, they can then be upgraded to the full shoplots where they can fully establish themselves as full-fledge businesses.
Basically, Art Row is a very special method for artists and designers to work on their stuff and to market them into the world. This is the type of opportunity which is very rare as no shopping malls would even consider carrying such an initiative. There is also the F.A.B (Fuyoh Art Bazaar) which is an arts bazaar that comes around every first Sunday of the month.
