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We were talking about which part of doing shows we hated the most and I said, "you know, some of our festival customers treat us like rock stars and if rock stars can have groupies and stage hands that drive their equipment to their gigs, set it up before the show, break it down afterwards and then drive it to the next venue, why can't we?"

We both agreed that if all we had to do was fly in, do our art rap thing, sell and pack our art for the customers at the show then fly back home, this life as an artist wouldn't be so bad. I think at first Derk thought I imbibed a little too much in my favorite adult beverage but the more we talked about the logistics, the more we both thought this plan could work.

It's complicated but doable so hear me out. The basis of this plan harkens back to my dads old Teamster days as a truck driver. He got his paperwork and driving instructions from his dispatcher, drove to where what he was hauling was located, had the cargo loaded onto his truck, drove to where the load was needing to be delivered too, backed up to the dock and had the cargo unloaded. Then called the dispatcher (calling was necessary in those days, today the same thing happens via computers) and got his next load assignment.

First, it would require a group of artists willing to let someone else do all he hard work for us. That' the easy part, finding lazy artists. OK I'm kidding.  But it still requires finding a group of fairly like minded, progressive thinking individuals that is willing to go along with the plan.  Here is what is needed.

1. Large semi truck with trailer.
2. A driving team. 2 preferably enabling the load to be driven non stop to the show.
3. Small fork lift.
4. 1 highly organized (read super anal) artist/dispatcher.
5. A nationwide list of secure uHaul type storage facilities.
6. Willing and very understanding show promoters, that's the hard part.

This system would allow a standard sized trailer to be able to transport 12-15 different artist setups.  The load is then driven to the art fair by the two drivers and then is off loaded with the help of temporary workers and delivered via forklift (where the venue allows) right to the artist booth space. The temporary workers could be hired through Craigslist but would be more reliable if hired through the local Teamsters hall. More salary but with deadlines to setup as tight as they usually are, for most of us a better choice.

It could be possible for each indivual artist to hire separately, the help necessat to build their booth but most (me included) would rather do the setup and hang our art ourselves. After the show, the broken down booth is then loaded back into the big rig and ready for the next show on the artist's schedule. 

The artist can then either fly back home and then fly back to wherever their next show is or rent a car and travel between venues. Because there will be other fellow artists doing the same thing, this expense along with lodging could be shared. There of course would be times when the majority of this traveling band of artists would be heading to the next mutual venue while some in the group wouldn't be. This would occur because the artist didn't get into that particular show or for some other reason that kept them off the circuit that week. With advanced knowledge of this, the drivers/loaders could make sure this artists display and inventory was loaded towards the front of the trailer thus not having to be handled twice at the next show. When the artist's next show coincides with the groups schedule, they simply fly to this next city and resume everything as normal. 

There are some show promoters that do multiple events, some even conducting a tour or sorts. They are mostly held on consecutive weekends just in different cities.  If our group of artists all agreed, this type of schedule would work out perfectly for our plan. Even if we didn't hook up with this type of pre-set schedule, the plan could still work but would require a much more closely watched dispatch of both the displays and inventory and of course flight schedules for the artists. This is where the super organized "dispatcher" comes in. 

When the artist needs to re-load their art that has sold, they could either fly it as part of their checked baggage or ship it out FedEx or UPS to the next city. Shipping receiving centers are located everywhere for a very reasonable fee or for larger pieces, having the art held at the shippers "dock" where it could be picked up by the artist on their way to the show.

The cost analysis of this plan works out very comparable to driving to and from shows (read a previous post of mine on this subject here) but the major expense would still be the initial acquisition of the truck, trailer and labor of the drivers. Each participating artist would have to compare the additional costs of joining this traveling group vs the less time and expense of driving. Just thinking about all the work I wouldn't have to do would be enough to get me on board.

I know this plan seems outlandish to some of you, especially those who don't travel on a national scale, but with proper planing and the covering of the initial up front costs, we too could act like rock star artists with our own road crew. If I didn't love being an artist myself so much, I would jump at the chance to run this traveling caravan for others in my profession. If I can find the right person to take this idea and run with it, I'll be their first customer, I promise.