I have to do an eight hour ride to St. Louis today in order to set up for the show. Thought I would leave you with some meaningful observations, criticisms and summaries.
Previously, I did a running blog of the event day by day. This is a summary, chock full of meat and meaningful data which could help you decide if this is your show to do.
With that said lets get on with the show.
My Credentials:
I am a color photographer. I do scenes in the tropics, also strong architecturals and also a line of good humor--sorry, no Teddy bears.
I have done art shows for 36 years. Have won more than 400 awards in juried events. Lastly, after my first four years in the biz, I have always showed a profit at year's end and made a living at it.
I work by myself. I have no helpers to help me cut mats or set up at shows.
I am lucky to know about 100 artists who make a living at this biz year after year. We share info with each other.
So listen up. What I am going to tell you is very helpful.
Royal Oak, Michigan--Geography and layout of the event.
Royal Oak (RO) is a suburb of Detroit slightly west of downtown off I-696. The show(ABE) is held right downtown on city streets.
RO is chock full of bars,restaurants and retail, all housed in some of the ugliest,dull architecture I have ever seen. That said, it still attracts a shit-load of young people--and a bunch of adults.
The art show is just one small part of the event. As my buddy, Michael said, "We are just a small dot on the tail of a big dog,Nels."
The whole event is run north to south on three parallel streets. The art show is located on the very south end of the show.
Art starts on a small stretch of 7th (there are more booths past the fudge truck on 7th--we will get to that) then mainly takes a right turn,south on Washington where the bulk of the art show is held. One block down on Washington the show takes a left turn, on Lincoln, and there are about 40 booths there.
Back to the fudge truck. This Mackinac Fudge truck sits right at the intersection of 7th and Washington where it pretty well blocks anyone's vision of seeing that there are another 40 booths behind it. Also there are about 20 booths set up in a "U-Shape" on a city parking lot. A bunch got wiped out by heavy winds Saturday night. Obviously, one fudge truck trumps 50-60 artists. For the most part, most exhibitors there made little sales. They barely covered there expenses. There were a few exceptions, but they did not get the whole crowd looking there.
The folks on Lincoln street suffered the same fate. Poor sales, poor attendance. It is a narrow street that dead-ends at a chain link fence with no gate. Poor Patty Stern, and Bob, were the last booth on the street. They paid for a corner booth that basically looked out to a chain fence. Oy! such value for your money. Most exhibitors were not happy campers.
All booths art set against the curb looking out. You have ample rear storage. You have no room side to side, unless it is a corner, to hang anything. It is so tight you can barely zipper your tarps. You can pull a van right in front for setup and teardown.
OK, that was the layout--lots of good meat, a lot more then most of you ever include in your blogs of a show. Take a lesson,please.
Show organization: Pluses and minuses.
This art show is run by our Connie and her bud, Lisa. They have a higherup they report to named John.
The show is full of many pluses, I will get to them. The only minus is the layout which put the people at Lincoln and those behind the fudge truck, and parking lot, in a bad position. They paid the same booth fee ($450) but got a slim part of the crowd. After running this event for years, I don't know why Connie and Lisa set this up. Maybe they had to defer to a higher up. It was not a brilliant layout. Lots of artists were really pissed. Some left early, some will never apply again. This was the only minus.
Let's look at all the pluses which outweigh the minus, (Unless you were an artist in those spots).
Overall, the show is well-organized. Great advertising, strong security, good artist info. They supply lots of water, offer and air-conditioned rest-lounge, good bathrooms and a great artist support service. They will give you ample breaks, even fetch food for you. Nice artist breakfest. Nice awards. They give free food tickets to us. We get guaranteed parking for our vans, excellent communication. Overall, I give Connie and Lisa an "A" for their efforts. Would not want to be in those bad spots though.
An aside. Connie had heard about Ellen fainting at Krasl so she put us right across from the AC break room. It was very kind of Connie to do that. She also put Munks two booths away from me. That cost me a lot in sushi money, but Munks is a true gem.
SALES--THOUGHT YOU NEVER WOULD GET TO THEM!
For me, in these times, where we are al off by at least 40%, I expect to do at least $1500 per day. Don't always make it, but it is a reasonable expectation. This was a four-day show. So $6K was my goal--didn't come close to making it.
There were almost 160 artists in the show, a small number. Not as much competition, the pie isn't getting sliced as thinly. We all oughta make money.
