After the interesting conversation a couple weeks ago about the value of hospitality, I had back-to-back weekend shows with minimal and maximal artist hospitality. I paid attention.
I did Paragon's Houston Fine Arts show, on Discovery Green, and had a good show in terms of sales. I'm a painter, fyi. There was plenty of communication about the show from Paragon, particularly because you have to dolly everything at this site. I had a problem after jurying in that needed attention, and Paragon got back to me swiftly and helped me solve it.
Ron was there at the show to greet the artists, and give us a map of the show. He came around a few times a day, both days of the show, and during set-up and breakdown, to check in. I didn't have any problems, but people around me did, and Ron was available to sort things out for them.
That was it for artist hospitality.
I saw signs up around the show, advertising it, but beyond that, don't know what Paragon did. There were plenty of people at the show, and I sold three small paintings, one medium one and one large one.
The show the following weekend was in Winnsboro, Texas, a town of 3,500. There was good communication from the show organizers before the show. I again had a problem that needed attention, and the Winnsboro people got back to me quickly and helped me.
There are not many main streets in Winnsboro, TX, and there were signs up on each of them advertising the Art Market. Beyond that, I don't know what kind of advertising they did, though more people came to the show than live in town, so I imagine there must have been some.
Sign-in in Winnsboro was at the arts center, on the corner of one of the streets where the site was held. We received a packet with a map of the show, coupons for discounts from local vendors, a wristband for one of the dinners, and some other printed stuff.
You could drive right up to your booth site. Two large men helped me unload. One of the show organizers got in my van with me to help me find the parking area. The guys helped me set up the tent (it was up in 30 mins!). There was a dinner that night for the artists, breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, and another dinner on Saturday. This dinner also included tickets for wine tastings, and a commemorative wine glass. At breakdown, four people helped. I was down and packed in the van and ready to go in One Hour.
Volunteers were plentiful throughout the show. They answered questions, gave us bottles of water, did booth-sitting. The merchants on our streets welcomed us, helped with set-up, and allowed us to use their bathrooms. Boy Scouts gave us signed thank-you cards, and little loaves of banana bread, as a good-bye gesture.
Texas had an arts designation that it awards to certain cities and towns, and Winnsboro is the smallest town to earn this designation. It has an arts district (the two streets where the show was held). The organizers of the show are determined to make the town a true arts center, and the show is a mainstay of that effort. In addition to the artists, they had half a dozen local writers at the arts center on Saturday, meeting people and signing books. There are a couple wineries in the area, a local cheese-maker, a local cigar-maker, and they were there, also. There was live music by local musicians.
I have never felt as welcomed at a show as I did at Winnsboro. But the first day, the long first day, I had no sales. So I spent a lot of time thinking about hospitality and its place and value vs. sales. By the end of the first day in Houston, I had a couple K in the bank. By the end of the first day in Winnsboro, I had zero.
And yet, I have to admit this to you all, I thought that I might still come back in a year. Does that make sense? No, of course not! But it's true. If I got in, if I was in Texas, if it was again a sensible part of a loop, I would at least consider coming back. It felt like there was potential for sales - and I felt like I was part of something exciting.
But by the end of the second day - which was an intelligent 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. - I had $2K-plus in the bank. So my crazy on-the-fly sense of things need not be tested.
I don't really have conclusions about the value of hospitality. Both shows were good for me. I made money at both. I didn't feel treasured at the Paragon show - but I didn't expect to. I expected a solid show, a working show, a smart show with excellent work in a good place, and that's what I got. I didn't know what to expect in Winnsboro - and I was delighted with what I found.
If Winnsboro was a Cadillac, well, Paragon was a Cobra. Excellent vehicles both, just different. What's your experience? What's your feeling?
Replies
I'm more in agreement with Bobby and A.L. My version of hospitality is a promoter who can negotiate a great rate at a local hotel for exhibitors.
