Art Festival Guide

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Finding the Perfect Show

"Give me six hours to chop down a tree
and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."
—Abraham Lincoln

King's Mountain Art Festival in California...
tough setup! GREAT show!!!

Research Pays Off

One of the most important things to remember about art festivals is that there is a huge quantity and variety of shows to choose from. As artists and business persons, we owe it to ourselves to, not only research shows, but be picky about which shows we continue to support. But first, you have to have a choice, so let’s take the first thing first and chat about how to find shows.

First year “in the circuit” I made the mistake of not seeking enough shows and not researching enough about shows. I guess that’s two mistakes. The predictable result was a disaster year in which my total gross income was around $14,000. Well, I didn’t even know if I wanted to do shows and I was doing them very part-time and this tough year taught me that I needed to do some serious research and dedicate some time to the fine art of planning.

Where the Shows Are

Fountain Hills in Arizona before the crowds

Let’s start with where to find shows. There are several trade publications around, some cover the entire US, Sunshine Artist, Craftmaster News and The Crafts Report to name a few. These days the most important source is the web. A search on the web for “art festivals” will yield several thousand results and if you are the surfing kind, you may not need a stinkin’ magazine at all. Other internet resources covering the rare gem festivals such as those offered by small museums or art organizations are the Art Calendar listings and the Art Deadline web site.

The most useful resources are those with reviews, hopefully independent reviews that rate the show in various categories. Of those ArtFairSource (http://artfairsourcebook.com/) and ArtFairInsiders (http://www.artfairinsiders.com/) are extremely useful to subscribe and take advantage of the networking opportunities, forums and such.

When reading reviews, you want solid statistics and averages rather than comments because usually very happy artists and very unhappy artists are the ones that write about the shows. Much more useful to know the actual attendance numbers--you need people to make sales.

What Kind of Shows?

San Francisco Fine Art Festival
Indoor shows, no wind, no rain

Durango Art Festival
Some shows bring you coffee to the booth!
Now THAT makes a show worth doing

There are all kinds of shows and that is a good thing! People (you know, "they") will tell you that large shows are the best or small shows are the best or indoor, outdoor, mountain, Eastern, close to home, art only, and a long etcetera. Tough to choose and tougher to decide which show might really really be the best.
Upshot is that every artist is different and every show is a bit different and each has to find the shows that fit.

How do you know? At first you really don't. After a few shows you find out you hate the big shows and traveling and you only want to do the small shows around your town. Or you find that your art or craft is best suited (e.g. more sales!) to large "everything-goes" shows.

Many artists seem perfectly happy staying in or near their hometown and doing a half-dozen shows a season or a year. Yet others will amazingly book all the big ones and go from massive show to massive show with hundreds of miles of travel in between.

Whatever the choices, I always recommend doing a show at least twice before declaring you really don't like the show. Some shows are so productive in terms of sales that we tend to get used to the bad setups, lack of parking and long drives. Others are so close and easy that they seem like a nice weekend in a park and we put up with lower sales figures.

Whatever works for you! Determine what makes you a happy artist and go for THAT!
Good luck out there.

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Thursday, March 7, 2013

Experience is the comb that nature gives us when we are bald

Belgian Proverb

Ah, how true that is! I will be publishing here and there excerpts of the book as I revise. I imagine toward the end of this summer the new edition will come out. Meantime, some things have changed since the first edition and I will point those out. The core of the book remains timeless and a guide to anyone thinking about embarking on this adventure. Enjoy!

About the book

A great looking booth with colorful offerings clearly visible

I had been mulling over the idea of writing a guide for artists who want to embark on the awesome adventure of entering the art festival circuit. Mulling didn’t get it done, so I planned to start during those rare lulls in this business (Lesson 1: Art Festivals are addicting), perhaps during the summer months. Then it occurred to me that the best time to get this done was during the time when I am most engaged in these wonderful events, right in the thick of things, so to speak.

So I jotted down some notes on a scrap of paper between customers, then I proceeded to wash the scrap of paper in the laundry along with a rare two-dollar bill also residing in my jeans pocket, probably since 1978. Undaunted by such minute obstacles (Lesson 2: Every obstacle is minute and surmountable) I rewrote the notes again between festivals; this time I was able to hold on to that little piece of paper and soon had an outline. Loosely organized and flexible, the outline itself became an analogy for how these festivals go most of the time and also the best basic advice I can possibly give someone, that is: be loosely organized and flexible.

Consequently, this book is a loosely organized and flexible guideline of how to successfully (key word) launch a career as an art festival artist. Although everyone will do different art, the basics covered in the coming chapters should be a good solid blueprint on how to go about taking the first step. Once you learn the basics and get a couple of festivals under your belt, you will be able to come up with your own strategies and follow your own lead. I should also say that I don’t do everything that I talk about, but I have seen other successful artists who do. I still learn something new every festival, and hopefully I also teach someone new a few tricks of the trade.

This book is not a step-by-step exact procedural methodology. It is merely a guide, a helping hand that will guide you through an art festival, before, during and after. There are a thousands variations of any one of the guidelines I offer and I will try to point those out as I go along. Take some of them to heart, discard what doesn’t suit you and, most of all, learn by doing on your own— and by observing. I am certainly not claiming this is the only, let alone the right way to do things. As I have learned through the years, there are many ways to approach the business of selling art in art festivals. And for goodness sakes, take it all in good humor, because you will need plenty of that to get through your first art festival and every festival after that.

Before embarking on the great art festival adventure, do visit some. This is a must do, not a loose guideline. Get out there and look at actual artists, show up early and watch the artists set up if you can, talk to some of them without asking them if they make a lot of money. If you sculpt, look at a sculptor’s display and check out their prices and quality of work. If you are a printmaker or a jeweler or a paper artist or a metal artist or a potter, find one and look at their set-up and ask a few polite questions without blocking their display from real customers and preventing a sale. Don’t just walk around like a customer (well, do but just a little), but keep your artist eye on the overall appearance of booths, check out what you like and what you don’t. Make a mental note of good ideas to try and bad ones to avoid. Take it all in because it gets harder to observe once you are knee-deep in tent poles and cable ties trying to set up your own booth for the first time.

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Please quote with prior permission and written credit. Thanks!

Monday, March 4, 2013

Art Festival Guide: The Book

Link to my Art Festival Guide: The Artist's Guide to Selling in Art Festivals

Soon to be revised!

I will be migrating the information from the (former) website to this post and will redirect the URL http://artfestivalguide.com and .info to this blog as well.

Please quote with prior permission and written credit. Thanks!