Back to basics again.
The question on the table, for your thoughts and ideas is this:
If you were a consultant to a show, if it was within your power to make the choice, what would you advise is the mission, vision, objective, purpose of an art show? Why is the event being held? What is it trying to accomplish?
Given that yes, the event wants to make money. And yes, there may be multiple objectives of lesser priority. But that one objective that is supreme. The one that if the show does not ensure is successfully met, all the others will never be realized. That if not realized, the event may continue but will flounder and ultimately fail.
Personally, I think few shows have a grasp on this, if they ever did. That few any longer even think about it, or even if such a guiding principle exists, is ever used any longer as a measuring stick of how successful their event is overall, or how well each decision they make (e.g., advertising or their jury selection process) moves them towards that objective. Which is why so many shows are .... politely put .... weak. Lower tier shows. B & C level shows. Whatever terminology you ascribe to. And that becomes our landscape for making our living as artists. Not good.
So I'll leap in first. I think simply an art show is a BUSINESS. It is a business of connecting those that want to buy art with the artists that have the work they wish to purchase. And from that connection is where shows make their money and reputation and seed their long term success. And achieving that success means patrons are finding art and where we are being successful selling our work. The show work.
Each of us either realizes, should realize, used to realize, or had better realize that we are also a business. We have to think that way, manage ourselves that way. We may create the most beautiful works but if we don't approach selling our work as a business, we hamstring ourselves and potentially sow the seeds of our own failure.
Shows, to me, are no different. If they do not approach what they do as a business, if they do not manage themselves as a business, they ultimately have no course, no direction. Nothing to guide them whenever they make a decision. No gauge of how well they are doing or not doing. The better they manage their business, the better decisions they make that allow them to achieve their objective, the greater becomes the reputation of the show, the more money they make. The more their business succeeds. The more patrons find what they want, the more art we sell.
Every decision a show makes, from where they are located, when the event is held, how the show is laid out, how and where they advertise, why they jury and how they do so, how well the artists they select do in connecting with their patrons, all these and many more are part of the business of running an art show. We all see promoters & directors that pay absolutely no attention to these things .... and some that do. That is why there are great shows, good shows, not-so-good shows, and downright bad shows.
How far off base is this? Agree or disagree? What is the purpose you see?
You need to be a member of Art Fair Insiders to add comments!
The objective I had when promoting art fairs last year (last year was our first year) was as follows:
1. Make shows more affordable for the artists, recognizing a shows progress starts with the artists.
2. Have higher standards for events and do everything possible to enforce rules and regulations.
3. Advertise wisely to a receptive audience of art enthusiasts/collectors of fine art and crafts in various ways.
4. Offer affordable admission with free parking to encourage all to see that fine art and crafts can be affordable and quality work is worth the price.
5. The location of the event must be easily accessible.
We did have high expectations from our exhibitors, but did let in some who may be more craft oriented and not as fine art (as our events were a fine art and craft market) as we saw their work was probably something the public would like and definitely buy.
The only thing that I think is the basic important ingredient to a show is good quality crafts people who are willing to work together (just with their peers, but with the organizers) and the same for the organizer too. It is a catch 22 - if you don't have good quality exhibitors you won't get the crowd. If you don't have a good crowd, you won't have good artists. And it is key to keep artists happy - happy artists mean they will interact more with the public, proud of their work and not shy about showing it off and of course work well with others.
To try and accomplish the goal we had a referral program where if accepted exhibitors referred other artists (and they got in - past the jury) they would get $25 for every referral. Exhibitors had the potential of paying for their booth in just referrals. We also had small monetary awards and ribbons. We did our best regarding booth sitting and if people had special needs - wanting to be near the bathrooms, etc. - we met them. Had the event indoors so there was no worry about weather and charged a small admission - as we are a for profit event. It helped keep out riff raff and brought in serious buyers. There were a few other perks too, but again the main focus was to make sure our exhibitors were happy. And despite a low attendance - due to torrential rain and the economy - all but one (from each show) praised our efforts understanding we can't control the weather or the DOW dropping to an all time low the Friday before our event. We just had some bad luck - Murphey's law??? Despite that we have gotten updates from several exhibitors who still thank us for helping them get additional sales and get their products into galleries through the help of the event. For me this is reward enough - as we didn't really make any money on the events anyway.
I really don't know if this answers the question proposed, but it is my 2 cents. Side note: we are not promoting now as the economy has really hindered our advancement - no sponsors coming forward, no extra help (volunteers, etc.) so we really don't have much choice... Sad, but kinda relieved - lots of work, learned a lot now have been a promoter (and craft person too) and with the outcome, wasn't 100% worth it.
Replies
1. Make shows more affordable for the artists, recognizing a shows progress starts with the artists.
2. Have higher standards for events and do everything possible to enforce rules and regulations.
3. Advertise wisely to a receptive audience of art enthusiasts/collectors of fine art and crafts in various ways.
4. Offer affordable admission with free parking to encourage all to see that fine art and crafts can be affordable and quality work is worth the price.
5. The location of the event must be easily accessible.
We did have high expectations from our exhibitors, but did let in some who may be more craft oriented and not as fine art (as our events were a fine art and craft market) as we saw their work was probably something the public would like and definitely buy.
The only thing that I think is the basic important ingredient to a show is good quality crafts people who are willing to work together (just with their peers, but with the organizers) and the same for the organizer too. It is a catch 22 - if you don't have good quality exhibitors you won't get the crowd. If you don't have a good crowd, you won't have good artists. And it is key to keep artists happy - happy artists mean they will interact more with the public, proud of their work and not shy about showing it off and of course work well with others.
To try and accomplish the goal we had a referral program where if accepted exhibitors referred other artists (and they got in - past the jury) they would get $25 for every referral. Exhibitors had the potential of paying for their booth in just referrals. We also had small monetary awards and ribbons. We did our best regarding booth sitting and if people had special needs - wanting to be near the bathrooms, etc. - we met them. Had the event indoors so there was no worry about weather and charged a small admission - as we are a for profit event. It helped keep out riff raff and brought in serious buyers. There were a few other perks too, but again the main focus was to make sure our exhibitors were happy. And despite a low attendance - due to torrential rain and the economy - all but one (from each show) praised our efforts understanding we can't control the weather or the DOW dropping to an all time low the Friday before our event. We just had some bad luck - Murphey's law??? Despite that we have gotten updates from several exhibitors who still thank us for helping them get additional sales and get their products into galleries through the help of the event. For me this is reward enough - as we didn't really make any money on the events anyway.
I really don't know if this answers the question proposed, but it is my 2 cents. Side note: we are not promoting now as the economy has really hindered our advancement - no sponsors coming forward, no extra help (volunteers, etc.) so we really don't have much choice... Sad, but kinda relieved - lots of work, learned a lot now have been a promoter (and craft person too) and with the outcome, wasn't 100% worth it.