Blog

I participated in the first annual Celadon Fine Arts Festival this past weekend.  Where is Celadon, you might ask? Well, it’s a new resort community on Lady’s Island in Beaufort, SC.  Units still under construction.  And there was construction all weekend during the show.  Why not call it the Beaufort Fine Arts Festival so that it would have instant name recognition?  Because it was the brainchild of and sponsored by the Celadon founder who partnered with the Arts Council of Beaufort County aka ArtWorks to bring it to fruition.  The show ran from 4-8 on Friday; 10-7 on Saturday and 12-5 on Sunday.  The idea was to provide a selection of days and times that more people could fit the show into their schedule.   

Entries

I found the show through a Google search in looking for shows in the area.  The online entry form was easy to navigate and when I had saved but not submitted, I got an email a couple of weeks later reminding me that I had an entry in progress.  They kept the booth fee low since it was the first year ($125).  There were 40 applicants.  28 juried in.  So it wasn’t a case of everyone getting in just because they entered.  Balanced mix of artists.  Not more than three of any one discipline. 

Marketing

Overall, I think the organizers did a very good and thorough job of marketing this show. They were very careful to plan it so that it did not coincide with any other fine art shows in the Charleston, Savannah, HHI, etc. areas.  There also weren’t any other non-art activities going on to pull the focus.  They featured the show and an artist each week in their weekly email, publicized on their websites and  published interviews with the artists.  Their media plan included a billboard coming into Port Royal from Hilton Head, all residents in nearby Bluffton and Sun City got the local paper on Wednesday and along with the festival notice, the papers had a sticker on the front advertising the show.  The local paper that all Beaufort residents get had front page coverage and the daily Beaufort paper had front page coverage on Saturday and dominated the Entertainment section on Friday.  The local radio station out of Bluffton provided a lot of advertising.  All SC Welcome Centers had postcards they were distributing.  The show was covered in Carolina Festivals, Skirt (in several cities), ARTsee mag, Pink and Carolina Arts.  Press releases, online articles, blogs, Facebook, weekly e-newsletter, website coverage, etc rounded out the media blitz.

Load in/Load out

Load in started at 11am on Friday.   I was on a corner so was able to pull up to the curb and unload as I set up then move the car afterward.  That was the case for most except for those close to the lagoon where they needed to stagger or wait while others finished.  Load out was just as easy as you would expect with a limited number of artists.  Plus there were volunteers coming around to ask if you needed help if you were a straggler like I was.  I was still loaded and headed home in an hour.

This is a tree lined venue with lots of massive moss covered trees.  I had a good breeze coming my way most of the time…which helped keep things relatively cool as well as blowing the little biting critters away…but had my Bug Away and Afterbite on hand throughout the whole show along with an OFF fan attached to my chair.  Plenty of room behind booths and generally 2-4 feet in between

The Show

On Friday, there weren’t a lot of visitors coming through but those that came asked lots of questions.  8pm seemed a little late to stay open as we were standing around talking to each other for the last hour or so.  Saturday looked more promising and it was a pretty steady stream of people coming through ebbing and flowing until late afternoon.  On Sunday, the foot traffic was steady until the last couple of hours.  I overheard a conversation where they were saying that around 500 cars came through over the course of the weekend and most people were in pairs and groups.  This was a well heeled crowd and you saw very few patrons in their twenties unless they were there with family and very few children despite Saturday being advertised as Family Day.  It was also a knowledgeable crowd.  A lot of people knew their glass and asked intelligent questions.  The painter across from me had a following and several of her large paintings went to good homes over the weekend.  She was very pleased overall with the show and will return next year.  I talked to one of the photographers and he had a really good show as well.  The jeweler next to me did her best show of the year so far.  On the other hand, the watercolor artist two booths down did not have a stellar show.  In talking with the 2 other glass artists, they were in the same boat as me.  Sold some and more than covered expenses but not what we were hoping for. 

The patrons who came to the show seem to follow the art shows in the area.  There were many who recognized me from the Honey Horn show a few weeks ago and wanted to know if I was going to do the HHI Shelter Cove show or Telfair or Spoleto, etc.  They were there for the art and because it’s what they do on the weekend if it’s available. 

Awards

Best of Show was a jeweler $1000, 1st place was a painter $800, 2nd (can't remember medium) $600,  3rd (can't remember medium) $400, HM glass $200 

Now in the interest of full disclosure, I have a vested interest in wanting this show to continue to succeed.  I’ll be moving to Beaufort full-time in about three years and would like a solid show to participate in within a stone’s throw of the house.

The show organizers appear to have done everything right from organizing to marketing to executing.  At the Saturday night artist award reception, everyone I talked to said they would do this show again in a heartbeat and I agree.  We were treated well and respectfully from plenty of volunteer help and ice cold water to access to air conditioned restrooms and the air conditioned artists lounge.  The show organizers checked in with me regularly to make sure things were going well and I’m assuming they did the same for everyone.  The only thing that will make this show better is pulling in more buyers of the same quality that were there this weekend.