So here is a modest breakdown.
I know at least 10 artists there who did $6K or better. There are at least 15-20 others, I don't know, who did that or better.
That still leaves 130-odd artists.
Again, I know at least 15 artists who did not break even at he show in their sales, my wife was one of them. I bet there were at least 20 others in the same situation, definetly Bonnie Eastwood.
Hmm. That leaves about 95. I would say, most made their expenses and a little more. A small return for being at a show for five days (Setup on Thursday, then four days of the show.) That is a pityful return on your time and money.
Don't forget the show was almost $500 in fees, then probably a tank of gas, or more, each way. Then five days in a hotel, then five-six days of food expense (forget about tequila and sushi), this gets the average exhibitor, who came from outside the area, up to $1200 just in making your nut. Local artists don't have gas, hotels or food costs. A better investment for them.
OK, FINAL OBSERVATIONS AND SUMMARY
Jim Parker, who lives locally, came over and visited me on Monday. He had some sage observations about why this show was not as successful this year. I will paraphrase them.
Basically, he said, last year it was a new event in RO. The weather was perfect, the crowds came in incredible numbers. They bought a bunch, artists made thousands.
This year a lot of those same people stayed away. Why? For several reasons.
One, they didn't want to do the crowd scene. Arts and Apples in Rochester is this weekend. They could go there and see good art. Two. Parking. A bitch at RO. The lots were charging $14. You can't park in the neighborhoods, you will get towed and ticketed. You could park in the high school lot and take the bus to the show. That inhibits making big purchases.
Three. This was not the same crowd as last year. Too many people with too little to spend. They were not the brightest either. Lots of dumb questions. Like when they walk into my booth and ask if I am the photographer? I got my name badge on, it matches my sign, it matches my signature on my images. I know, America hates to read anything, anymore. Sometimes, for fun, I would tell them my cat took the images but he is too shy to sell, so I do the dirty work. I think Parker was spot on in his observations.
My summary.
You get one shot at the crowd, very few be-backs. They only like a narrow field of arts and crafts. Most don't have more than $60 to spend. Lots of blue-collar with tastes only for the cliche.
We are just part of a big carnival. Most folks were going on to do the music and the food and the drink. It is not like Homer says to his wife, "Come on honey, let's go to ABE and buy that picture for over the couch."
If you think you got the right stuff for this event, then try it.
Ooh! The weather. Don't forget the first two days were in temps in high nineties with heat index over 100. Sunday was nice and Monday was freezing cold. So temps had a big impact on the show sales. But guess what? Most years it is going to be hot and rainy there. They lucked out in 2010 but don't count on it for the future.
Me, I am going to take a long time to think about doing the show again. Not saying no, not saying yes.
Well there. That is my blog, chock full of meat and info. Chime in with your comments. Me, I am off to St. Louis, hopefully to make a lot of serious moola. Will report about it.
Aloha, Nels.
Comments
I had a view of AB&E that Nels didn't have. See my photo below.
Jacki B
Jon, thank you for all of your thoughtful comments and it appears you will make the changes needed next year. I had a reasonable show given the circumstances (crazy weather and being in the parking lot off 7th) and I had my ups and downs last weekend, but in the end I still want to support this show. I appreciate you addressing all of our concerns.
Jon, having you respond here is great.
As you know, I have a long history with the show, albeit intermittent. Last year, with the move to Royal Oak, I felt a return of the energy of the early years of Pontiac. Those first couple years at Pontiac were over the top sales for many artists. But what happened at Pontiac after about four years seems to have happened at Royal Oak in just one year, and that is a significant decline in art buyers among the masses. Yes, there are some spenders among the masses, and we of course heard about some single item sales above $5k, but those were the great exception.
I honestly think that ABE has the potential to be an event that can work for many artists, but the present direction toward so many other distractions from the art are going to work against that. For me, the main distraction was the inclusion of all of those carnival-type buy/sell booths full of trinkets and doodads. What happens with all of those booths being there is that the patrons can't help but think that much of the "stuff" in the Fine Art section falls into the same kind of category. I can't tell you how many times people had sticker shock when I told them the prices of some of my pieces. "You mean, $95 for EACH ONE!!!???"
I also received lots of ridiculous lowball offers that just indicated a lack of sophistication from so many of the patrons. Yes, I know you are just simply supposed to let those go and be ready for the next person with a smile but it does wear on you after four days.
