​Rochester Art Collectors partnered with Rochester Contemporary Arts Center to REVEAL the results of Rochester's first fantasy art collecting game, Red Dot Challenge, Season 1, on February 5th. 

This program was held during the Rochester Contemporary Arts Center's 34th Annual Members Exhibition.

Bleu Cease, Executive Director/Curator of Rochester Contemporary Arts Center, welcomed the group and kicked off the evening with background about the 34th Annual Members Exhibition before introducing Rome Celli, organizer of Rochester Art Collectors and gamemaster for Red Dot Challenge, Season 1.

Rome Celli thanked all the people who helped develop and support Red Dot Challenge, Season 1. Then he provided a brief background about the game, described the rules of the game and introduced Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 players by matching them with their Fantasy Art Collections using a slideshow presentation (see below).

Each player, in turn, had a chance to talk about their fantasy art collection, what inspired them, any goals or themes for their collections and how they responded to the game itself. The final slides in the presentation provided a statistical summary of gameplay activity.

Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 is a program of Rochester Art Collectors.
​
Participating in Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 is FREE and open to the public. None of the players are paying to play or receiving any compensation. The program is privately funded and entirely non-commercial. Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 is not a fundraiser of any kind for any organization.

​The works of art chosen by Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 players for their fantasy art collections are not being purchased with real money. Red Dot Challenge is a FANTASY art collecting GAME. Players are having fun PRETENDING to buy/collect the art and modeling art collecting behaviors.

In all instances the artists retain the copyright for their work as well as all other rights and privileges provided by the law.

Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 is a program of Rochester Art Collectors.
​
Participating in Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 is FREE and open to the public. None of the players are paying to play or receiving any compensation. The program is privately funded and entirely non-commercial. Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 is not a fundraiser of any kind for any organization.

​The works of art chosen by Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 players for their fantasy art collections are not being purchased with real money. Red Dot Challenge is a FANTASY art collecting GAME. Players are having fun PRETENDING to buy/collect the art and modeling art collecting behaviors.

In all instances the artists retain the copyright for their work as well as all other rights and privileges provided by the law.

Friday, January 3rd is the first First Friday* of 2025. This will be the third and final First Friday during gameplay. Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 ends on January 31, 2025. Over a dozen venues will host events on Friday, January 3rd. All will be open to the public.

Larger exhibitions that will be open to the public on January 3rd include: Rochester Contemporary Art Center's "34th Annual Members Exhibition"; The Yards Collective "Members Exhibition"; Image City's "The Magic Of Light 2025" Exhibition; Anderson Arts Studios "Open Studios"; Hart Gallery 27's "Happy Birthday Baby!" exhibition; and Studio 402's "Self Portrait" exhibition. In all, over 600 works of art will on exhibit until the various exhibitions close one-by-one; usually within 30 days or so.
--
*If you don't already know, the first Friday night of each month is a big deal in the Rochester arts scene. Many art venues hold special exhibition events (read: parties!) on the first Friday of every month. It's so popular that Rochester Contemporary Arts Center (RoCo) hosts a special page on their website to share information about events scheduled on "First Fridays": FirstFridayRochester.org

​Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 is a program of Rochester Art Collectors.
​
Participating in Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 is FREE and open to the public. None of the players are paying to play or receiving any compensation. The program is privately funded and entirely non-commercial. Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 is not a fundraiser of any kind for any organization.

​The works of art chosen by Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 players for their fantasy art collections are not being purchased with real money. Red Dot Challenge is a FANTASY art collecting GAME. Players are having fun PRETENDING to buy/collect the art and modeling art collecting behaviors.

In all instances the artists retain the copyright for their work as well as all other rights and privileges provided by the law.

If you are interested in purchasing a work of art you've seen during Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 gameplay, please inquire at the venue where the work is exhibited.​​

Friday, December 6th is "First Friday" in Rochester. This will be the second First Friday during Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 gameplay. The last First Friday will be on January 3, 2025. Gameplay ends on January 31, 2025.

If you don't already know, the first Friday night of each month is a big deal in the Rochester arts scene. Many art venues hold special exhibition events (read: parties!) on the first Friday of every month. It's so popular that Rochester Contemporary Arts Center (RoCo) hosts a special page on their website to share information about events scheduled on "First Fridays": FirstFridayRochester.org

First Fridays have evolved to become a sort of progressive party celebrating the artists, arts organizations, galleries, and the art scene. To make First Fridays even more exciting it's common for art venues to host their exhibition "OPENING" event right on First Fridays. When you combine the excitement of a progressive party with an opening night event you get a crowd. Fun! 

On Friday, December 6th there will be OVER TWENTY-FIVE art events around town! See a sampling of the offerings below.

One of the largest annual exhibition of works offered for sale at a single venue in our region - the Rochester Contemporary Arts Center's Members Exhibition - will hold its opening celebration on Friday, December 6th. The exhibition will feature hundreds of works for sale displayed "salon style" (from floor to ceiling).  The works will be smaller in scale and priced accordingly. Artists typically submit works created in a wide variety of media. If you love to look at art, don't miss this wonderful show!

Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 players will be out and about looking at art on Friday night. They'll be taking pictures and posting their activities to their Instagram accounts. Not long after each player will  post photographs of their choices to their fantasy art collection albums on Facebook.