I'm not into receptions or things like that, but I will admit I did Gloucester, MA last year and the promoter held a pizza party Saturday night. And since everybody kinda knows everybody it was fun.
To me, hospitality is a promoter or representative who is visible and accessible during the entire show. A promoter who greets you with a smile and a handshake and is happy you're there because they know you're the reason their bills get paid. A promoter who can lay out a show so every exhibitor has access to the customers. A promoter who knows how to categorize the media and limit the number of exhibitors in each category. A promoter of an outdoor event who keeps the exhibitors abreast of impending weather and their plans of what to do. I did a show in NJ where the promoter went to all the exhibitors and told us to "batten down the hatches" and leave because a major thunderstorm was coming and he knew it was a bad idea for people to be inside these metal frames with a pole sticking up. How about a promoter who can get you change for a $20 if you run out of singles?
But to me the best hospitality is a promoter who will follow his/her own rules. Mean it when you say no buy/sell.
It's nice when the organizers want to shake my hand or bring me a bottle of water, but ultimately the only thing that matters to me is sales, how easy load in/out is, and if the crowd is good.
Thanks for the post.
I think hospitality is important. Ultimately, people shopping is the most important.
But one thing hospitality does for any venue is, what I say, "keeps them in the game."
For instance, if a show is mediocre to poor, but has excellent hospitality then I (and others that I talk to) remember this and leave the show on the table for consideration in the future. Conversely, a mediocre to poor show with bad hospitality has no shot in the future. Vendors won't come back.
Along that line, I did a show last year that was okay for me. But the hospitality was very poor! Despite making money, my spouse said she would not go back. It kind of surprised me. And after talking to people and organizers it turns out that this place came under new management in recent years and vendors dropped off by over half. I mean, there was still money to be made, but vendors left in droves. That really demonstrated how critical hospitality is for an "average" show.
Furthermore, with quality hospitality, if a show is good it becomes great, and you really look forward to going back. A true win-win.
Read my review of St Louis.
Yes, the hospitality in St Louis was top rate, like everything else about the show. Even the customers were hospitable.
Fine review, Carrie! Thanks for your thoughtful prose today. Measuring and valuing hospitality might have something to do with where the person measuring was reared. I value more hospitality than less of it. A little does go along way, and a little more goes even further. I can be bowled over by it and always hope for it.
I have a lot of experience with measuring hospitality since I'm Southern. There really is something to the principal of Southern hospitality.
Despite living in Wyoming now for the past 20 years, I grew up in Arkansas and learned a great deal about hospitality. Sometimes I wonder if plenty of that hospitality I might have experienced was false and inflated, but when I do wonder, I think about how I offer hospitality to others and then realize since I'm not putting on or lying, those I learned from down South weren't either. When I'm cooking and someone rings the doorbell, I ring the dinner bell and ask if they want to eat with us. And I mean what I say. Here’s your plate.
Wyoming folks, on the other hand, either don't possess it or don’t know about extending that kind of hospitality. I can count on one hand the number of people who've invited us to their home, or even to a function outside their home like a restaurant or concert or whatever. But we’ve lost count the number of people we've entertained in our home out here, and seldom has our hospitality been reciprocated. Maybe folks realize they just don't want to know us better? That's not very likely since plenty of these people have been back in our home more than once. We've speculated about what is the problem, but that's all we can do. Last year we saw a couple at a local concert and the lady said, “We look forward to getting together again with you at your place. And we‘ll bring this CD along when we come.”
There are exceptions to the rule on both sides of the fence, certainly. I’ve experienced memorable hospitality in places besides the South. Toledo Botanical Gardens delighted us with theirs when we did the Crosby show in 2008 (Judy Bowles and Melissa Shaner.) Ms. Bowles, events coordinator for TBG at the time, has impeccable manners, and she and Melissa were visible and attentive throughout. The show provided artists with much more than a few pats on the back. Sure, we probably paid a little money for it. But I prefer to have some added extras, a.k.a. hospitality. Like food (or snacks) and drink (water, coffee, whatever). Like early set-up (I know, some shows just can’t provide that). Like volunteers acting as liaisons who are present in my area of the show and make their presence known. Like parking details.
