A friend of mine sent me this report on the once great and beloved show in NYC's prestigious Lincoln Center area that was held the second weekend of June:
Ok.. I spent a few hours at Lincoln Center. I do not know much about sales but it did not seem all that good except for a chosen few. The show was loaded with JUNK... Plenty of buy sell and some artists who came a long way were in shock over the quality(or lack there of).. This is a jury by check show.. Artists told me that they never pick up the telephone. It took someone a week to get a call back on something very important.. You can't quote me as it will not come off well.. It is a shame that this world class location is such a sham.. Corner booth is over $900.. The crowd was older or old, and diminished when the shows went on. If you have a mailing list it probably works for you. The load in and out can be a beast with 20 steps up and then a haul on the north side. Lots of crappy jewelry, a booth selling leashes and dog collars and giant commercial signs dominating the booth while the vendors hawked the consumer.
Does anyone have anything to add to this?
Replies
I too visited the show and was shocked at the quality. It is truly a shame! I grew up going to this show every year and now I wonder why I spent the money for parking. The sponsors split up a number of years ago and the other partner runs Crafts on Columbus which also has a lot of "junk." There is no jury. Earrings for $12 is probably nice for some people but I don't wish to immerse myself with that type of quality. Sadly, I saw a few friends who hadn't made one sale and were hoping to make the booth fee back. Also, on Saturday there was a medical school graduation going on there at the same time as the show and I had to barrel through huge masses of graduation attendees taking photos and celebrating just to get to the exhibits. WHAT A SHAME!
I also still get the jury exempt invite and I'm doing totally different work than when I last did the show. We always stayed with relatives in New Jersey and I loved the early morning drive down Broadway watching the fruit markets arranging gorgeous pyramids of fruit. We still talk about the corn muffins browned in butter at the Theater Coffee Shop. We stopped when the relatives moved and only jewelry and wearables were selling.
This is truly a shame. I used to love this show. I always set up by the fountain facing the 2 Chagall paintings. Great art, a few celebrities in the booth each year, great sales. We would always see a Broadway musical, go to the MOMA, the Metropolitan Museum, and all the other great museums while we were there. A room at the Empire hotel, which was kitty corner to the show, was $50. I agree 100% with the assessment: "It is a shame that this world class location is such a sham." Even the poster for the show was great. They always used a piece of artwork from an exhibitor for the poster and you would see it plastered all over NYC. Very cool!!
Btw, I still get a juried exempt invitation. lol