Where am I going with this? I would like to see a large reduction in the carnival type atmosphere. Get rid of the trinket booths, it just sucks, if I may be frank. Please somehow find a way to replace that revenue. If you need to add a few more artist booths, do it. Like up to 175-185, the show can handle it. Then find the rest of the lost money from those trinket booths somewhere else. This is what you are good at Jon, this is what you do, so I know you can do it.
As for the music, the food, hey, that's part of the show. But do your best to keep artists away from the super loud stages. I will say that the stage near my booth, the cultural stage, was fantastic, not too loud, had a great variety of high class performances, totally added to the quality of the show, and was met with many positive comments from artists. Get more stages like that, and you are on the right track. Get rid of the screaming Money Grab monstrosity, and you are on the right track. That screaming guy was so loud when I walked by, well, metaphors escape me.
Selling art is hard, but selling art in a carnival atmosphere is impossible. You have many things going in the right direction, but there are a couple of deal breakers for many artists. Get rid of the trinket booths, get rid of the screaming guys, and you will get rid of two art killers.
Thanks a lot for listening, Jon.
Don Ament
I am going to keep going because I missed the second page of comments including Jim Paker's about parking (wouldn't you know that his last name demands good ideas on the subject). Jim, I am glad you got a couple of Visa sales and I know the program wasn't going to be one that created a downside for the artists. I am writing this comment to let you know that I think a parking incentive for purchaser's makes a lot of sense and if I can work out an arrangement or sell it to the city of Royal Oak, I will. The city takes the parking revenue at least from city controlled lots to help with expenses, but I would be willing to discuss and contribute in some way to an incentive. Oakland Community College structure would be a perfect place to see such a program as it's right to the south of the fair by 100 feet. It will be complicated to figure out, but please note that I will try and work one out that everyone can afford, and I agree that it could replace the Visa program and send out a good message and incentive to buyers and will do some heavy noodling there.
Thanks,
Jon
Dear Artists who are taking fair shots at Arts, Beats & Eats.
I wanted to give you all a little perspective from the Producer's standpoint.
First, we did have a great year in 2010, and there's no question we grew a little bit, likely thinking we could do no wrong, and for that I apologize.
The fudge truck and two sponsor booths to the south were certainly a mistake and will not be back in the art area next year, but in our defense, east seventh street did have a first aid tent on the same corner of the truck and we thought it was a similar enough use of space and we were wrong.
Other issues we didn't brainstorm certainly contributed to issues with our event. Again, I will state that sometimes success takes everyone's eye of the ball, including our fab directors Connie and Lisa. Things we could and should have done were to direct traffic from the south structure to be forced to enter onto the new street Lincoln on the east as opposed to on Washington, and two our new one shuttle location drop shuttle takers at the art fair instead of the north of the event. The storm happens when you take your eye of layout logistics and you had two brutal days of heat and you are going to have problems. Again, we all thought we had a sure thing going, and while our promotion stayed consistent, I think we missed a few things that could have complemented a better pedestrian through to the largest new section of the show on Lincoln. By the way to Patti Stern, you are welcome to write me direct for a corner refund and I will honor that request.
With regard to something we should be excused for (again Fudge truck not in that category). We did have success on east seventh st last year and many of our artists there applied again. We also had success in a lot that was off Washington last year so we thought we could add a second lot from east 7th and that it would work. While it was a mistake, there are three artists in that lot that all said they more than solid sales performances - a really nice artist named Martha (thanks for the enouraging words on Monday)being one of them. Based on our success and layout last year, that loop in the lot did look reasonable from our team's perspective, but after overall reviews, we wouldn't do that again.
I want to give people a chance to respond to me and I will be watching posts for a few days so I can answer any criticisms, but I want to close with the following:
1. Barry's words about us not taking the "heat" lightly should be taken to heart. Lisa, Connie and I will rework the layout, traffic patterns, sponsor placements and other issues to ensure an improvement in layout in 2012. Not trying to get Patti back with this, but certainly trying to appeal to people on the fence, because I can promise positive changes.
2. Please don't discount the heat we had and still a little bit of economic issues, and don't discount the fact that many artists did have success with essentially two days of a show here.