Lincoln Fine Arts Festival in 2011 (Doug Smith, Director) provided exemplary hospitality. Smoky Hill’s hospitality (Karla Prickett, Director, now retired) is arguably second to none (we did it in 2012). Both Directors had great committee members as well. Also, when Karen Encizo directed Tallahassee’s LeMoyne Chain of Parks (maybe 2005 was her last year?), her hospitality was second to none--just amazing hospitality. That show is still pretty good, but Karen's will be tough to match.
Barry Bernstein, how’s the hospitality of Saint Louis Art Fair? Now I’m asking about friendliness of staff and amenities offered to artists at the show. Do they have plenty of each? Saint Louis as a rule is only on the cusp being Southern. But the committee might be chock full of Southerners.
Does anyone know if Bill Kinney of Paragon is Southern or not? He is attentive, and that‘s a trait of Southern hospitality. I know his address is Sarasota, but maybe he’s from New York or elsewhere? I dunno? The other Texas event this thread is about is certainly Southern.
When I asked the librarians in Winter Park Public Library to use their internet computers back in 2006, I was told it was for Winter Park residents ONLY. So I said, “If and when you come to Wyoming, you will be welcome to use our computers no matter what.” When I asked a bank next door to my hotel in Clearwater to change a dollar, the teller (indoors, mind you) told me she could make change if I had an account with them.
I digress…WOOHOO!
Bill Kinney is a New Yorker. He will tell you like it is and not sugar coat it. I personally like that. He is an art show artist as well as a promoter though and he knows first hand some of our difficulties. And if you act professionally he will go out of his way for you but he hates whiners.
Hey, Barrie Lynn, what a nice, meaty response. We moved from CT to Virginia a few years ago, when I quit my job to paint full-time, and I have been amazed and warmed by the hospitality of the South. We live in a town of 200, on the Eastern Shore, and the people who were born and grew up here are more hospitable than anyone! When I go back to New England, I am sort of stunned at how cold and inhospitable the people there are, generally. Was I like that? I probably was, and didn't even know it.
Marvelous rundown! And I'm laughing to myself - for a NYC area person, your description of the Paragon show sounds like heaven! Good communication? Swift problem resolution? People checking on you regularly during both days of the show? How awesome! From my little bit of experience around here, it can be like pulling teeth to just get a question answered by show organizers.
Having said that, Winnsboro definitely went above and beyond to be hospitable, and that sounds delightful.
I've done a show where there was no clear communication of how setup worked and I was chastised by frazzled and grumpy volunteers for doing something "wrong," but nobody would explain to me what I should be doing. And I've done a show where everything was well organized, there was an army of student volunteers to help with hauling, a child came around during set up to hand out snacks and bottled water . . . Just delightful!
And while it's hard to correlate the difference in revenue to the level of the hospitality, I'm a firm believer that the "vibe" established by the organizers communicates to the customers - happy vendors make for a happy show.
Thanks for this great write up!
Hi, Ellen, thanks for the response. I grew up in CT, and have done most of my shows in New England and along the Eastern Seaboard, so I know whereof you speak. I've done shows where I've never seen the organizer, let alone be helped by anyone. And like you, I've been chastised by so-called volunteers, and told that they didn't have time to help, or watch my booth, or find out the answer to a question. But those, like the impressive hospitality of the Winnsboro show, have been the exceptions, in my few years on the road.
Very true - the actual distasteful episodes are (thankfully!) the exception, and most of the shows I've done have well organized, at least. But we certainly don't seem to splash out the warm welcome, either - not that it's necessary, but it's always a nice surprise to encounter it!
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