Class art auction
Each class makes one group artwork (a canvas, quilt, mosaic or ceramic piece) that parents bid on at a silent or live auction, often alongside individual student pieces.
Typically raises
$5,000
$1,500–12,000 per event
About $222 per organiser hour
Based on one primary school art auction
Is it right for us?
- Money
- $2,000–10,000
- Work
- Weeks, part-time
- Helpers
- 3–6 people
- Lead time
- 1–2 months
- Red tape
- Light
Fairly common: a gala highlight at many primary schools
- People
- 4-10: an organiser, teachers, hanging and bid-sheet helpers, an MC or auctioneer (estimate)
- Organiser time
- 15-30 hours plus class time to make the works (estimate)
- Lead time
- 6-10 weeks: art made across a term, auction late in the term (estimate)
- Up-front cost
- $400. Canvases, paint, framing or tiles; ask an art supplier or framer for a discount (estimate).
- Risk
- Low-medium: materials are spent before bids; low turnout can leave works under-sold.
How it works
The money, as an example sum
Take about $5,400, pay about $400 of costs, and you keep about $5,000 per event: the typical result for one primary school art auction.
From the typical figure on this page. Your result will differ.
Where the money figure comes from
Red Beach School's 'Art Attack', with each class doing a collaborative work and each student an individual piece, raised $7,700 at its previous auction (Local Matters). St Joseph's School Queenstown raised about $10,500 from a live auction of 50 artworks including professional pieces (ODT). St Joseph's Cathedral School Dunedin raised $2,150 from 300 pupil artworks for Cyclone Gabrielle (ODT, via search results).
Last checked October 2026. Ran this? Tell us what you raised and we’ll use real results to improve the figures.
Step by step
- Agree a theme and medium per class, sized for display and a home wall.
- Plan so every child's hand is visible: handprints, a tile each, a self-portrait patch.
- Make works over several weeks; photograph each finished piece.
- Publish photos and starting bids online a week before (Red Beach ran pre-event online bidding for a star item).
- Hold an evening: viewing and silent bidding first, then a short live auction of top pieces (Red Beach ran silent bidding on student art from 5pm and a live auction from 6pm).
- Set reserve or starting bids so works do not go for a few dollars.
- Take payment on the night by EFTPOS or bank transfer before items leave.
- Thank buyers and publish the total and what it bought.
Getting the word out
Even a well-run plan fails if nobody hears about it. There are two asks, and the first one goes out first.
- Ask for help
- Businesses and families to give items to auction.
- Ask people to buy
- People to come and bid.
- When to start
- Ask for helpers first, as soon as the date is set. Start the public ask about 3–4 weeks out, and book newsletter and paper notices before that: small newsletters close early.
Where to put it
- School, club and church newslettersYour own newsletter is free and read by the families most likely to say yes. Check when it closes.
- Local Facebook pages and community groupsPost in your town’s community page and local groups (check their rules), and share from your group’s own page.
- Facebook events and what’s-on listingsMake a Facebook event people can say they’re going to, and list it on your council’s or town’s what’s-on page.
- Community newsletters and magazinesResidents’ newsletters, village magazines and other churches’ bulletins often run community notices free. Small ones close early.
- Other groups sharing itAsk the school, kindy, church, sports club or marae down the road to share it in their newsletter or page. Offer to share theirs back.
The full guide to getting the word out: every channel from flyers to the evening news, with lead times and costs.
What you’ll need
- Place
- NeededYour own grounds or hall
- Landowner’s permission
- Not needed
- Council permit
- CheckCheck with your council
- Food rules
- Not neededNo food sold
- Alcohol
- Not neededNo alcohol sold
- Gambling rules
- Not neededNot gambling
Selling wine on the night needs a special licence from the council; free wine with no ticket charge does not. Get parent consent before posting children's names with artwork online.
Make more from it
Print the class artwork on cards for non-winners
often $200-800 (estimate)
only one family can win each original
Short live auction of top pieces and donated items
often $1,000-3,000 (estimate)
families in the same class bid against each other
Stack it: on its own, about $5,000. With the 2 priced add-ons above, roughly
$7,500est.
What you can get donated
Materials and framing from local businesses; a parent artist to guide classes; a volunteer auctioneer; wine or nibbles for the evening.
Tips
- Add a few donated items (signed jersey, a local artist's piece) to lift the night (Local Matters).
- Families of children in the class bid against each other; a short live auction harnesses that (estimate).
- Biennial or triennial auctions keep it special (St Joseph's Queenstown runs every two years; Red Beach every three).
Watch out for
- Works that are too big or fragile to take home sell poorly.
- One family winning everything; consider a limit per family or ordering prints for others (see ‘Children's art on calendars, cards and gifts’).
- Unpaid bids: collect payment on the night.
Class art auction: checklist
0 of 12 done
Before
On the day
After
Selling wine on the night needs a special licence from the council; free wine with no ticket charge does not. Get parent consent before posting children's names with artwork online.
* General fundraising information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Money figures are examples and estimates, not promises. Check current official requirements before you commit. About this guide