3. I will consider subtracting a few of the added spaces we had last year, and certainly highly considering the east 7th st spaces. I believe that the possibility of extending the Lincoln st. area to Main St. and having the shuttle drop off at Lincoln and Main as a major entrance and exit could be a start, but that's only the tired juices starting to blend on making improvements.
4. The high enders will be there amidst the browsers. We have 60 non-profits that benefit from the festival and promote the show to their supporters and I think people that support good causes are generally the same people that will purchase.
5. We did fix the congestion issues we had last year with an expansion of the festival and word got out about that and we had a lot of positive feedback there.
I know I'm not responding to all I've heard, but please note that m
Barry, it was wonderful to meet you too, and Nels and Ellen, no Mt. Viter to drink or big sales, but we love you guys...Jim and Karyn, you are consummate professionals...and it is always fun to watch you stock your booth!!!! We will have to see you all at another show because we were the only ones stuck in a sub standard location, and we can not go back there....drink martinis and make lots of money!!!!
I'm finally getting around to putting in my 2 cents worth about my ABE experience. Nels, Jim and Barry did pretty thorough reviews of this show and I must say that I agree with their assessment. This was my first year at this show. I did Long's Park the previous two years and it never took off for me so thought I'd try ABE, closer to home. I knew going in that it wasn't only an art show so expected that many of the crowd would not be coming just for the art, like Long's Park.
I sent out an e-announcement to advertise my show schedule for the fall and only a handful of my collectors from Ann Arbor came to this show. The hot weather killed any interest in my or anyones work on Friday and Saturday. However, I engaged many people on Sunday and Monday. However, I had only one sale on Sunday that equaled my deductible for the storm damage on my vehicle Saturday night.
That is another story.....as others mentioned at 9pm Sat. eve, a severe storm hit us, with 50-60 mph winds. We were told to seek shelter, so Casey and I secured our booth, removed our shoes to wade through the swirling water and ran to a nearby restaurant. As soon as we got inside the door, they threw us out into the raging storm because we didn't have our shoes on. Now, we had them with us in our bags in our arms but they didn't give us the opportunity to get them on. So out into the storm we went, with no chance of dodging the elements as we were on the S. side of the building and the winds were coming from the S. Needless to say, we were totally drenched but no injuries. When the storm subsided, somewhat, we made our way to the van, parked about a block and a half away, only to find that it was nailed by falling limbs from a tree.
The good news is that my van was driveable and I will be able to finish out my show schedule for the next five weeks. However, the damage was major - over $5000, with the total replacement of my roof and some other body parts. I am very thankful that the limb didn't crush the van, break windows or render my vehicle undriveable. Also, that Casey and I were spared any injuries.
As to Casey, my granddaughter and assistant, she was a happy camper for the weekend. She loved Royal Oak, enjoyed the "art, beats and eats" and was the proud recipient of the "Golden Dolly" award. ABE is the only show that I'm aware of that recognizes the efforts of the artist assistants. She went home with a lovely artist designed ribbon, $150 in award money and I got an invite back.
Will I return? Well, I've rarely turn down an invitation back to a show. There was significant interest in my work the last two days. The show was very easy to do - both setup and takedown, with plenty of volunteers, free food tickets, hotel discounts, free parking nearby. I had a good booth location. So, I'm seriously thinking about returning. BUT, if so, I will try to do a better job of contacting ALL my old Ann Arbor patrons and letting them know that I will no longer be at A2 and should they wish to see my work to look for me at ABE (at least next year). x
I didn't mind the music stage nearby, however, I'd like more jazz or music conducive to an art loving audience. I felt for the artists who had spaces that were lost in the parking lot or on narrow streets, around corners. I'm hoping for a much better layout for next year that gives all artists equal exposure.
I think that when the bugs get ironed out, hopefully, sales will increase and the quality of the artists will also improve.
One thing about the patrons I found is that they are generous and thoughtful. On Sunday evening, I put up a big bright sign on my booth that said:
"HEY!!
Support a Starving Artist!
I would love your leftover food tickets!!!"
In about an hour and a half I had over $40 worth of food tickets to spend at the food booths. On Monday, I put the sign up in the afternoon for a couple hours and got over $20 more in tickets. So, about four nearby artists ate pretty well thanks to the patrons.
And I was on the "inflow" side of Washington, people had mostly just entered the show at that point. Had I been on the "outflow" side of Washington, well..........
: DA :
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