This is my first time doing this show in downtown Austin. The show takes place along the main street, Ceasar Chavez Blvd, that runs along the Colorado River. The river separates the downtown area to the north, and south Austin, which has been evolving into a funky, artsy area. I have been told south Austin wasn't that desirable years ago.
When I told my art festival friends I was doing Austin, I was getting lots of concerned looks. I got a lot of "good luck"s and even one "I feel sorry for you". This show has a reputation for a hellish load in and the stories I have heard were scary. One artist told me he sat on the bridge in his van for 6 hours! Needless to say, I was concerned, but was interested in a new venue with a younger clientele, and Austin has a well deserved reputation for being a youthful city. The University attracts lots of students that wind up staying in Austin, and the high tech industry is one employer. When I went for a walk along the pathways and parks along the river, it seemed the entire city was out for a run. Man, did I feel out of shape!
Last year the show directors made changes to the load in process, and friends reported progress. One problem is that the city of Austin has strict fire lane rules, and a 15 foot lane must remain open. This is the first time I have witnessed 2 rows of booths being set up with that much space remaining clear. The way they do this is to line the artists on the 1rst street bridge, and let the first row in to unload, with in a 45 minute time frame. You then park in the free garage (all weekend free artist parking), which is 2 blocks away. Nice and close in my book. They then let the next row in. The smoothness of this process depends on the first group actually following this model, and not making the second group late. There are lots of volunteers to gently move this along, and in my area, across from City Hall, it went smoothly. I opted to not unload my art, leaving that to the next morning, and I was done at 11:30 PM. It seems to me that the horror stories I heard have become history. The next morning at 7:00 I was able to pull up to my booth and unload the art. The garage was less than a 10 minute walk.
Attendance was about what I expected, I think around 20,000. The crowd was mixed, with more 20 and 30 somethings than I have seen at other shows. The director had gotten complaints about the show being too spread out, so the new layout is much tighter. I heard only good things about the new layout.
Sales met my hopes for a show this size. I reached the # my accountant has deemed the level where it is worth it to be on the road doing this gig (in my case 5K, anything less is pushing boulders up hills). There were a lot of younger buyers, but as you would imagine they were price sensitive. I wound up selling a lot of repros, but there were enough more established folk to make a couple large purchases. This was good cause Bayou City was down for me.
Load out was typical; break everything down then bring in the vans. In my area it went smoothly and we were done in 2.5 hours, enough time to get to Threadgills for some home cookin'.
By the way, I was near the sound stage, and true to Austin's reputation as a music city, the music here was quite good.
Comments
It was my first year here, being rejected for about five years in a row. I had a 10pm setup, which was past my bedtime :) , but went very smoothly.
I thought the quality of the show was really top notch! The volunteers, young and old, were great! I felt like the locals really treasured this show, however they didn't seem to be buying much art. I didn't see that much walking around. I would only go back to this show if I could tie it in to a stronger show, like Ft. Worth or Houston, since it is a two day drive.