In the nearly 30 years we’ve been working art shows there have been some really poor ones to remember. This show will rank right up there with the worst.
Held in a portion of the Johnson County Fairground the show was set up in 2 buildings with an asphalt parking-lot in between. The committee had arranged a “preview” party on Friday evening to attract the more interested public. No one came. If the committee thought they would attract art collectors to the event with a veggie & cheese platter from the local HyVee supermarket then they vastly under estimated their target market. It was a fiasco.
Saturday morning it rained; no one could be blamed for that. But lack of planning over basics like fans, air conditioning, parking, tear down procedure, and other issues were evident and reflected in the ambience of the show. The atmosphere was at least tacky but junky might be a more appropriate label. The artists in attendance on the other hand were of high quality and good character and did not deserve this shabby venue: one artist commented, “How did they get us here to this mess?”
By one o’clock it was sunny and nice. Some people came to the event that included a chili cook-off which the judges said to us was “awful”, a car show, and several concerts. The crowd for the art show was light in the other building and small in our building; we estimated it at 600 people.
Apparently the committee wildly over sold the crowd count for the event at 10,000. I spoke to an off-duty policeman and he agreed that the crowd was “not too big”; I’d put the whole event at less than 5,000. Inflated attendance figures are a real problem in this business which hurts both artist and concessionaire who must plan ahead for the crowd.
Nearly every artist I spoke with said sales were dismal to none. The art show lacked focus, organization, and leadership in my opinion. As in most non-art-friendly events artist were viewed as a source of revenue for the committee rather than an uplifting attraction that showcases the best intentions of a community.
www.renegadeheart.net
Comments
If we all share information (and this photo really tells a story), maybe something can be done about promoters like this!
Thanks for getting the word out.