On Sunday I attended the Wyoming Art Show (Wyoming as in a suburb of Cincinnati, not the larger, grander Wyoming) in order to scout it out for a possible application last year. The last time I attended was at least 10 years ago, but I remembered the show fondly as having great artists and a healthy crowd.
So as I meandered through the show I stopped to chat with several artist friends, including some AFIers (hopefully one or more of our AFI friends will post a show report). There was a strong consensus -- the crowd was very sparse, very disappointing. I saw just four people carrying merchandise bags. I saw twice that many carrying popcorn bags. A fantastic, sunny day disqualified the "crappy weather" excuse. What could it be?
Well, how about the fact that as I drove down the miles-long main drag leading to the show I saw one yard sign. One. Even the permanent, brick-and-mortar sign in front of the civic center at the entrance to the show site was advertising something else! And although I looked in the newspapers every day for the last two weeks, I saw no notices or advertisements. Needless to say, surrounding communities, some quite well-to-do, would have been great places to advertise the show, but I suspect they were ignored, too.
I don't get it. Countless times in the last few years I've seen once robust shows die a long and painful death due to -- as it appears to me, at least -- a misguided belief that "everyone knows about our show" and/or that word of mouth will carry the day. I know the economy is bad, and show attendance is suffering, so that could be part of the problem. But isn't that even more reason to boost your promotion efforts? To not even try to pull in the customers seems to be a dereliction of duty.
A show doesn't carry itself along on its own steam. The people who attended years ago have moved away, grown tired of art shows, become busy with grandkids, whatever. But there's a new generation, and they might like to come, yet they've seen there are 10 other things to do this weekend and your show isn't even on the list.
So, dear promoters and organizers, please remember that your artists are your customers, too. We pay your app fees, pay your booth fees, follow your rules, set up in the rain, stay til the end even when nobody's there to buy, in short do everything we can do to create an exciting, viable, profitable show for us and for you.
Your job is to get the people there. Paid advertising is great when you can afford it. But free promotion is far better than nothing, and there are plenty of outlets at your disposal.
When I do a show that's miserably slow, I have no complaints if the show organizer did their part but was unsuccessful. Bad weather happens. Huge competing events happen. But when the organizer simply doesn't live up to their end of the bargain, I get very cranky. So this year, Wyoming Art Show, I'm cranky on behalf of my friends who were accepted into your show this year. What a shame.
Comments
Hi Jeanie -- thanks for listening to feedback about the Wyoming show and responding to several of the concerns. I think we all know that it takes a lot of hard work to organize and run any event, and then to hear negative comments in the end is very tough. So congratulations on all the things that went well and thanks for your patience.
I need to comment about the list of media the Wyoming show used to promote the event ("city wide blog, the city newsletter, the schools newsletter, the city community calendar, posters, the local Wyoming Living newspaper, as well as advertise outside Wyoming through posters, newsletters, and advertisements in newspapers"). I notice that the promotion is targeted mostly toward local (i.e. Wyoming) residents. But I don't live in Wyoming or have kids in your schools, so it's only because I'm part of the arts community that I knew anything about your show.
Other shows also seem to concentrate on local media outlets, and IMO that's a huge mistake. Essentially, that means the event is being run primarily for the benefit of the local residents within a few-mile radius. However that's simply not enough warm bodies walking through the show to make it financially successful for dozens or hundreds of artists...artists who are your committee's paying customers. When you describe the show as a premier event in southwestern Ohio and accept artists from distant locations who must pay travel and hotel expenses in addition to app and booth fees, you have an even greater responsibility to make the show worth those artists' considerable financial investment. Remember, artists participate in your show to make money; this is our job; we're not at the show for fun.
So please broaden your view. People from every corner of metropolitan area would be willing to drive 30 or 45 minutes to attend a well-run art show. You had an excellent collection of artists this year, as always, and they are well worth a drive across town. Countless Cincinnati-wide calendars list events for free. Many of those private residences on the main drag could have legally erected a yard sign just outside the easement. Surely your committee knows business owners all over town who would display a poster.
Every show I've ever done has recited a laundry list of media outlets they've used to promote their event. But if even the artists who are looking for the notices don't see them, something's wrong.
And finally, Wyoming Art Show, please please change the name of the food court. The committee and attendees may think "Starving Artist Cafe" is cheeky and cute, but to at least one artist who's been struggling through the bad economy there's nothing funny about that name.
Thanks for listening.
Thank you for all your suggestions about improving the Wyoming Art Show. As one of the volunteers, I want to assure you that we do listen. We will address all your issues at our annual review meeting in June and make those changes necessary to improve our show. We work hard, value the support of our community and our artists, and are proud of the Wyoming Art Show.
We have always believed we were artist friendly from the coffee and donuts at the registration desk through the artists’ reception at the end of the show. We charge low fees, give out numerous monetary awards, went to an easy online registration form, provide t-shirts, deliver lunch to booths, and offer assistance at set up and clean up, all in a premier setting.
Your most pressing negative throughout the blog thread is of publicity. We do use signs following city restrictions of location and size (sorry, no banners allowed across streets). We also use the very popular city wide blog, the city newsletter, the schools newsletter, the city community calendar, posters, the local Wyoming Living newspaper, as well as advertise outside Wyoming through posters, newsletters, and advertisements in newspapers. In June, we will review our publicity, its effectiveness, and scout out new ways to promote our show.
