My continuous streaming of NPR on my computer had me listening to Michigan political commentator Jack Lessenberry this week while he spoke about a new study from the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities about Income Inequality in the U.S.
Once upon a time Michigan hosted the best art fairs in the nation. Once upon a time Michigan wage earners were at the very top of the pay scale and people with these good incomes poured into the regional art fairs and had second homes in Florida where they shopped at the shows.
The rich are getting richer and the poor more desperate, a trend that has been accelerating over the last ten years or so. The problem isn’t that there are rich and poor.
That’s always been the case. But between the Great Depression and the late 1970s, the gains created by the booming American economy were spread more evenly.
Nobody confused an auto worker with the Rockefellers, but both were able to live decent lives, with hope for better things in the future.
But things are getting worse. The last decade has been really bad for Michigan, and the poorest twenty percent of households have seen their incomes fall by more than ten percent.
So, in case you thought it was just you who wasn't making it, think again, you have good company. When customers have to spend each dollar like it is their last, it just may be.
You can read the entire report here, or Jack's application of the report to Michigan here.
So what are we going to do about it?
Replies
Of course another reason these buyers are in absentia is because of the Great Recession which has intensified the falling of wages throughout this century. That cannot be ignored. It has exacerbated the widening of the gaps between the rich and the poor.
Courtney, I have often heard people decrying the lack of arts education in the schools as a reason of why younger people don't "get" the arts. I haven't given this much credence because I when I grew up there was no arts in the schools, maybe because they were parochial and we had to spend those extra hours learning the Baltimore Catechism?
My surmise is that these programs were most instrumental to those who then took those interests and skills and went on to pursue them both vocationally and avocationally, but it also would raise awareness for the others in those classes.
I like your reference to the DIY shows though and think that this is the "connector" between the generations because they encourage anyone to be "crafty" and posit an economic basis for it, hence also the success of etsy.com.
I just ran across this article from the Milwaukee paper, calling this weekend's "Art vs. Craft" the "go to gift shopping destination of the year," full of handmade, made in America goods. This looks good: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/entertainment/179956071.html
I am very worried about this. While I don't think we should discount our art or lower our prices to the point that we aren't making a living, I personally have created some sculptures aimed at a lower price point. While I still have high and middle level pieces priced acccordingly, I also have a less expensive, more affordable price point ($50.00). I don't spend near as much time making the lesser priced items and the materials are usually leftovers or things I got super cheap. This helps me make something that most can afford if they really like my work. I still have the good work available for those that can and want to invest in something more detailed, larger and/or more artistic in its expression. I use a lot of symbolism and my high end work is very interprative.
I think it is important to adapt to these more difficult times with work that is more affordable. I would rather sell to the patrons that want to buy at a rate they can afford than have a really nice booth with no sales or only a few sales. We all still need to make a profit! Just my two cents.
We are never going to be rich, that is not why we do art, we love it, thats why we do it. One of the basic problems I see is that arts education has gone by the wayside. When I was in NY public schools in the eightys there was still a metals program, where I got my start. Every student had to take a equal amount of home ed, industrial arts, studio arts, and music. These programs are gone for the most part, to make way for computer skills. Even if you hated doing these things you learned an appreciation for what goes into them.
Now these programs either dont exist or are a shadow of what they were. Why would some one have an interest in, or appreciate something they have never learned about? Our customer base is getting smaller everyday with aging customers and younger generations not having learned about it in school. Not all is lost, in many urban areas there are DIY shows (thats what they call craft these days a rebellion of sorts, which is great, thats what Gustave Stickley was doing in response to mass production, and over embellishment) there is a new market out there, we need to change how we reach them. Here in the DC area one of the more successful efforts has been made by a local indy paper ( City Paper, its like the Village Voice) with a show called "Crafty Bastards". There is a future for handmade, people want to buy American and they want to buy local. The way we are reaching out to consumers has to change, they have been changing but on the whole we have not, the goal should be how do we engage the young American consumer? We need them to think of us as their cool thing, not their Moms.