Learn more about all the ways you can participate in Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 alongside the players HERE.

Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 begins on Friday, November 1st!

November 1, 2024 happens to fall on the first Friday of the month. If you don't already know, the first Friday night of each month is a really big deal in the Rochester arts scene. Many art venues hold special exhibition events (read: parties!) on the first Friday of every month. It's so popular that Rochester Contemporary Arts Center (RoCo) provides a special page on their website to share information about events scheduled on "First Fridays": FirstFridayRochester.org

First Fridays have evolved to become a sort of progressive party celebrating the artists, arts organizations, galleries, and the art scene. To make First Fridays even more exciting it's common for art venues to host their exhibition "OPENING" event right on First Fridays. When you combine the excitement of a progressive party with an opening night event you get a crowd. Fun! 

On Friday, November 1st there will be OVER TWENTY-FIVE First Friday art events around town! See a sampling of the offerings below. 

As of November 1st Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 players will be out and about looking at art, taking pictures and posting their activities to their Instagram accounts. Pretty soon each player will start posting photographs of their choices to their fantasy art collection albums on Facebook.

Learn more about all the ways you can participate in Red Dot Challenge, Season 1 alongside the players HERE.

​Rochester Art Collectors partnered with Rochester Contemporary Arts Center to REVEAL a new fantasy art collecting game: the Red Dot Challenge on February 1st. 

This program was held during the Rochester Contemporary Arts Center's annual Members Exhibition.

The Sitch:

• A small group of players were each given a fantasy budget of $10,000 to "buy" a fantasy art collection of at least seven works of art between December 1, 2023 and January 31st, 2024.
• On February 1, 2024 players REVEALED their choices and the inspiration behind their collections at the Rochester Contemporary Art Center.

​The video above was recorded by Mike Molaire at Rochester Contemporary Arts Center on February 1, 2024

Details about the REVEAL event

• Bleu Cease, Executive Director/Curator of Rochester Contemporary Arts Center, welcomed the group and kicked off the fun.
• Rome Celli from Rochester Art Collectors =gave a brief background about game, described the rules and introduced Red Dot Challenge players.
• Then the players talked about their collections, what inspired them, any goals or themes for their collections and how they responded to the game itself.

The Players

• Susan Mandl & Seth Oser (played as a team of two)
• Elizabeth Forbes
• Matt Vanderlee

After the presentations a handful of people in the audience volunteered to participate in a "lightening round" of the Red Dot Challenge. 

The group of volunteer players had five minutes to each identify their own mini-collection by placing colored posted notes next to their choices. After making their choices each of the lighting round players talked about the works in their mini-collections and why they chose them.

Rochester Art Collectors anticipates a second season ​of the game later in 2024 or early in 2025.

If you would like to participate in a future game, please write to [email protected]

​Red Dot Challenge is a program of Rochester Art Collectors.
​
Participating in Red Dot Challenge is FREE and open to the public. None of the players are paying to play or receiving any compensation. The program is privately funded and entirely non-commercial. Red Dot Challenge is not a fundraiser of any kind for any organization.

Works of art selected by players for their fantasy art collections in Red Dot Challenge never leave the venue where they are exhibited. Information about the availability of works on exhibit and how to purchase works of art that are available will be apparent at the venue where you see the work exhibited.

Rochester Art Collectors has CANCELLED their second public information session about Red Dot Challenge that was scheduled for Monday, March 16th starting at 6:30 pm at Boulder Cafe & Lounge on South Clinton Avenue in Rochester’s South Wedge neighborhood.
​
Instead of rescheduling we added details about the game to the main Red Dot Challenge web page. 
Click here to read the Red Dot Challenge:2020 rules.
Click here for your invitation to play Red Dot Challenge.
If you want to talk through questions or if you really want to dig in on the details of the game, send a note to inspire@rochesterartcollectors or call/text Rome at 585-732-1767.

Brief summary of the game: Red Dot Challenge is a free fantasy art collecting game with a social media twist.  Each Collector (that's what we call the players) is assigned a fantasy budget to assemble a fantasy art collection over a pre-determined period. Collectors add art to their fantasy art collections by visiting venues in person anywhere in the world art is exhibited for sale and taking pictures of the art they want to include. They post pictures of the works they've chosen to Instagram with #RedDot2020 so you can find and follow the collections as they develop. At the end of the game Rochester Art Collectors will produce a fun event featuring the Collectors and celebrating the results. There’s a lot more to it but now you get the general idea. Click here for all the full details of the game.

​Information session schedule:

6:30 pm to 6:45 pm - Social mixer. Check out the new Forefront Collective art exhibit in the seating area of Boulder Cafe & Lounge. Forefront artists include Rachel Coutant, Gage Forster, Chloe du Plessis, and Rachael Christman.

6:45 pm to 7:15 pm - Information session. Topics that will be covered at this meeting:
​

• The goals of the game;
• How to become a player;
• How the game is designed to work;
• The rules of the game;
• The role of social media in the game;
• Who can play; and
• The rollout

7:15 pm to 7:30 pm - Questions & answers

The event is FREE and open to the public. Please click on the button below to register. You do not have to be a member of Rochester Art Collectors to participate in this program.
​
A brief overview of Red Dot Challenge will also be offered at every Rochester Art Collectors program through the balance of 2020.