I must take issue with two comments I find unfair and untrue. Independent judges chose the winners of our awards and those judges represent a variety of artistic media, and are of different ages, interests, and backgrounds. There is no inside track. We do however have artists in our very talented community who sometimes are juried into our show. We also have artists who have supported us for years by competing and selling in our show and now have a following.
It is that community support that remains our foundation so my second disagreement is with the negative comments about our children’s art tent. Our community is one of those that still support art in the schools; all children take art all year long up through 8th grade. Our high school art program is stellar. If you look at the Scholastic Art Awards you will see many Wyoming winners. We do indeed have activities for children, an art display, and scholarship awards for high schoolers. We strongly believe that is what brings in parents and grandparents who then view the adult show and competition. It also sends a message to the kids that art is important throughout their lives.
We stopped the artists survey a few years ago after years of receiving no replies. Throughout the jurying process, artists use an email to our Jury Chairman. So if there are Wyoming Art Show artists who would like to offer suggestions, please use that same jury email. I will continue to monitor this blog as well.
I hope the artists who did this Wyoming Show had a chance to fill out a survey where you could address these problems. If they don't hear the complaints they certainly won't change anything. I hate to see a once robust show die off but if change doesn't happen I wouldn't want to do the show either. I hope the promoters see the constructive criticisms left here or in surveys.
I agree I did this show last year. It Had Awards as part of their enticement for the artists. I was down that way for another event and thought I would try it out. They awarded almost all the $ to artists who belonged to there local art club. Nothing like having an event and letting the out of towners pay for it. A real loser. The only sales I saw were neighborhood friends buying from each other.
Yep, I was there. Since I had a motel room the night before, I wound up taking a loss on the show. Another artist close to me lives close by and said that the art show doubles as a block party. The show should have been a good one with the demographics of the area. The homes all around were expensive and well groomed, and most of the people walking the show had that subtle air of dressing well conservatively that says money. The crowd was good in the morning but by 1:00 PM the energy was gone and the crowds thinned out considerably. The remaining walkers were listless and looked bored. I had no sales the last 5 hours of the show.
Adding insult to injury, at tear down one artist brought his truck and large trailer in almost immediately and blocked the street while he took things down and moved them directly to his trailer. In the mean time the street filled up with vans as no one could get past this inconsiderate fool. The show had the standard notice about tearing down completely before bringing vehicles in. Eventually the show staff showed up and made the guy move the trailer so others could get through.
The advertising was not there. I came in Saturday night to check the place out and locate the booth site. I didn't see any banners out on the main drag or any yard signs advertising the fair.
Oh yeah, Holly, that reminds me -- the Wyoming show had a large tent near the entrance for kid activities: "T-shirt painting, face painting, chalk drawing, and more!" as the program described. There were more people in the kid tent than there were walking through the show.
And what else did the program point you toward? The Starving Artist Cafe. No kidding. At a show with meager attendance the lonely art-lovers could buy their popcorn at the Starving Artist Cafe. I couldn't make this stuff up.
"Why spend money going to an art fair that you know has a bad review, on the outside chance that maybe next time it will be better? Artists hoping that "next year will be better" is what's keeping these lackluster shows going, and that's a mistake."
Gulp. KC, you're absolutely right. This year, for the first time, I've done a full-scale toss-out of the shows I'd been hanging on to, hoping they'd get better. In almost every case they just got worse. I justified it -- okay, calmed myself down -- by thinking that making something is better than making nothing that weekend. But after all the wear and tear on my tent, displays, product, vehicle, body and sense of humor, I'm not so sure it's worth it for a few hundred bucks. I'm pretty sure that hookers make more than that in a weekend, and we're at least as talented as they are, right?
I've experienced the glut of art shows in Florida. It's like people go to those shows because it's slightly more entertaining than doing their daily exercise at the mall. They have no intention of buying anything, and they don't. It's absolutely scary to me that the same over-abundance of shows is happening in many parts of the country.
Artists can't stop every city/non-profit organization/entrepreneur in sight from exclaiming "Hey! Let's do an art show!!!". Most of them don't seem to understand they have no business trying to be in the art-show business. But there will always be artists and craftspeople who keep doing those shows, some for legitimate reasons like Michelle's, some because they don't know any better, some because they don't want to jump into the "big show" circuit.
So, realistically, is there anything we can do to weed out the non-performing shows so that "going to the art show on Sunday" becomes special again?
I forgot to sign my comment: Janet Rose, Rose Squared Productions, Inc.
I have wanted to address this issue for quite some time and hadn't figured out how to go about it. All show directors and organizers have an obligation to be transparent about the promotion of their show, from paid ads, to listings, to signage, etc. They should have copies of paid ads, PR picked up, and even pictures of billboards with them at the event or even create a wall or mini-billboard for the exhibitors to see where their fees went.
Every exhibitor has the right and obligation to see where their fees went and to insure that the promoter is, indeed, promoting. Do your homework. When a show isn't promoted with signage or advertising, make it known to your peers. As Karen says above, don't return.
This business can be such a gamble with the weather, economy, and the public choosing to buy or not buy your work. There should be NO gambling on the promoter doing their job. As former exhibitors before promoting shows for 31 years, and seeing this from both sides of the business, this is a major pet peeve of mine.
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